A pair of land development plans in Palmerton, one of which pertains to the recently opened Dunkin' Donuts shop, have been shot down.

By a 5-0 vote on Thursday, borough council rejected the Joseph Bennett land development plan at 555 Delaware Ave. which houses the Dunkin' Donuts shop. Councilman Michael Ballard and council President Terry Costenbader were absent.Council turned down the plan based on compliance of the Municipalities Planning Code, as well as the borough engineer's review of the Subdivision and Land Development Ordinance.After the meeting, borough Manager Rodger Danielson said the plan rejection means "that the (borough) code enforcement officer will have to take a look and see where they are and are not in compliance with our SALDO plan, and whether to take any action to remediate any of those."The property, located at the former Bennett Palmerton dealership, also serves as a medical office for Blue Mountain Health System's new family practice physician, Dr. Syed Zia. The back end of the site has served as a Carbon Lehigh Intermediate Unit facility since 2010.In March, council met with Bennett concerning the property. That came after council agreed in February to grant Bennett an extension.In addition, council, on a 4-0 vote, with an abstention from Councilman Richard Nothstein, rejected the Cheng Land Development plan at 493 Delaware Ave.Again, council's rejection was based on compliance of the Municipalities Planning Code, as well as the borough engineer's review of the SALDO plan.Water leaks detectedAs part of his report, Danielson announced that the borough's water company completed a water leak survey throughout the borough."All we found was two very minor leaks," Danielson said. "The survey did not find any significant leaks, but the other part of it is we can't explain the discrepancy in water use."Also on Thursday, Nothstein reiterated his stance that the borough should still have a loud siren warning in the event of a large tornado.Councilwoman Holly Sell said she agreed, and added, "the people need to know where they can go for shelter."The borough does have shelters in the event of such an emergency.Danielson said such a scenario would result in more people on the streets, and added, "that could be more of a hindrance than anything."In an unrelated matter, Councilman Kris Hoffner praised the Palmerton Concourse Club"I'd like to personally thank the Concourse Club for the band concerts in the park," Hoffner said. "Once again, it's one of those things that makes our community such a nice place."