Startup costs are plaguing a proposed Flagstaff Mountain development to the point that the man behind the project is asking Jim Thorpe Borough to modify a ten-year-old agreement.

Plans for Jacob Arner's 86-lot Canyon Rim Estates have been on the table since 2003.In 2005, Arner agreed to pay $153,000 to the borough for improvements to Flagstaff Road, which adjoins the first two phases of the development, in exchange for relaxed subdivision rules related to curbing and lighting.Ten years later, Arner is asking to begin construction of the development before the road improvement money, which has jumped to $217,000 through an agreed upon inflation index, hits borough coffers.“We've hit a few roadblocks,” Arner said at Thursday night's Jim Thorpe council meeting. “I'm proposing to pay the road improvement money out of lot sales in order to get started building. I'm also offering a mortgage on 40 acres that will equate to 10 lots in the second phase of the development. The first lot sales will go to the borough until the amount is paid in full. It's a more secure agreement than we have now.”Although Arner asked for a motion related to his proposal, council did not put the matter up for vote.Solicitor Jim Nanovic said he advised council members to review the original agreement and get a current estimate on what the Flagstaff Road improvements will cost.“It's completely up to council whether this new proposal makes sense for them,” Nanovic said. “I just want to make sure that inflation index is accurate. For example, the cost of living index may be two percent, but I know when I go out to buy milk, it's a greater than two percent. I don't know if the scale is accurate in regards to Flagstaff Road.”Councilmen Tom Highland and Curtis Jackson feel Arner is asking taxpayers to front the startup cost of his business.“You're doing that in the hopes you sell something to give us our money back,” Highland told Arner.While he's backed Arner's development since it was pitched, Jackson concurred with his fellow councilman.“You are asking the community to bear this cost,” he told Arner. “It is your responsibility to pay for the road improvements.”Arner sees his proposal as a way to put the borough in a more guaranteed position of getting its money for Flagstaff Road.“If I'm unable to go forward, there is a chance you won't get the Flagstaff Road money,” he said. “I'm contributing money to the borough which taxpayers would normally pay for road improvements. There is really no commercial money for developments right now. I have to do something like this to try and make the project happen.”The project, according to Arner, would increase Jim Thorpe's tax base and bring jobs to Carbon County during construction.“It's something we desperately need right now,” he said.