Rumors about a landing location for a proposed gondola traversing from The Flagstaff Ballroom down into Jim Thorpe have again picked up; however, county officials said there is nothing concrete for that landing location.

Tom Romanchik, owner of The Flagstaff, which sits on the top of mountain overlooking Jim Thorpe, asked the commissioners if a surveyor has been located regarding the matter.

Commissioner Rocky Ahner said that he wasn’t sure where the surveyor discussion stood after the county’s initial discussion with Romanchik about two months ago.

He noted that the county was looking at contacting a few surveyors for the request.

“I think this is a project that got to move forward,” he said. “I think it’s good for the area and we can’t just sit on these things.”

Commissioner Wayne Nothstein said there is a lot that needs to be taken into consideration.

“How is it going to affect the trail and crossing the trail?” he asked. “That’s what scares me the most; the safety of it. You have people going up and down that trail all the time with bicycles and whatnot. What is the foot traffic going to be? I’m not too concerned about the vehicle traffic, but the foot traffic of people crossing that trail, what is the liability that the county is going to have doing this? I have my concerns yet.”

Ahner said that while those are valid concerns, there are ways to address that, such as pedestrian gates or lights like other areas do for trail crossings on roadways.

He said that this would be good for the county because “We’re getting stale here.”

“I talked to a lot of the vendors up here and people are not going up Broadway. The (stores) are not getting a lot of people; they’re not staying here long-term,” Ahner said. “They’re coming in for the trains and then they’re leaving. That’s not helping the business in town.

“We have to keep the people here for a little bit longer.”

Commissioners’ Chairman Mike Sofranko explained that this was not a formal request made about the gondola ending in the county parking lot but rather an informal option of it ending on land owned by the county.

“The county obviously cannot commit to any of that property or anything without a proper survey or proper location,” Sofranko said, noting that Romanchik and his wife approached the commissioners regarding a possible landing spot for the gondola.

He agreed with some of Nothstein’s concerns for safety and the effect it could have on the D&L trail, as well as Ahner’s thoughts on the need to help businesses in the community.

Sofranko stressed that at this time, any landing location for the proposed gondola, which has been a dream of several developers over the past few decades, is purely a rumor.

“There’s no sale. There’s no survey. There’s nothing. Nothing has been decided,” Sofranko said. “It’s just an in-depth conservation. ... There’s been rumors all over and that’s well and good, but don’t believe everything you read. Don’t believe everything you hear.”

The idea of a gondola originating at The Flagstaff began as an April Fool’s joke published in the Times News in 1976, but has since become a source of discussion and planning by several developers over the years; ultimately, never coming to fruition.

Ahner said that at that time, those developers didn’t have the money to invest in such a project and funding fell through. But now, there’s an investor looking to again bring the project to the forefront and make the dream a reality.

“I think if it doesn’t happen now, it’s not going to happen,” Ahner said.

“There’s a lot of moving parts and not all those parts have been lined up,” Sofranko added.