PPL Electric Utilities is seeking about 17 acres of Jim Thorpe borough watershed land for a substation project. Borough officials say the utility could take the property by eminent domain if a sale can’t be reached.

Council voted Thursday to allow PPL to survey the land and to invite company representatives before the borough’s water committee after officials found themselves reading the utility’s proposal two different ways.

PPL submitted a 15-day packet to the borough valuing the land at $4,000 per acre.

An electric utility must mail property owners a disclosure notice by certified mail and then wait at least 15 days before it can negotiate for a right-of-way. The regulation requires that notice to disclose the utility’s condemnation power, the owner’s right to counsel, the right to refuse an offer and the right to a public hearing.

Council members said the company has indicated it would prefer to buy the property outright.

“They reference that they’d like to do it cordially, but they could take it by eminent domain,” Councilman Mike Yeastedt said.

Borough Manager Maureen Sterner confirmed that reading, and said the survey request before council carried little weight either way.

“Same thing with the survey, which is what is before you today; it is just permission for them to complete a survey,” Sterner said. “They really don’t need our permission.”

How much land PPL actually wants proved to be the sticking point. Yeastedt said the packet appeared to request 133 acres of borough property, out of roughly 375 acres the borough owns. That figure gave him pause.

“After reading over this, I would like to better understand what they’re proposing to do,” Yeastedt said. “A hundred thirty-three acres seems rather large for a substation.”

Sterner said her understanding was different. The 133 acres describes a single parcel that straddles the borough line into Penn Forest Township, she said, and only part of it belongs to Jim Thorpe.

“That 17 acres of that 133-acre parcel is ours. The rest of it is not Jim Thorpe’s,” Sterner said. She pointed to an email sent to council members earlier in the month setting the $4,000-per-acre valuation for approximately 17 acres.

With the two interpretations unresolved, Sterner recommended bringing the company in.

“If you want to set up a meeting with them to come and discuss this with you, then that’s probably a good idea, since we’re interpreting this in different manners,” she said.

Yeastedt raised a second question council did not settle Thursday.

“I don’t have a problem with the survey,” he said. “I guess the other question is: Is $4,000 an acre a fair price?”

Council members also discussed the packet at the Oct. 1 workshop, where they said PPL appears to be planning a distribution substation near an existing distribution line that already crosses borough property. Officials noted the company is early enough in the process that the final substation location may not yet be set.

Council President Connor Rodgers said the water committee was the logical venue for further discussion given the property involved.

“Certainly, it’s on the watershed property,” Rodgers said. “I think that would be a fair committee.”

Yeastedt made the motion to approve the survey and request the meeting. It passed unanimously.