Owners of the Northface Development in Palmerton, site of the former New Jersey Zinc West Plant, are asking three local taxing bodies to support a temporary tax abatement program to help entice businesses to come to the area.

George Petrole, chief operating officer for Northface, said the company’s plan is to build four approximately 500,000-square-foot warehouses, one each year starting in 2022, on the property located just off Route 248.

Before construction, however, it would enter into lease-to-own agreements with the companies who would occupy the warehouses.

In order to offer more attractive lease deals, however, Petrole pitched the Local Economic Revitalization Tax Assistance program to Palmerton Area School District’s board of directors on Tuesday night.

Under LERTA, the district, along with Palmerton Borough and Carbon County, would excuse a percentage of the additional tax revenue the buildings would bring in for the first 10 years.

In the first year of each building being constructed and occupied, 100 percent of the additional tax revenue would be excused, followed by 90 percent in the second year in and so on until after 10 years, the full additional tax amount, estimated by Petrole to be $466,583 for the district, would be collected.

“LERTA provides us an advantage in getting companies to come in and wanting to invest in Palmerton,” Petrole said of the proposal.

“We thought at one time there would be 25 office buildings on that site. That isn’t happening. This is the highest and best use for the property and it allows us to develop the property in the quickest way possible.”

Petrole said the tax abatement would help him keep leases reasonable and attractive.

“If companies can get a lease someplace else at $2 a square foot less, that is where they are going,” Petrole said. “There has been interest in various types of development at the site. We have been approached by greenhouses, and by smaller businesses that wanted to develop a 40,000-square-foot building on a 5-acre parcel. There is an immense amount of work in infrastructure that has to be done on the site. The investment is tremendous. To have a 5-acre tenant was not economically feasible and it’s why we took this route.”

Palmerton Director Barry Scherer said while he’s pessimistic on the project until access and egress off Route 248 is confirmed and granted by the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation, he views the LERTA program as worthy of further discussion.

“When Northface first bought that land, I thought if they just tore the buildings down it would be an improvement,” Scherer said. “They have done a lot of work at the west plant. Their goals and outlook is something I think would be a benefit to the borough and district. It will be an increase in tax revenue and I think this is a program worth getting more involved in.”

Board President Kathy Fallow said she would like to see Petrole build good faith with the borough before the process moves forward.

“It’s a worthy discussion, but I’d like to know more from the borough on their interaction with Mr. Petrole and get an idea of what the past couple of years has been like,” Fallow said.

Petrole said he plans to meet with borough officials on Wednesday and pitch the same plan he laid out Tuesday for the district.

A similar LERTA project is proposed in Kidder Township, Carbon County Director of Economic Development Kathy Henderson said. A distribution center featuring an approximately 739,000-square-foot building is proposed for Route 940.

The Hofford Mill project in Weissport had also been considered for LERTA, Henderson said, but renovation had already begun on the building prior to the LERTA being approved.

“If we want to bring in jobs and increase the tax base here, we have to do some kind of programs that will incentivize businesses to come here,” Henderson said.

If massive warehouses are built on site, school board Director Earl Paules said the district also has to be wary of the population jump that may come with it.

“When you increase the population, you start increasing the amount of kids in the district and then before you know it, you need new schools,” Paules said. “That is something you want to be careful about.”

A LERTA for the warehouses wouldn’t be the first time the district has worked with Northface.

When the company took over the property, Petrole said, the district allowed a forgiveness of back taxes on the buildings, which were then going to be destroyed.

Fallow recommended representatives from the district meet with members of the borough and county about the Northface request.

Should the process move forward, each taxing body would need to adopt separate resolutions and a public hearing would follow.