Palmer Pulls Out of NIZ Lawsuit

became the latest -- and one of the last -- municipality to pull out of a lawsuit against the Allentown hockey arena project.

Since it was announced that the Legislature had decided to discontinue allowing to help fund the project, the Palmer Township Board of Supervisors thought it was time to pull the plug.

"It's good to get this out of the way," Supervisor Bob Lammi said. "We were never against the project. We were against taking taxes from the township to pay for it."

The motion was approved 3-0 at Tuesday night's supervisors meeting. Supervisors Dave Colver and Robert Smith did not attend the meeting.

Several municipalities, led by Hanover (Northampton) and Bethlehem townships, filed suit against using taxes collected from residents who work within Allentown's Neighborhood Improvement Zone to pay for the proposed $220 million ice hockey arena complex.

The taxes were earmarked to repay bonds issued by Allentown to fund economic development projects.

Hanover Township was expected to vote to withdraw from the lawsuit as well Tuesday night.

State Rep. was among members of the Lehigh Valley House Republican delegation who voted last month to discontinue the practice.