Lehighton has agreed to spend $45,000 for a survey on a piece of the Packerton Yards property provided by Carbon County to be used for recreation.

On a 6-0 vote, with one abstention, borough council on Monday approved the Riverfront property acquisition survey proposal from Keystone Consulting Engineers. Councilman Steve Hawk abstained.

Before the vote, borough Manager Dane DeWire urged council to act on the matter at the behest of Carbon County Commissioners, whom he said almost sold the property out from under the borough in the summer.

DeWire said that council had previously received four proposals for the riverfront property acquisition survey that were in the amounts of $45,000, $39,000, $35,000, and $17,000.

He then recommended that council go with either the $45,000 proposal or the $35,000 proposal.

Councilman John Kreitz asked if it was accounted for in this year’s budget. DeWire said it was, and added the borough wants the property for recreational purposes.

Councilwoman Autumn Abelovsky, who made the motion to approve the $45,000 proposal, said she felt it ironic that after all these years of discussing the matter, council was urged to act swiftly on the matter.

“We’ve talked about this project for 10 years, and now all of a sudden it’s like if we don’t act, the county will sell it (out from under the borough),” Abelovsky said. “We don’t have a concrete vision, no concept, no drawings, no ideas.”

Still, Abelovsky said she believes the possibility of expanding the borough’s recreation and tourism is a great opportunity.

DeWire said that the property has to be developed for recreational purposes.

In November, council tabled proposals for the project after DeWire said that he was not ready to recommend any of the proposals as he wasn’t sure why there was such a disparity.

In August, Carbon County Commissioners approved an agreement with Lehighton to allow the borough to hire a licensed surveyor to conduct a survey of about 23 acres of the former Packerton Yards rail yard. The plans call for possibly subdividing and transferring that portion of the land to the borough.

Commissioner Wayne Nothstein said the acreage the county will transfer is only in Lehighton, with the remaining 40-plus acres located in Mahoning Township.

He noted that most of the land is in a flood plain, between the Lehigh River and the railroad tracks.

In 2019, when the initial plans for the 23 acres to be transferred to the borough occurred, Lehighton had planned on creating a recreation area along the Lehigh River.

DeWire said in August that there is a piece of land along the Lehigh River, that if the borough pays for and has done a subdivision plan, then they can split the property at the Mahoning/Lehighton line, and they can gift the borough the portion of property under the Lehighton borough limits.

He said the property would be used for recreational purposes, and the borough would provide the county any necessary easements to access the property moving forward.

DeWire said the borough plans to create a park, trails and boat launch, to boost the downtown business district, its riverfront district, and to tie in with the D&L Trail.

He said that Lehighton Borough Council had authorized him to advertise for a request for proposal for the survey work, and that once he spoke with their solicitor, he would send out RFP’s for surveying work and deeds study work in the hopes to get subdivision plans put together for land acquisition.

Eventually, DeWire said the subdivision plan needs to be turned over to the Norfolk Southern Railroad so they can provide an easement under their trestle down by Dunbar Beach.

The former Packerton yards parcel in Mahoning Township remains for sale.

The commissioners said that there had been some questions from business owners about the site and they are willing to hear from anyone interested in making an offer.

Carbon County purchased that property in 2004 with the vision of creating an industrial area; however, after long legal battles, which included several injunctions and finally a ruling against the county’s request to not install sidewalks into the site, the land has sat vacant ever since.