A Front Street stormwater, curbing and sidewalk project Jim Thorpe borough hoped to begin last year won’t get underway until 2023 at the earliest.

Borough Council unanimously voted last week to delay the project at least a year after expressing concern that it may cost significantly more than the latest estimates showed in November.

“We’re concerned with the way gas prices have gone up and the situation in Ukraine, that costs may have increased to the point where we can’t do this work this year,” Borough Manager Maureen Sterner said.

Jim Thorpe was looking to replace old terra cotta conveyance pipes under Front Street in a project that would also update curbing and sidewalks from Center to South Street, impacting five property owners.

According to the most recent estimates, given in November, the entire project was slated to cost about $262,000.

Property owners were being asked to contribute to the cost of the project, in particular the curbing.

If property owners joined with the borough, the borough would cover most costs, including sidewalk installation, tree removal and design/application fees.

That would reduce the property owners’ cost down, according to the November estimates, to an estimated $27 per linear foot for curbing, for a total contribution of between $1,485 and $3,375 per property owner.

During a public meeting In February, the borough discussed offering no interest loans to residents in order to be able to move forward with the project.

“With price increases, there is a lot of concern this might be out of reach right now,” council President Greg Strubinger said. “Putting it off at least a year will also give residents extra time to save up in order to be able to do this.”

Putting the project on the shelf for now, Councilman Mike Yeastedt said, will allow the borough to divert some of the money budgeted for it to street paving projects.

“Our public service manager is putting a list of streets together that we could get done,” Yeastedt said.

Money budgeted for the Front Street project that isn’t used for street paving projects this summer could be put into the borough’s capital reserve fund, Strubinger said.