Huntington Township reviews proposed edits to subdivision and design standards covering plan triggers, road classifications and traffic thresholds

Huntington Township officials and staff spent the meeting reviewing proposed revisions to Articles 4, 5 and 6 of the township subdivision and land‑development ordinance, focusing on which proposals must go through preliminary and final plan review, how roads should be classified in a design‑standards appendix, and thresholds for traffic impact studies.

A staff presenter who said he had reviewed the drafts with “Scott” (first mentioned at SEG 006) told the group the draft is structured to require both preliminary and final plans for proposals of five or more lots, to require final plans in certain smaller cases, and to exempt plans that propose less than one acre of earth disturbance and do not require stormwater facilities. He said the intent of the edits is to “make sure nothing falls through the cracks,” and to align triggers with the practical needs of rural development.

On roadway design, the presenter walked members through a roadway inventory map and a functional‑class overlay that separates arterials, collectors and local roads. He and other participants noted that state and federal design standards apply to state roads while township design standards would apply to township‑maintained roads; participants urged the board to confirm local classifications with PennDOT ADT counts and with local engineering review before finalizing the appendix.

The draft also proposes using the map as a companion appendix that triggers different street‑width and construction standards. Participants agreed the map and standards may be more applicable in built‑up places such as York Springs than across most rural stretches of the township and asked staff to return with an engineering‑checked map.

On access and safety items, members discussed separate provisions for clear sight triangles and safe sight distance and asked that the draft explicitly reference the correct PennDOT or other accepted standards rather than ambiguous text. The board asked staff to ask Scott and an engineering reviewer to reconcile the language and move any technical math (grade, speed and sight calculations) into appropriately placed subsections.

Other substantive items discussed included proposals to require a minimum 50‑foot width for some flagged access drives (and to reconcile that with an existing 30‑foot reference in the zoning code), language around shared access drives to avoid unintentionally prohibiting existing situations, and a 24‑month landscaping replacement period that would begin after release from an improvement bond.

On traffic study triggers, staff proposed adopting a widely used trip‑generation threshold that would require a traffic impact study when a project is expected to generate at least 200 new daily trips or 20 peak‑hour trips. The presenter noted many jurisdictions use those thresholds and that the manual used is an engineering standard for trip generation; board members said they want to retain local triggers for some uses (for example, a sports complex) and asked staff to try consolidating existing code items into the proposed thresholds without removing locally important language.

The draft includes a recreation‑land section that would trigger dedication or a fee‑in‑lieu for developments that create more than 10 units; members discussed common practice in small municipalities of preferring fees‑in‑lieu because small land dedications can be hard to maintain or develop.

Staff assigned follow‑ups: engineering review of roadway classifications and sight‑distance math, a reconciliation of flag‑drive widths with zoning text, and circulation of sample solar‑access ("solar sky") easement language for the board to consider separately in zoning. The presenter said he will produce revised drafts for the next meeting and begin working on definitions and administrative/legal sections for later review.

The board did not adopt ordinance changes at the meeting; members directed staff to return with the engineering checks and revised language.