PJM stakeholders often divide into factions, but the split that emerged in a Members Committee discussion Thursday had nothing to do with long-running battles over demand response, capacity market rules or uplift. Rather, the issue was where these battles should be fought.

For the last two months, Members and Markets and Reliability committee meetings normally held at the Chase Center in Wilmington, Del., were relocated to PJM’s Conference and Training Center in Valley Forge, Pa., to avoid traffic tie-ups resulting from repairs to a highway bridge in Wilmington. With the bridge now reopened, the two senior committees are scheduled to return to Wilmington in September.

But some stakeholders — and PJM staff — would like to abandon Wilmington and hold the meetings in Valley Forge, where lower-level meetings have been held since the CTC was completed in July 2012.

Supporters of the CTC location cited its proximity to PJM staff, only some of whom regularly attend the MRC/MC meetings. Chief Financial Officer Suzanne Daugherty said PJM spends about $150,000 annually to hold meetings at the Chase Center, not including staffers’ mileage payments and travel time.

Others, particularly those whose companies are based south of Philadelphia, said Wilmington was preferable because of its location near an Amtrak station. Valley Forge lacks mass transit and requires those outside the Philadelphia area to make a long drive or rent a car after flying or taking a train into the city.

Ed Tatum of Old Dominion Electric Cooperative said the trip to Valley Forge can take him at least five hours by car. Moving all meetings to Valley Forge, he said, could result in “a cottage industry of people who live in this [Philadelphia] area and only get to the home office once a month.”

Tatum said any decision should consider not only PJM’s costs but members’ travel costs.

Lisa Moerner of Dominion Resources said “there is no good option to get to Valley Forge” from her Richmond, Va., base. “Wilmington is much easier for those coming from the south,” she said.

Marji Phillips of Direct Energy suggested using the Cira Centre, next door to Philadelphia’s 30th Street Station.

PJM officials said they would explore their options, including one suggestion that it offer shuttle buses to transport members to the CTC from a nearby train station.