Lower Towamensing Township has approved a municipal land use letter for a permit for stormwater discharges associated with Palmerton Area School District’s upcoming construction.

Supervisors on Wednesday unanimously approved Palmerton Area School District’s NPDES municipal land use letter that stipulates that the school district has to submit with the permit application to the Department of Environmental Protection for an NPDES permit for stormwater discharge.

The project includes a land development of two proposed additions to Palmerton Area High School, additional parking, utility improvements, and on-lot stormwater management.

Current proposed projects include a one-story, 11,000-square-foot district administration office building to be located in the lawn area off the high school gymnasium, as well as a two-story addition to the high school that will house administrative offices and five new teaching spaces.

No parking ordinance

Earlier in the meeting, supervisors reviewed a traffic study memo from Hanover Engineering about parking along Fireline Road no longer being permitted for Palmerton Area School District events.

Supervisor Michael Takerer questioned whether a traffic study was necessary because there currently is no parking on Fireline there.

Resident Steve Kuhns, who serves on the township’s planning commission, noted that the district was told in 2017 that vehicles should not park there, and that if it isn’t enforced, he’s afraid there could be a fatality there.

It was then decided that the township would send a letter to the district to see if the district would pay the expenses with adopting a no parking ordinance.

The fees, estimated at roughly $2,000, would include the traffic study (about $1,000) the advertising of the ordinance, and the purchase of the no parking/tow away zone signs (about $1,000).

In September, Palmerton Area School District officials said that parking along Fireline Road will no longer be permitted for events after Lower Towamensing Township leaders reminded them that the restriction was part of a variance granted during a previous construction project.

District officials explained that the township directed the school to enforce overflow parking rules and require vehicles to use designated grass lots inside the fence along Fireline rather than the space next to the road.

Cones, provided to the district by Aquashicola Fire Company, were placed all along the area in question.

The stipulation goes back to 2017, when the district changed the stadium playing surface from natural grass to turf.