September 2008 ––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– Page 25 UNION-FINLEY–––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– MESSENGER
Peters Township Council Approves Traffic Impact Fees By J.R. Brower Peters Township Council unanimously passed an ordinance that enacts traffic impact fees at their August 11 meeting. These fees will be imposed on developers and are calculated based upon predicting the number of trips generated by a development during peak traffic hours. The proposal creates two traffic service areas in the Township. The northern area would have a fee of $1,359 per peak hour trip, and the southern area fee would be $1,344. Bob Getz of Trans Associates, which was contracted by the Township to develop a long-range traffic improvement plan, explained that the amount of the fees are not unreasonable compared to those of other municipalities that have adopted them. Peters will be the first municipality in Washington County to have the fees. Councilman Robert Atkison believes these fees may slow development. “Developers may just bypass Peters and go to Cecil, North Strabane, and Nottingham,” he said. Developer Woody Welsch expressed opposition to the impact fees, stating that the cost of building new homes is already very high. He even suggested that Council consider a one-mill tax increase. Councilman David Ball was not sympathetic, stating that the cost of the impact fees will be passed on to the homebuyer. All of this is tied into Council’s recent passage of the Transportation Capital Improvement Program, a 20-year plan to improve the Township’s roadways and traffic patterns. Trans Associates has worked with the Township’s Traffic Impact Fee Committee in planning for future roadway projects that will cost about $72 million, the majority of which will be paid for with state funding. The traffic impact fees will be used to help pay for the Township’s share of these projects, and they will be collected when building permits are issued. In another matter, Parks and Recreation Department Director Michele Harmel and Board Member Dorothy Schwerha gave reports to Council on the work that is being done to improve athletic fields and the parks. They also named three outstanding volunteers for this year’s Volunteer of the Year Award. Recognized were Shelly McIntosh, Joe Bastyr, and Jeremy Brannen, all of whom are involved in the Township’s athletic associations. In other new business, Fred Marra, who resides at 416 E. McMurray Road, expressed concerns about PennDOT’s
planning work for a project that will add an additional turning lane and traffic light to the intersection of Center Church Road at the top of the hill. Marra said that PennDOT has placed stakes 28 feet from the road into his yard, indicating that they plan to take a large chunk of front property to widen McMurray Road. Dissatisfied with PennDOT’s responses to his inquiries, Marra decided to contact the Township staff and Council. He wants to know why McMurray Road can’t be widened equally on both sides for the intersection project, and he is deeply concerned that his property value will decrease significantly. Councilman James Berquist said that improvements have to be made, because this is one of the most dangerous intersections in the Township. Township Manager Michael Silvestri said that the state has the right of eminent domain in deciding where to take property for the road improvements on McMurray Road, which is state-maintained, but the Township would have some say in the matter as Center Church Road is a Township road. He said that there will be some type of public hearing on the matter, and added that this project probably won’t get into full swing until late 2009 or 2010. On another topic, Council decided to proceed with plans for expansion of Peterswood Park by approving an agreement with JMT Engineers to provide plans for grading, parking, field development, a pavilion, a trail, and basic utilities. The total cost for these design plans is $96,520. Despite Councilman David Ball’s complaint that they “were not getting that much for the money,” Council passed the agreement with the caveat that they could terminate the agreement at any time during the process. Silvestri said that it is good to proceed with the planning to become better informed of the actual costs to make better future financing decisions. In other matters, Council: • Allowed lot line shifts for the Moritz/Terra Plan giving the Moritz property full access to McDowell Lane and the Terra property frontage on Washington Road. • Permitted Carol Tedori to split her 21acre property on E. McMurray Road into three lots: one for the Heritage Meadows townhouses plan, one for the Changing Seasons Learning Center, and the remaining 15 acres that could be developed for housing. • Approved a bid of $8,590 from Folino Construction to improve a storm water pond in Stonehenge.
