A Jim Thorpe developer wants to have short-term rentals on his Sierra Vista Estates property in Mahoning Township.

Jake Arner, president of Awesome View Properties Inc. plans to go before the township’s zoning hearing board at 7 p.m. Jan. 30.

Sierra Vista Estates has 104 units on Flagstaff Road next to the Flagstaff ballroom and has been approved as a residential development in the township. The zoning officer denied the use in a letter dated Oct. 2.

For the short-term rentals, he is asking for:

• Non-conforming use to allow short-term rentals, “Camping and Glamping,” and “Commercial Parking” and “Commercial Parking” using True Grid pervious stone parking on existing lots.

• Special exception use for the parcel Nos. 83-35-B101, 83-35-B3, and 83-35-B3.01 in the R-3 (Medium Density Residential) zoning district located at Sierra Vista Estates Subdivisions beginning at 200 Flagstaff Road, Mahoning Township, and ending at the Mahoning Township and Jim Thorpe Borough municipal boundary lines.

Arner is also challenging the validity of the township’s zoning ordinance with respect to a proposed short-term rental use.

The property was acquired on June 16, 2006, and abuts Flagstaff Road on the South West Side, Route 209 on the north and east side, and there are private property owners on the South East Side of the property, however they are far removed from the property geographically.

The property is irregularly shaped. The properties’ dimension in an east to west direction at its widest point is about 5,712 feet. The properties dimension in a north to south direction at its widest point is about 2,254 feet. The square acreage of the premises is 200 acres.

There are no existing buildings or structures on the property.

The property has been conditionally approved for residential building lots by Mahoning Township supervisors, and received the recommendation of approval from the planning commission. A zoning application was submitted for three separate uses for the lots that have been conditionally approved. Those uses were short-term rentals of homes, camping on the lots and parking on the lots. Development signs at the entrances of the property are proposed to identify the uses that are approved by the zoning hearing board.

The vacant land has been conditionally approved as a residential development.

The abutting property to the Northwest is owned by Flagstaff at Jim Thorpe LLC and was zoning approved for a gondola, hotel and previously approved for a restaurant, catering hall and nightclub. It is being renovated for those proposed uses.

The property to the East is owned by Perch and is zoned commercial and operates as a restaurant.

Properties to the Southeast are owned by Bailey Park Properties LLC and is operated as a multistory multi-unit apartment complex.

Neighboring property Duanne Evans and Ronald and Loretta Evans are in support of the property.

Sierra Vista Estates has received conditional approval to connect the Mahoning Municipal Authority’s sewer system.

According to the rejection letter dated Oct. 2 by LTL Consultants, the township’s zoning officer, the application has been denied for the following reasons:

• Commercial parking of vehicles/commercial parking is not a permitted use in the R-3 zoning district.

• Commercial parking of vehicles/commercial parking lot as an accessory use is only permitted on the same lot as the principal use.

• If the proposed use were permitted, it would require land development approval according to the Mahoning Township Subdivision and Land Development Ordinance.

Arner has also planned a residential development in Jim Thorpe. Canyon Rim Estates, Arner’s residential development in Jim Thorpe, has 270 units and was approved for short-term rentals, a winery, a tram and a camping facility.

Last March, Arner asked Mahoning supervisors if they felt there’s any additional room for tram parking in the township and whether they could approve it.

Board Chairman Robert Slaw told Arner that he objects to anything that it is not zoned for, and told Arner that he would have to go before the township’s zoning hearing board.