Carbon County has cleared another early hurdle on the way to constructing a new office building in downtown Jim Thorpe.

Jim Thorpe Borough Council on Thursday night granted preliminary conditional approval for the county’s land development plan.

The project includes demolishing the former archives building and constructing a three-story, 66,279-square-foot building and parking garage next to the current 76 Susquehanna St. offices.

“There are some issues we are still digging into that will be addressed in the final plan,” said Kevin Marmas, senior project engineer for McCarthy Engineering of Boyertown.

Proposed to be built on the current parking lot on Susquehanna Street and connect into the 76 Susquehanna building, the project will include a two-level parking garage with approximately 110 parking spaces, and a third level office space that will house county offices, as well as a fourth courtroom.

Marmas said the project has received erosion and sediment control approval from the Carbon County Conservation District and, because the total disturbed area is under an acre, a National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permit is not required.

Jim Thorpe Councilman Jay Miller said his major concern with the project is vehicles turning in and out of the parking garage, especially during peak travel times like the afternoon rush hour.

The existing parking lot has two access points, said Eric Mountz, of Traffic Planning and Design Inc., but that will be taken down to one new driveway off Susquehanna Street with the new project.

“The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation was happy with that notion,” Mountz said. “In reality, this project will only result in about five new employees not already parking in the downtown area of Susquehanna Street and Broadway.”

Due to security reasons, county officials said, the parking garage will not be available for the public even after business hours or on the weekends.

A traffic study analysis was completed for the driveway leading to the parking garage.

“We’ve talked with the county about trying to stagger exit times so not all the employees are leaving at 4:30 p.m. at once,” Mountz said. “We looked at maybe 5- to 10-minute increments to spread traffic out.”

Several borough parking spots will be eliminated for a widened lane turning right into the parking area. Commissioners’ Chairman Wayne Nothstein said the county plans to meet with council members to discuss how to work out the lost revenue to the borough.

Engineer comments

Matthew Boggs of Entech, the borough’s engineering firm, submitted an updated review on Aug. 17 with comments that must be addressed before the borough issuing final plan approval.

Most of the comments deal with the number of parking spaces, height of a retaining wall, storm drainage, and rock face work, among other items.

In the comments, the county is asked to address the number of parking spaces.

“Previous plans indicated that 219 spaces (based on the one space per 200-square-foot requirement) would be available to the building,” Boggs wrote. “Current plans indicate 148 spaces are available including 100 spaces within the parking garage and 48 spaces on the off-site parking lot.”

Jim Thorpe’s zoning officer will determine if a variance will be required for a retaining wall in excess of 6 feet high between adjoining properties.

Boggs also recommends that increases in stormwater runoff should be controlled to predevelopment levels.

“There is a concern that the increased runoff from the project could be greater than the capacity of the receiving storm sewer system,” he wrote in his comments.

The project will be dealing with steep slope areas and major retaining walls/anchored rock faces to the rear of the building. The rock removal plan recommends rock bolts be embedded into the rock face at least 12 feet.

“The 12-foot embedment will encroach into adjoining properties,” Boggs wrote. “An agreement with adjoining property owners should be provided.”

The plan also recommends a rock catchment area be installed at the bottom of the rock face slope as a long-term maintenance feature.

Among the other conditions that must be met before final plan approval is the submission of a highway occupancy permit from PennDOT.