Board votes down Wawa

Traffic, driver safety still top concerns as revised plan for convenience store, gas station is rejected

UPPER GWYNEDD » After nearly four hours of discussion Monday night, Upper Gwynedd’s commissioners voted down another version of plans for a Wawa fuel station and convenience store on Sumneytown Pike at Church Road.

“Based upon numerous outstanding issues identified in the consultant review letters, comments, reports submitted by all parties, including by Provco, the township and Merck, and the failure of the applicant to demonstrate before us tonight that the numerous issues have been resolved, I hereby make a motion to deny” the project, said Commissioner Jim Santi.

At issue is the southwest corner of Sumneytown Pike and West Point Pike, where developer Bruce Goodman, operating under the name Provco Pinegood, has for the past year been proposing a plan to combine two current lots, where the Sumney Tavern and Country Bride and Gent bridal store are located, into one larger lot for a Wawa fuel station and convenience store.

In July, the township commissioners voted down an earlier version of plans for that site, citing concerns about the traffic that would be created, and safety concerns for drivers entering and exiting. Similar concerns were the subject of nearly four hours of talks Monday night, as attorney Marc Kaplin led a team of consultants made the case for a revised version of the plans, arguing the applicant had already met the conditions in the township’s subdivision and land development ordinance.

“We’ve demonstrated compliance with all of your SALDO ordinance requirements, with regard to engineering, stormwater, sewer, et cetera, so we’re down to traffic,” Kaplin said. “You can’t find a single place in your ordinance that requires a traffic study, or gives Mr. Heinrich, or anybody else, the right to recommend to you that you turn down a plan because of the traffic study.”

Andy Heinrich, the township’s traffic engineering consultant, was the subject of roughly two of the four hours of discussion, as Kaplin and his traffic engineer, Matt Hammond, took issue with Heinrich’s review letter evaluating the updated version of the project.

The main changes to the version since it was voted down in July focused on the driveway entrances leading into the proposed Wawa. Instead of one driveway from each main road, the updated versions featured two driveways from Sumneytown into the site, one two-way and one rightin-only with a deceleration lane leading into the turn. A second deceleration lane was also added on the West Point Pike side of the property, which the applicants said would give drivers heading into the Wawa time to safely make the turn, and would pull traffic flow off of the main roads.

“If they cannot enter and exit these facilities in an efficient manner, during peak hours, they don’t go. It’s as simple as that,” Hammond said.

A lengthy discussion ensued, in which Hammond

and Kaplin argued that the driveway entrances would create space for traffic stacking and safe areas for drivers. Heinrich reiterated concerns in his review letter that drivers could have to cross at least two lanes of traffic on Sumneytown Pike to make a left turn into the site, while heading west, or to make a right off of the site then go left onto West Point Pike, and he said he thought the western driveway was not far enough from a nearby rail bridge to provide adequate sight lines.

“I think the underlying issue here is traffic safety, and as I’ve said a couple of times now, I don’t think the plans demonstrate that safe egress can be provided on this site,” Heinrich said.

A team from Merck, including attorney William Kerr, Merck Executive Director for Global Facilities Management Steve Mongiardo, traffic engineer Richard Reiser, and environmental engineer Gary Emmanuel, stated the company’s concerns over the project: that it would cause backups past Merck entrances and lead drivers to turn around on Merck properties, and the runoff could impact Merck properties and disrupt the long

term road improvements and environmental plans that Merck and the township have developed in recent years.

“Our position is, you can’t approve this applicant. There’s just too many issues,” Kerr said. “For all the reasons: the zoning, the traffic, the stormwater, we think you don’t have any choice but to deny this applicant.”

Both the applicant and the township cited similar examples of other Wawa stores and stations built on intersections near main roads, arguing that those cases showed drivers would, or would not, follow signs prohibiting certain turns across traffic. The Merck team argued the company’s roughly 6,000 employees in the township would be directly impacted by the Wawa, and Mongiardo said if the Wawa plans were approved, the company could reconsider whether to proceed with planned upgrades to its buildings there.

“The employees and local residents will see a major downgrade in their ability to navigate traffic. Due to that negative impact, we’re going to likely rethink any future expansion, or changes to the site.

Our employees need to get to and from work, and that factors heavily into our decisions,” he said.

Kaplin and his team argued that Merck was trying to, in Kaplin’s words, “muscle out” Provco and Goodman by trying to purchase the property while the Wawa plans were still being discussed and said the developer had complied with all of the conditions requested by the township and its consultants.

“We’re open to working with the township on tweaking this, if that’s what needs to be done, but we’re going to all end up back in court, again and again,” Kaplin said. “Merck may not be going away, but Provco and Goodman are not going away either, so please look at the objective facts here and approve this plan.”

Several township residents stuck out the nearly four hours of testimony to share their thoughts, including resident Bruce Boucher, who said he has lived in the township for roughly 35 years and opposed the project because of the hazards to pedestrians and drivers.

“I’ve driven down Sumneytown Pike, gone down

that hill from Merck. I know people pick up a little speed, and that whole thing reminds me of how Route 309 used to be: people go out and in, and it just looks like an accident waiting to happen,” he said.

Resident Christine McDade said she walks and bikes to and from the Merck sites and was worried about pedestrian and bicyclist safety near the added traffic, and resident Vicky Wile said she and her neighbors “don’t feel this project does anything to add to the charm or the uniqueness of Upper Gwynedd.”

After a roughly seven minute executive session, the board reconvened, and Santi said staff had prepared two motions ahead of time, one approving the Wawa plans and one denying.

He then read the motion to deny, saying the township’s staff and solicitor would work to provide a formal written decision within the next 15 days.

“It’s not about popularity. It’s not about whether some entity pays $15 million in taxes ... It’s not about any of that,” said Solicitor Jim Garrity. “It’s about whether or not these plans and studies they have done comply with the township zoning ordinance, and comply with the township SALDO ordinance.”

The Upper Gwynedd commissioners next meet at 7 p.m. Dec. 12 at the township administration building, 1 Parkside Place. For more information or meeting agendas and materials visit www.UpperGwynedd.org.