Jim Thorpe Borough is challenging a June ruling by Carbon County Common Pleas Judge Joseph Matika that requires it to maintain a set of concrete steps connecting High Street to West Broadway for public use.

Ownership of the steps connecting West Broadway and High Street was called into question following a slip-and-fall insurance claim in 2017. The claim prompted a land survey commissioned by Jim Thorpe’s council that showed the steps cross three property lines including that of the borough, Three Towers Apartments owner Tom Loughery at 49 W. Broadway, and an LLC at 61 W. Broadway, which is now a short-term rental.

Loughery closed off the steps and, in 2019, initiated legal proceedings, seeking a declaratory judgment that would either force the borough to maintain the steps or remove them from their property.

Appeal arguments

Borough Solicitor James Nanovic argued during a Thursday hearing in front of Matika that the municipality should have discretion in determining the level of maintenance required, and that the court’s order improperly exposes the borough to further legal action from the plaintiffs if the maintenance is deemed insufficient.

“The plaintiffs can now file petitions to hold the borough in contempt if there is a disagreement about the upkeep,” Nanovic said. “The order creates an additional obligation which would fall upon the borough that it did not previously have.”

Another appeal argument centered on the evidence presented during the 2023 civil trial.

Nanovic claimed that exhibits 11 through 27, which included old newspaper articles purported to show the steps’ history, should not have been admitted.

“These articles do not qualify as ancient documents under the legal standard for admissibility and do not conclusively show that the borough built the steps,” he said.

The borough also continues to dispute that there was ever a formal dedication of the steps to the public that would obligate the municipality to maintain them.

“The plaintiff has not presented any proof as to who the party may have been who made the offer of dedication,” Nanovic wrote in a legal brief supporting the appeal.

Joshua Gildea, the attorney representing the Lougherys, argued in a legal brief that, “the evidence at trial clearly demonstrated that the High Street steps were irrevocably dedicated to the public — i.e., the community of Jim Thorpe, Pennsylvania.”

“The borough has engaged in numerous authoritative acts over the High Street steps, including installation of railings, painting, removal of snow and leaves, replacement of landings, and general repair,” Gildea said.

The Lougherys contend that the steps have long been recognized as a public thoroughfare.

“The steps have been used as an unrestricted public thoroughfare from the time they were constructed ... until the borough first began to contend that they were not dedicated to the public in 2017,” Gildea’s brief said.

Matika told both parties Thursday he would take the issue under advisement given Thursday’s arguments.