Palmerton Area School District directors said Tuesday night they could support a five-year tax abatement plan for Northface Development’s proposed warehouse park at the former New Jersey Zinc West Plant.

George Petrole, chief operation officer for Northface Development in Palmerton, originally proposed a 10-year tax abatement program that would help him build four approximately 500,000-square-foot warehouses, one each year starting in 2022, on the property located just off Route 248.

Under the Local Economic Revitalization Tax Assistance program, the school district, Palmerton Borough and Carbon County would excuse a percentage of the additional tax revenue the buildings would bring in after they are constructed.

“We met last week with representatives from the borough and county and the consensus was that we may be looking at a five-year agreement rather than a 10-year agreement,” PASD Board President Kathy Fallow said. “I think it was a wise compromise. Mr. Petrole will be at the commissioners meeting on March 11. We are essentially in a holding pattern right now until some of those further discussions take place.”

When Petrole presented to the school board last month, he proposed that in the first year of each building being constructed, 100% of the additional tax revenue would be excused, followed by 90% in the second year in and so on until after 10 years, the full additional tax amount, estimated by Petrole to be $466,583 for the district, would be collected.

School board member Barry Scherer said they did not discuss what the percentages would be under a five-year plan.

“Nobody knows for sure what the tax revenue will look like until the first building would receive its certificate of occupancy from the borough and it is assessed by the county,” Scherer said.

Petrole said the LERTA would give Northface an advantage in getting companies to come in and wanting to invest in Palmerton.

“We thought at one time there would be 25 office buildings on that site,” he said. “That isn’t happening. This is the highest and best use for the property and it allows us to develop the property in the quickest way possible.”

Petrole said the tax abatement would help him keep leases reasonable and attractive.

“If companies can get a lease someplace else at $2 a square foot less, that is where they are going,” Petrole said.

Last week, Palmerton Borough Council said it would support Northface moving its point of access from Route 248 into the development 600 feet to the east. The current proposed access point is to the western end of the property, closer to Bowmanstown.

As for the LERTA, Fallow said the duty of drawing up an agreement would rest mostly with the borough and county.

“The percentages for the tax abatement, a lot of that will go into the borough’s recommendation and we can either piggyback off of that or ask for something different,” she said.