The Palmerton Zoning Hearing Board will hear a request this week for a former tavern to be converted into a four-unit apartment building.

Garrett Kistler will go before the board at 7 p.m. Wednesday for the former Heimbach's Bar property at 487 Lehigh Ave.Kistler must obtain a special exception for the conversion, along with variances related to area, parking, handicap parking, screening and nonconforming uses.The sketch plans call for two one-bedroom and two two-bedroom apartment units.Borough zoning officer Duane Dellecker said the property is located in a Residential/Light Commercial (R-3) zoning district. Conversion of an existing building into one or more dwelling units requires a special exception use.Another section of the borough's zoning ordinance requires a minimum average of 4,000 square feet of lot area for each apartment unit.Dellecker said the plans submitted indicate a lot size of 47 feet by 125 feet, or 5,875 square feet.A total lot area of 16,000 square feet would be required to accommodate the requested number of apartment units, Dellecker said.Another section of the zoning ordinance addresses conversions of existing buildings and requires dumpster screening, an issue Dellecker said Kistler would have to address.Other sections of the zoning ordinance will require the submission, review and approval of a land development plan before building permits are issued, he said.Regulations require two off-street parking spaces for each dwelling unit and one off-street parking space per conversion apartment that only includes one bedroom or is an efficiency unit. The proposal, as submitted, requires six off-street parking spaces, while the sketch plan submitted indicates four off-street parking spaces, which requires a variance from that section of the regulations, Dellecker said.The ordinance prohibits parking areas from being designed to require or encourage parked vehicles to back into a public street in order to leave a parking space, Dellecker said. Plans call for vehicles leaving the parking area to back into Fifth Street, which requires a variance from this section of the regulations.Handicapped parking was also not included in plans. Any parking lot including four or more off-street parking spaces shall include a minimum of one handicap space, Dellecker said.The ordinance requires each dwelling unit to include a minimum 500 square feet of enclosed, habitable, indoor, heated floor area, not including areas shared among dwellings. The proposal, as submitted, does not specify the square footage of any of the four dwelling units, he said.Another section of the zoning ordinance deals with abandonment of nonconforming uses, Dellecker said. As the former use of this building as a tavern was nonconforming, and its use has been discontinued or abandoned for more than 365 consecutive days, subsequent use of such building or land shall conform with the regulations of the district in which it is located, Dellecker said.