Tamaqua Borough officials have agreed to remove six properties from the City Revitalization & Improvement Zone.

The properties are being considered as the possible site of a new police station. But their CRIZ status would conflict with the requirements of a $2 million state grant for the project.

The Tamaqua CRIZ Authority Board voted 4-0 Monday night to remove the properties from the CRIZ zone. They are all located on the same block along Mauch Chunk and Pine streets. Five of the properties are owned by Tamaqua Area Community Partnership, and one is owned by American Hose Co. No. 1.

“We do on occasion add or delete properties within the CRIZ zone. This was a specific request by the partnership and American Hose to take the properties out of the zone,” said Dan Evans, chairman of the CRIZ Authority board.

Tamaqua Area Community Partnership purchased its properties, located at 27-33 E. Mauch Chunk St., and 10 Pine St., last month. American Hose Co. No. 1 has owned 18 Pine St. since 2017.

The removal of the properties reduces the overall size of the CRIZ zone by 0.31 acres.

Tamaqua Area Community Partnership said in January that the properties are one possible location for a new borough police station.

In December, the organization received a state grant for $2 million to build a new police station for the borough. The building will accommodate public services, including emergency services vehicles and equipment.

The grant is from the Redevelopment Assistance Capital Program. One of the conditions of the RACP grant is that it cannot be used for projects located in a CRIZ zone.

When Tamaqua Area Community Partnership purchased the properties in January, it said that it had not yet acquired all the properties needed for the project to go forward on the site.

The group’s application to the RACP program said that it would acquire nine small parcels along Route 309, and replace them with a one-story, 10,000-square-foot building to house public services.

Tamaqua City Revitalization & Improvement Zone was created in 2013. Bethlehem and Lancaster also have CRIZ zones. A property owner in the zone can apply to get reimbursement for money they spend on building improvements. The money for the CRIZ comes from sales tax and wage tax which would otherwise go into the state’s general fund.

Each municipality is allowed to designate up to 130 acres.

CRIZ funding was credited for helping the projects which expanded Boyer’s Food Market and brought WHEEL Restaurant to Tamaqua. The zone generated $608,561 for the borough in 2020.