Pine Raises Transportation Impact Fee to $1,300

It's been 10 years since the Township of Pine raised its transportation impact fee.

The Board of Supervisors voted 4-1 Monday to raise it to $1,300 from its previous rate of $948.02.

Supervisors Frank Spagnolo cast the only dissenting vote.

"It is a tough time in this township," said Spagnolo, whose family business custom-builds homes. "It's an additional cost."

The fee is paid at the time a developer applies for a building permit, according to the ordinance passed by the supervisors.

It will not apply to "grandfathered" homes in developments that already have been approved by the Board of Supervisors.

Despite a complicated formula for figuring how much to charge, Assistant Township Manager Scott Anderson explained it very simply: The $1,300 fee is charged for each new home.

The impact fees are used to fund transportation improvements that are needed because of new land development, according to the ordinance.

Shortly after adopting the new fee, the supervisors voted unanimously to spend $16,120 of the money raised by those fees on improving the intersection of Babcock Boulevard and Warrendale Road near Pine-Richland High School. 

Installation of a traffic signal and addition of a right-turn lane there already are planned as part of the project to renovate and expand Pine-Richland High School.

The township's part of the project calls for it to pay for relocating a utility pole and adjusting another pole so the turn lane can be lengthened.