A plan to repave a section of the parking lot in front of Memorial Hall has hit an unexpected obstacle, Jim Thorpe Borough officials said Thursday night.

A prebid meeting, said Council Vice President Mike Yeastedt, revealed stormwater problems too serious to be fixed by a simple paving job.

Yeastedt said the borough had solicited bids for a section of the lot that sits between the building and Memorial Park.

“We put out for paving bids to do a section of the parking lot, sort of a giant rectangle section,” Yeastedt said. “What we found out is there were stormwater considerations. There’s runoff considerations that could not be mitigated simply by milling and grading the blacktop.”

The revelation came during the prebid meeting, before contractors formally submitted their proposals. Borough Secretary Brooke Klotz told council the bid deadline was still set for this week, but the project’s future was already in doubt.

“Most of the contractors basically said that they wouldn’t feel comfortable paving the lot knowing the issues that we basically have,” Klotz said.

Only one bid had been submitted as of Thursday. Klotz said the borough could reject it, as it had done recently when chemical bids came back unfavorable.

“At this point, we can deny the bids, knowing that we have a major issue,” she told council.