Palmerton Area School District is eyeing the summer of 2025 for a paving project in the S.S. Palmer parking lot to the west of the school.

Directors on Tuesday night opted to postpone a motion to authorize Keystone Consulting Engineers Inc. to proceed with the engineering design and bid package for the project at an estimated amount of $20,000.

After hearing from administrators, including S.S. Palmer Principal Ralph Andrews, directors conceded that while the paving project is necessary, trying to complete it while classes are in session would not be feasible.

“Doing any project is easier when the kids are not in school,” Andrews said. “Just think about the noise that that’s going to create outside the building if it’s happening during the school year. That all has to be taken into account.”

Building and Grounds Director Joe Faenza said the parking lot was likely last touched in 1985 when other work was done in that area.

“The top coating is gone,” he said. “It has to get milled down. It was a long time ago when it was done.”

Another benefit of waiting until next summer, Board President Sherry Haas said, is avoiding fumes entering the classrooms while students were in them.

“The smell of asphalt is not good for kids,” Haas said. “If this takes a week in a best-case scenario, that would be a long time for them to have to smell that.”

Director Earl Paules estimated the project would cost between $80,000 and $100,000.

“I’m OK waiting until next summer, but it needs to get done,” Paules said.

The district also approached Palmerton Borough to see if it would like to join in on the project and improve a section of an alleyway it is responsible for that connects to the Palmer parking lot near the Lighthouse Church and Franklin Avenue.

Delaying the work to next summer, board members said, would also give the borough a chance to budget for that portion of the project.

“We want to be good neighbors,” Paules said. “If we did it this year and the borough didn’t have it in the budget, I would recommend us carrying that cost for a year until they did budget for it.”

District officials said Tuesday they would reach out to KCE to get a timeline of when they should vote on engineering design authorization in order to begin the project next June.