Term limits set for Peters Township impact fee committee members

Peters Township Council has reappointed three members to the municipal Impact Fee Advisory Committee who for the first time are subject to term limits.
Following a Jan. 7 vote in favor of an ordinance to establish three-year limits, council approved continued service on the committee by Arthur Schwotzer for one year, Jim Dolanch for two and Kim Clackson for three.
The committee, which reviews Peters’ program of assessing developments with regard to their impact on the local traffic system, also includes all five members of the township planning commission for the duration of their appointed terms.
“I think it’s important we establish terms so that, in fact, we’re not having people serve on that board in perpetuity,” township manager Paul Lauer explained to council members prior to their vote on the ordinance.
Its approval was by a 6-1 vote, with Monica Merrell opposing. She and council member Gary voted against the committee members’ appointments.
The ordinance also calls for the service of between seven and 15 members on the committee, even though the total remains at eight for now.
“Our experience with this group is that they make decisions by consensus, and I don’t really think that it having an even number poses a concern from the standpoint of good government,” Lauer said, noting that the committee generally meets once or twice a year.
According to the ordinance, membership is to include “three members of the real estate, commercial and residential development, and building industries. These three members may be either residents of the township or conduct business within the township.”
Schwotzer founded Crossgates Inc., a full service real estate development and construction company, in 1958. Dolanch leads a Century 21 Frontier Realty team, and Clackson, a retired professional hockey defenseman who played a season with the Pittsburgh Penguins, is a senior vice president with CBRE Group Inc., a commercial real estate services and investment firm.
The township established its traffic impact fee program in 2008 with the stated purpose “to ensure that the transportation system is available and adequate to support existing volumes of traffic and traffic projected to be generated by new growth and development.”
Duties of the advisory committee include making recommendations with respect to land use assumptions, the development of comprehensive road improvements and impact fees; monitoring and evaluating a transportation capital improvements plan established in conjunction with the fee program; and calculating fee revisions.
Last year, the committee recommended setting the fee throughout the township at $1,500 per trip, calculated using an afternoon-peak-hour rate identified by the Institute of Transportation Engineers. Council approved the measure in May, representing the first time the fee had risen since its inception.
A portion of the money accumulate so far will be used to offset the cost of building an access road through the former Rolling Hills Country Club property, where Peters Township School District is building a new high school and the municipality plans to develop a park.