Jim Thorpe Borough Council voted unanimously Thursday to ask the state to relocate a bus stop, siding with a Lehigh Avenue business owner who sent an attorney to make his case in person.

The letter to the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation requesting the relocation of the bus stop at 5 Lehigh Ave., cites safety, accessibility and congestion concerns.

Attorney Keith Strohl, representing property owner Bob Wisocky, addressed the council during public comment, saying the stop, used by bus companies including Fullington Trailways, had created ongoing problems that were interfering with his client’s use of the property.

“We’re just running into problems on our end with the bus companies interfering with my client’s ability to use his property, and we don’t want it to also create a nuisance where we’re constantly calling the police because they’re disrupting things, littering,” Strohl said.

Police Chief Joseph Schatz said he had already been in contact with Trailways after the property owner first raised concerns. At a work session last week, he told council he had looked into the situation and discovered multiple bus lines listed the address as a stop and that the stop had become a bathroom problem.

“I think people are getting dropped off there, and then they’re going in to use the bathroom,” Schatz said at the workshop.

At Thursday’s meeting, Schatz told council the stop had existed at that location before the property, which is now home to the Lentz-Koma Insurance Agency, was purchased and that his department’s position was that the borough is not a suitable location for a bus stop at all.

“I explained to the busing company that it’s not a good area to be in, and that it should probably not be in Jim Thorpe,” he said. “We’re congested the way it is.”

Strohl told the council he did not expect much resistance from PennDOT, suggesting the agency typically follows the lead of local governments on such matters.

“If you have a bus stop and you tell them where you want it, they generally don’t have any objections to moving it,” Strohl said. “They would basically filter it down the line to the busing company, saying this is where you’re supposed to stop.”

Council President Connor Rodgers said the issue had been discussed at last week’s work session and that the council was aligned heading into Thursday’s vote.

“There are a lot of issues with that existing stop, and I’d like to see it moved,” Rodgers said.