A property owners association and a businessman who operates campsites on his property near Lehigh Gorge State Park will be in court this week.

A judge will hear arguments on whether Sunrise Ridge Property Owners Association waited too long to appeal a zoning hearing board decision dealing with a cabins and tent campsites on a nearby property.

The property owners are appealing a decision by the Penn Forest Township Zoning Hearing board to allow Scott Dietrich to operate four tent camping sites and four cabins for campers on his property in the township.

In May, the township zoning hearing board granted a special exception to allow a camp use in an R-2 zoning district. Dietrich’s property has a street address of Acacia Drive.

Dietrich has two tent campsites listed for rent on the website Tentrr.com. The website describes itself as the Air­bnb of camping.

Sunrise Ridge says that the board abused its discretion because it granted the special exception despite Dietrich not meeting the requirements.

Dietrich argues that the property owners appealed the case too late — more than 30 days after the zoners made their decision.

In a motion filed Sept. 18, Sunrise Ridge POA attorney Geoffrey S. Worthington asked the court to strike the answer and new matter filed by Dietrich.

Worthington says Dietrich must limit his arguments in the case to the issues which the property owners appealed.

The property owners’ appeal itself, which is not part of the hearing, argues that when the zoning hearing board made its decision, it didn’t include the criteria for a special exception.

The lawyer for the zoning hearing board said that during the hearing, Dietrich demonstrated that he complied with all the requirements for a special exception. That includes testimony that the traffic from the campsites wouldn’t be a problem, and the 400-acre site is large enough that the camping won’t impact neighbors.

The hearing will take place at 1:15 p.m. Thursday.