Lower Towamensing supervisors discusses plans this week for a feasibility study for the Chestnutridge Trail.

Chairman Brent Green said he met with representatives from Palmerton, the Carbon County Planning Commission, and the Wildlands Conservancy this week about the study.

The idea for the study came from the Wildlands Conservancy in January when Christopher Strohler, a senior conservation planner for the conservancy, spoke to the Palmerton Borough Council. Green said the conservancy owns a 20-acre parcel in Lower Towamensing Township and the incomplete trail runs through the property.

Revitalizing trail

Started in the 1990s, the trail was supposed to transform a rail line, previously owned by the Chestnut Ridge Railway Co., into a trail for hiking, walking and biking. Since then, it has become overgrown, damaged with potholes, and is almost nonexistent, Green said at the supervisors meeting this week.

Although trail creation is not part of the mission of the conservancy, Green said they thought completing this trail and making it useful to the public would be a good thing to do. They offered to act as the planning agency on the project and to be co-applicants on a grant application to the Department of Natural Resources. The other applicants would include the municipalities connected to the trail — Eldred Township, Lower Towamensing Township and Palmerton.

“This is not something they usually do,” Green said about the conservancy. “It just shows their level of commitment to it.”

The feasibility study would cost about $60,000. The DCNR grant would cover half of the cost, which would leave the other half to be covered by the municipalities. The majority of the trail — about seven miles of former rail line — lies in Lower Towamensing Township. Smaller portions are in Eldred Township and Palmerton. The trail would run continuously from Eldred to its end at the ballpark on Seventh Street in Palmerton.

The cost

“We would share that $30,000 contribution,” asked Supervisor Jay Mullikin during the supervisors’ meeting.

Green said yes, the municipalities would split the $30,000, with Lower Towamensing covering 75 percent of it and Eldred Township and Palmerton covering the remaining 25 percent.

Mullikin asked, “75 percent of $30,000, what is that — $22,500?”

Green said yes, but said the amount could be reduced because some businesses have expressed an interest in making donations to help offset the cost. The conservancy mentioned a possible donation, as did Blue Mountain Ski Resort with a possible donation of $10,000, but nothing is in writing yet.

“There seems to be a lot of support,” Green said.

Mullikin said he is fine with doing a feasibility study; he just doesn’t want to spend $30,000 on a study. Green agreed that paying for a study takes money away from the construction of the trail, but he understands why the Wildlands Conservancy suggested it. The study would detect any problems before construction would begin.

Green said he expects most of the work in Lower Towamensing will be done with the sewer easement planning.

“I think that’s always been the game plan,” he said. “The only issue is we have to go for those easements sooner than what this grant will allow us, so we can’t use that work for the match. Otherwise, we would have had it covered.”

The other option would be to delay the sewer project, he said, but no one on the board wanted to do that.

Once the funding is secured for the study, the supervisors can vote on the project and submitting the grant application at their meeting on April 14. The grant application has to be submitted to DCNR by April 22.

The other municipalities will have to vote on it as well. If all of the municipalities support it, then the grant application will be submitted. If the grant is awarded, then it will take about a year and half for the feasibility study to be completed, Green said. It will be a few years before the trail is finished, but he is supportive of the project.

“It’s proven that trails boost the economy,” Green said. “Small businesses crop up in communities where the trail runs through.”