Washington Camera Club Meetings Washington Camera Club will hold a meeting September 2 at 7 pm, at which Printing Basics in Photoshop Elements will be presented. The meeting will be held in Room 104 of the County Annex Building behind the Washington Court House. The club’s September 16 (same time and location) meeting will include a special presentation by Bob Agnew, President of the Photo Selection of the Academy of Arts and Sciences. For more information, call Ray at 724-225-5842. Everyone is welcome to attend.
Nottingham Township Seeks to Upgrade Township’s Computers By J.R. Brower At its regularly scheduled meeting on August 18, the Nottingham Township Supervisors agreed to begin plans to update and rewrite their Zoning Ordinance, which has not been revised since 1982. As a result of growth and changes that have occurred in the township, oftentimes situations arise that are not covered in the present zoning regulations, according the supervisors. The township retained the services of Planning Consultant Roberta Sarraf, who has done similar work for nearby municipalities. She plans to go through the ordinance to see what is needed to get it up to date. “We’ll start by reviewing the ordinance, then meet with the Planning Commission to see what their needs are. We’ll see what they recommend and why, and then we can begin to draft changes,” she explained. In another matter, Township Treasurer Shirley Madar presented her case for upgrading the township’s financial software program and computer hardware. At a previous meeting, Madar had indicated that at of June 2009, the township’s financial systems vendor, Freedom Systems, will no longer support the version of the financial software Nottingham uses. The options were to upgrade to their newer version of the software or go with a new vendor. She said that she has had good communication with RA Services of Butler regarding their computer services and has researched its services and the other townships it serves. The quoted price for the financial software and service agreement with RA Services would be $10,199 as compared to a cost of $21,000 to continue with Freedom Systems, said Madar. The plan also includes purchasing new Dell computers for the new software, and Madar said that funds were already in place to cover the costs. Representatives from RA Services will provide training for the new applications, and Madar hopes to be able to prepare the next township budget on the new system. The proposal was approved by the board, 3-0. Supervisor Peter Marcoline reported on the first meeting between Finleyville and Nottingham on their Joint Multi-Municipal Comprehensive Plan. Their first work will be to go through the original joint plan between Union, Carroll, and Nottingham townships, which never came to fruition,
and decipher what applies to the two municipalities and mark with disclaimers. The overall purpose of the joint plan is to work together to get state support for future projects that benefit both communities. The next order of business was a discussion of the ongoing legal battle with the defunct Mon View Mining Company to recover about $58,000 owed in back taxes. The property is primarily in Union Township, with a portion in Nottingham, and without notice Mon View Mining failed to recognize Nottingham as a party of interest when the property was put up for sale. Currently in bankruptcy proceedings, the property is being purchased by Coal Financing, LLC. A payment of $1 million was made on July 31, and the transfer tax was also paid. Another payment of $1 million is expected to be made on October 30. Supervisor Marcoline said that an estimated $22 million worth of coal lies beneath the property with about $4 million worth in Nottingham. The board approved a motion to retain the services of attorney Alan Cech to fight the matter to try to get the full value of Nottingham’s money for their tax liens. Marcoline is confident that with applied legal pressure, they will be able to do so. Supervisor Douglas King then presented a motion to enter into an intergovernmental agreement with Ringgold School District to be able to gain access to their 10,000-gallon diesel fuel tank located at the Ginger Hill Bus Garage. He said that they would be able to get fuel from the tank in emergency situations, such as inclement winter weather, and they would use a debit type card to account for the fuel taken. The measure passed unanimously. Also a topic on the agenda was the recent natural gas leasing boom in southwest Pennsylvania, which is getting much attention in resource-rich Nottingham Township. Two informational meetings were held at the Township Building on August 12 and August 19. The agenda also stated that Washington County was to have held a seminar on natural gas drilling and exploration for local governments at the Courthouse Square Building on August 21. The major player in Nottingham appears to be Chesapeake Energy, which, according to Chairman Raymond Barley, has bought a lot of shallow well leases and now wants to lease 600+ acre tracts to drill into the deeper, more profitable Marcellus shale layers.