East Hanover Township plans to remove traffic impact fees

This article was funded by LebTown donors as part of our Civic Impact Reporting Project.

The East Hanover Township Board of Supervisors unanimously agreed to advertise an ordinance eliminating traffic impact fees at its monthly meeting April 28.

Township manager Erik Harmon communicated to supervisors that the planning commission has been discussing traffic impact fees, and the need to either update or remove them, for around 18 months

“Our planning commission, generally, believes that we should just eliminate the fee instead of update it,” said Harmon. “There’s nothing that would prevent us from, sometime in the future, reinstating it, but we’re looking at a good bit of work whether we update it now or update it five years from now.”

East Hanover’s code of ordinances establishes transportation impact fees for new developments, calculated by taking total cost of road improvements in a Transportation Capital Improvements Plan within an area and dividing by the estimated peak-hour trips generated by new development. The ordinance specifically references the 8th edition of the Trip Generation Manual by the Institute of Transportation Engineers, which was last updated in 2012.

Supervisors also unanimously agreed to advertise an ordinance increasing supervisor compensation, though the increase would only go into effect for new terms. Compensation has not been increased in over 10 years, and new legislation setting maximum salaries has recently passed.

Harmon said the township’s population determines maximum salary, with a max of $3,145.

Supervisors will vote on eliminating traffic impact fees fees and increasing salary at their May monthly meeting.

In other news, the board unanimously:

• Approved a $22,600 proposal from Andrew Martin for an addition to the rec shed, which will enable additional storage.
• Agreed to vacate Levitz Park Road, which will allow supervisors to open and close the roadway’s gate.
• Selected low bids for stone and asphalt products.
• Agreed to approve a stormwater management exemption for the property at 10804 Jonestown Road.
• Approved bills and minutes.
• Approved a time extension for the Kreider Farms development.
• Accepted a donation of a mill stone from a resident.

The East Hanover Township Board of Supervisors meets the fourth Monday of each month at 7:30 p.m. These meetings are open to the public and do not require prior registration.