Several issues remain outstanding with regard to a proposed new elementary center in Lehighton.

On Tuesday, the Carbon County Planning Commission tabled the plan review and approved a 60-day extension request as long as the planning office receives a request letter from EI Associates by Friday.If no extension request letter is received, then the commission's recommendation to Lehighton Borough would turn to conditional plan rejection.Rob Walsh, engineer for EI Associates, said the company resubmitted the plans, which call for building a 100,000-square-foot center that houses kindergarten through fifth grades on 83.83 acres of land near the current Lehighton Area High School, and was requesting conditional approval. He said the district complies with zoning, subdivision and land development ordinances.He said several outstanding issues that remain open that are not in the district's control.Ivan O. Meixell Jr., county planner, said a letter from Lehighton on March 2, said "since no further reviews have been completed for this proposed land development, it would be imperative that the planning commission recommend to borough council conditional plan rejection based on outstanding issues in the review letter."Meixell said the borough approved EI Associates' request for an extension.He then outlined problems that remain that would result in a conditional plan rejection recommendation, with the outstanding highway occupancy permit as the largest problem.No documentation from Traffic Planning and Design Inc. has been provided about widening of Mahoning Street. Other plans call for lengthening of the turn lanes on Mahoning, as well as the intersections of Bridge, South Ninth and Union streets, and restriping.Walsh said that it had been suggested to go with modifications in the report, but once the school is built, then a traffic count study would be done to verify the numbers used.Meixell said that this permit needs to be obtained before plan approval because a new access road is to be constructed.Walsh said that many school projects he has worked on separate the HOP permit from the building project and most planning commissions allow that.He added that he will convey the commission's thoughts back to the owner.Other issues include:• Waiting on a soil erosion and sedimentation control plan and NPDES permit review by the Carbon County Conservation District.The conservation district received the permit application/plans on March 3 and as of March 9, the plan review has not been initiated due to projects ahead of this one.• Issues with the wetland delineation map.• A completed review by the Lehighton Sewer Authority listing the appropriate number of EDUs for the new center and an agreement between the school district and sewer authority for access from the pump station for emergency access.• A completed review by the Lehighton Water Authority stating that there will be adequate water supply to the proposed school.• A development agreement between the borough and school district needs to be completed guaranteeing the installation of improvements required, including curbing, sidewalks, off-street parking, parking lot lighting and stormwater management facilities.This is the third time in the past three months that this plan has come before the Carbon County Planning Commission for review and recommendation.The last two times, the commission recommended that the borough approve conditional plan rejection based on a number of major issues. Plans have since been reworked and resubmitted.