One of Jim Thorpe Borough Council’s first actions of 2022 could be a zoning amendment that will clear the way for a Ferris wheel to return to the historic Flagstaff Park.

Tom Romanchik, who along with Catherine Jaindl-Leuthe, purchased the Flagstaff for just over $709,000 at a sheriff’s sale last year, asked council for the amendment because a Ferris wheel is not a current permitted use in the R2 district under the borough’s zoning ordinance.

“This opportunity kind of came out of the blue,” Romanchik said. “I had an opportunity to purchase a Ferris wheel that is similar to what was originally at Flagstaff. It is a Nittany wheel made in State College. I have to make a decision on it and that is why I brought the request to council.”

Council unanimously voted Thursday night to have its solicitor, James Nanovic, draft the zoning amendment and advertise a public hearing on it for the Jan. 13, 2022, council meeting.

“It’s a pretty easy call to me,” Council President Greg Strubinger said last week in support of the amendment.

There is recent precedent for allowing a Ferris wheel at the property. In November 2018, Jim Thorpe businessman Andrew Roberts was granted several variances by the borough’s zoning hearing board for a Flagstaff Park project that was to feature a five-story, 45-room hotel and restaurant, ballroom, gondola system connecting to downtown, a Ferris wheel and 340-space parking lot.

A Ferris wheel was originally installed on the property in 1915.