Peters Township hosts meeting on its comprehensive plan
Peters Township hosted an open house on its still-in-the-works comprehensive plan last week, one of several steps that will be taken before the plan is finally approved by township council.
A draft of the plan, which weighs in at 101 pages, covers a wide range of areas, including economic development, infrastructure improvements, housing and transportation.
Wednesday’s open house was in the large group instruction room at Peters Township High School.
“What the plan does is set forth a community’s vision,” according to Laura Ludwig, a community planner with Herbert, Rowland & Grubic Inc., a civil engineering firm that is a consultant on the comprehensive plan. “It’s a roundup and policy guide for decision making.”
Under the Pennsylvania Municipalities Planning Code, communities are required to update their comprehensive plans every decade. The last time Peters Township approved a comprehensive plan was in December 2013.
The executive summary of the draft comprehensive plan states that the township is approaching “full build out,” and the plan “shifts the focus from expansion to thoughtful management of land, infrastructure services and community character.”
The process of putting together the comprehensive plan was started in April 2025, starting with an online survey, focus groups, community events and steering committee meetings. The draft of the comprehensive plan states that preservation of rural character, improved traffic and pedestrian safety and “thoughtful housing and development choices as available land becomes more limited.”
Some residents at the meeting expressed concerns about taxes, high-density housing developments being built in the township and farmland being preserved. Sommer Schueller, a planner with Herbert, Rowland & Grubic, said the plan is “heavy on potential. Nothing here is set in stone.”
The township’s previous comprehensive plan remains in effect until the new one is approved. Ludwig said it would likely be adopted by township council in September, after first going to Peters’ planning commission.