On Thursday in Palmerton, the first of two Community Development Block Grant public hearings was held.

David Bodnar, planning director for the Carbon County Office of Planning and Development, explained to borough council on Thursday that the purpose of the hearing was to receive input and comments from residents for use of the CDBG 2014 funds for the borough.In fiscal year 2014, Bodnar said the borough will receive $91,354. Of that, $74,911 would be for project implementation, while the other $16,443 would be for administrative costs, he said.Bodnar noted that the funding amounts are approximations, as exact amounts have not been received from the Department of Community & Economic Development.Pre-applications for entitlement communities are due by Friday, April 11, Bodnar said. The second public hearing will be held in June or July, he said.Formal applications will be submitted to DCED in August or September, Bodnar said.After the meeting, borough manager Rodger Danielson said the borough would utilize its portion of CDBG funding to add several ADA compliant intersections, and hopefully do more paving of streets.That would mean the addition of ADA compliant intersections at Fifth and Lehigh Avenue, and Sixth and Lehigh Avenue, as well as potentially paving the 400 block of Lehigh Avenue, Danielson said."It's a continuation of what we started at Lehigh Avenue," Danielson said. "Intersections have become very costly to install, often in excess of $20,000 to $25,000 per intersection."Danielson said the borough has some money to pay off what was already completed on the 200 and 300 blocks of Lehigh Avenue.