Concerns about road damage, financial risks and unanswered questions had some Jim Thorpe Borough Council members souring Thursday on a proposed timber harvesting project on municipal-owned land.

Keystone Timber and Forestry has proposed the sale of about 1,700 marked trees across a 128-acre tract. Company representative Cody Campion told council last month the disturbed area would be limited to less than 10 acres, confined to skid trails and landings. Access, he said, would come from Route 903 onto Center Street and then Reservoir Road.

Council President Greg Strubinger said Keystone representatives could not attend Thursday’s meeting and requested the matter be tabled until November.

“They did send a draft of an agreement, and our solicitor and I both reviewed it,” Borough Manager Maureen Sterner said. “Some comments went back, so they will be working to update that for next month.”

Some answers regarding the plan, council members said, remain incomplete. One point of concern is a fee written into Keystone’s agreement.

“There is a fee of $7,500 if, for some reason, the sale didn’t go forward,” Councilman Mike Yeastedt said.

Strubinger said he was frustrated by the tone of Keystone’s latest correspondence.

“I took offense to it a little bit, almost as if we were soliciting this and it was the other way around,” he said. “Just so everybody’s clear, they came to the borough. We didn’t go to them.”

Councilman Connor Rodgers said the costs tied to the project could outweigh any financial gain.

“The amount of money we’re going to need to put into restoring Reservoir Road, Center Street and any other costs associated with this are going to far exceed any money we get from the sale,” Rodgers said. “I voted against it before, and I’m not going to vote in favor of it. There’s no gain for the borough financially, or for the residents either.”

Strubinger asked Thursday night for the borough to press for a clear answer on who is responsible for road restoration.

With the proposal stalled, council weighed whether to end consideration of the plan or continue seeking more answers.

“If we don’t believe we have the support to move forward, we should say at this point we’re not looking to go forward,” Strubinger said. “Or should we let it go for another month to let some more questions be addressed?”

Sterner encouraged council to look through the information and the new agreement Keystone sent.

“If you have other questions, get them to me so that they can get us the answers,” she told the governing body.

The proposal is expected to return to council’s agenda in November.