UPPER POTTSGROVE — Nearly four years after dissolving the township planning commission, the township commissioners may be preparing to bring it back, or at least something like it.
During the Monday commissioners’ meeting, the board voted unanimously to authorize the township solicitor to prepare an ordinance “to create a planning committee.”
The move, which was adopted without substantive commissioner comment, comes in the wake of Commissioner Cathy Paretti’s frequent requests to bring the planning commission back due largely to the number of development proposals flooding into the township.
It was early 2020 when the commissioners voted 4-1 to dissolve the planning commission. Paretti was among those voting to eliminate it. Former Commissioner Martin Schreiber cast the only no vote. Voting in favor of the dissolution were Paretti, commissioners’ Chairman Trace Slinkerd, Commissioner Dave Waldt and former commissioner Renee Spaide.
In a 2020 email response to questions posed by The Mercury regarding the rationale for dissolving the planning commission, Slinkerd responded: “The intent is to vote on rescinding the ordinance on 3 Feb; the rationale is to create a planning committee (a provision provided by the municipal planning code) that supports the governing board,” which is the board of commissioners.”
Slinkerd added at the time, “The majority of the board of commissioners feels that the current planning commission disposition does not do this.”
Asked what “supporting the governing board” means, and for a specific example of the planning commission not providing said support, Slinkerd declined to answer specifically.
The dissolution of the planning commission was proceeded by a concerted effort to get former commissioner Elwood Taylor off the planning commission that existed at the time and where he had served for 20 years. Arguing that having a township commissioner also serve on the planning commission put too much power and influence in the hands of one person, Slinkerd led an effort to have him removed.
It all stems back to February 2018 when Slinkerd, who was newly appointed as the commissioners’ chairman, initiated a discussion about the appropriateness of township commissioners sitting on other township boards and commissions.
It was July of 2018 when the commissioners were presented with Resolution 703 which bars commissioners from serving on any other township boards or commissions, or the boards of any other organizations that receive funding or donations from the township.
The commissioners voted 3-2 in August 2018 to adopt it with Taylor and Commissioner Martin Schreiber voting no, and Slinkerd, Vice Chairman Spaide, and former commissioner France Krazalkovich voting yes.
In September, the same 3-2 majority voted to oust Schreiber from the Civil Service Commission after he refused to resign.
Krazalkovich and Spaide voluntarily stepped down from their respective posts on the fire services committee and the parks and recreation commission, respectively, in order to comply with the resolution.
Elwood Taylor, left, and his attorney Joan London, prepare for a 2019 hearing on his challenge to the rule he must resign from the planning commission. (MediaNews Group File Photo)
But because state law lays out a specific procedure and — more importantly — requires a rationale for the removal of a planning commissioner, the most the board majority could do was a vote to notify Taylor that they intend to vote him off the planning commission.
The reason being used is his refusal to comply with Resolution 703.
In October 2019, a formal hearing was held in which Taylor tried to convince the people who had notified him he would be removed, that he should not be removed.
No action was taken and the point became moot after Taylor lost his reelection bid the following month, meaning that because he was no longer a township commissioner, he was no longer in violation of Resolution 703. However, he had one more year left on his term on the planning commission.
Three months after Taylor lost his reelection bid, the new board voted unanimously to dissolve the planning commission altogether.
It does not seem that the current board intends to re-create the planning commission it dissolved. Rather, the motion on Monday’s agenda mentioned “a planning committee,” not a “planning commission.”
According to the Pennsylvania Municipalities Planning Code, a ‘planning committee’ is made up entirely of members from the governing body (the board of commissioners), while a ‘planning commission’ is a separate group of appointed citizens who advise the governing body on land use and development matters. The key distinction is that the committee is part of the governing body itself, whereas the commission is an independent advisory board.”
It is not clear if creating a planning committee comprised entirely of members of the board of commissioners is in violation of Resolution 703, which prohibits commissioners from serving on other boards.
None of this was cutting it with Herb Miller, a former township commissioner who also served for 15 years on the planning commission and was also an alternate for the township’s zoning hearing board.
Speaking Monday, Miller said “I’m saying, as one who was 15 years on the planning commission, you guys are not going to go out to these sites. Give me a break. You need men or women who will go out and bring back to you, the facts, before you make a decision.”
There was no response to his comments from the board. The only public comment by the board was Paretti’s request that she at least see the ordinance creating the new planning body a few days before she is asked to vote on it so she can familiarize herself with its contents and provisions.
