Subdivision of Packerton Yards underway

A subdivision plan for the Packerton Yards property is being worked on.

Lehighton Borough Council received an update on the property at last week’s meeting.

Borough engineer Bruce Steigerwalt told council that he knows the boundaries of what the borough will be getting.

Steigerwalt said all that’s left to determine is who owns the property to the south.

“The place is a pigsty to say the least,” Steigerwalt said. “You talk about contamination; it’s about as (bad) as it can get.”

After the meeting, borough Manager Nicole Beckett noted that the borough doesn’t currently own the property.

Beckett said the only project proposed is with the Wildlands Conservancy for the potential construction of a boat launch.

“The waterfront park, that’s the vision,” Beckett said. “It provides us with an opportunity (for the) waterfront that has long been discussed.”

In March, Carbon County agreed to donate about half of the Packerton Yards property to Lehighton to be used for recreational purposes.

County Commissioner Wayne E. Nothstein said at that time that the county would donate about 26 acres, which is in the flood plain, to the borough.

Nothstein said at that time that to the county, the property is unfeasible land for economic development, but that it’s probably well-suited for recreation.

He that all of the property being donated is located inside the borough line, and not on the Mahoning Township side.

Nothstein said at that time the county plans to keep the other 25 acres on the Packerton Yards property, as it has “no plans for that right now.”

Dennis DeMara and Chris Strohler from the Wildlands Conservancy met with borough council in March to recap the progress and events with the Lehigh River Access Project.

Strohler, a senior conservation planner, said that Wildlands Conservancy previously approached the borough a few years ago.

Strohler said that the county owns a significant portion of the property just to the north of Dunbar Bottling Company and has agreed to donate 26 acres to the borough that the county and borough would subdivide.

Strohler said at that time they were very interested in the project, and that they had been talking to the Palmerton Restoration Trustee Council, which would provide funding for the construction of a boat launch.

He added that the location is a high priority for the Restoration Council to provide better access at this site.

Strohler said that as soon as the borough can take ownership of the county land and the other portion of the property at Dunbar’s Beach, the commission could then subdivide and transfer it into the borough’s ownership.

The borough does not own Dunbar’s Beach outright — it is owned by the Lehigh Canal Recreation Commission, for which the borough is one of seven members of the commission that own the Lehigh Canal through Carbon County.

Therefore, he said the borough would be able to have complete ownership for construction access and maintenance of the site.