Mar 26, 2018 By Harry Funk staff Writer hfunk@thealmanac.Net 4 min read

Peters Township Council is scheduled to vote April 23 on approving the master plan for Rolling Hills Park.

At their March 26 meeting, council members agreed to place the item on the future agenda in response to a recommendation by township manager Paul Lauer.

“I really do believe this plan is in a position at this point to be adopted,” he said. “I think it would be good from a couple of perspectives.”

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“HRG has come up with a very innovative solution regardless of whether it’s a roundabout or a signalized intersection. Quite frankly, if you were a property owner, you would embrace because it improves your access, regardless.”

The master plan, completed in February, provides an outline for the future of the eastern half of the former Rolling Hills County Club property, off East McMurray Road. Peters Township School District is building a new $90 million high school on the western portion.

“To the extent that there are any opportunities going forward to acquire grant funding, it’s going to be necessary to have an adopted master plan as an official document of the township to be able to do those applications,” Lauer explained.

“And I believe the plan to be done. I think based upon the public hearing,” he said about the Jan. 15 opportunity for residents’ comments, “the plan represents what the community wants to see in their park.”

Lauer also said adoption of the plan would be favorable with regard to solidifying the design of the road planned through roughly the middle of the Rolling Hills property, to provide access from East McMurray and Center Church roads.

Municipal staff members have a meeting scheduled this week with project engineer Herbert, Rowland & Grubic Inc. for an update on the configuration of the East McMurray intersection, where two options have been discussed as possibilites.

“HRG has come up with a very innovative solution regardless of whether it’s a roundabout or a signalized intersection. Quite frankly, if you were a property owner, you would embrace it because it improves your access, regardless,” Lauer said. “From that perspective, I think people are going to be quite pleased with what they see.”

Staff members will share the specifics with council after HRG submits its drawings to the township.

Lauer also attributed delays in adopting the master plan to inquiries by outside entities expressing interest in possibly locating within the park. None so far has come to fruition.

In other business at council’s March 26 meeting:

• Council approved a resolution amending the township’s personnel manual to provide for a job description for an assistant planning director. The township now will advertise to fill the position, for which money has been appropriated in the 2018 budget.

Lauer said part of the job responsibility is to assist planning director Ed Zuk with the processing and approval of residential and commercial plans.

“Secondly, we hope that this individual would also be available to develop a more systematic and aggressive approach to the enforcement of property maintenance issues,” Lauer explained.

Another motivation is to provide for a potential line of succession, as the township has done with other departments.

“If Mr. Zuk were no longer available in that position, in fact we would have identified a person who could hold the department together or be the next person up,” Lauer said.

• Peters native John Henry Krueger was presented with a ceremonial key to the township for his earning a silver medal in the 1,000-meter speedskating event at the Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea.