Board OKs Lidl plans for former Acme site
New supermarket to split former building
TOWAMENCIN >> Plans to convert the former Acme supermarket on Welsh Road into a smaller Lidl supermarket have gotten the final go-ahead.
Towamencin’s supervisors voted unanimously on Wednesday night to grant a waiver of land developed, clearing the way for Lidl to to move in.
“This has to do with the former Acme property, which is a 60,000-square-foot building on Welsh Road, over on the Lansdale border,” said supervisors Chairman Chuck Wilson.
“Lidl proposes to divide the building into two tenant spaces, and remove 29 parking spaces
in the rear of the building, to compensate for increased impervious area associated with adding some loading areas in the back of the building,” Wilson said.
In June 2018 Acme closed the supermarket, and since then township officials have fielded questions about whether a new occupant could and would be found for the site. In January, a team of consultats from Lidl, a German supermarket chain, presented plans to divide the building in half, and move into the half closest to Oak Boulevard while leaving the remainder vacant.
Lidl currently operates supermarkets in 27 European countries, with a total of roughly 10,000 stores and over 215,000 employees, company officials told the supervisors in January. In the United States, Lidl began opening stores in the summer of 2017 and now runs 62 stores, with seven more slated to open in Pennsylvania this year and the goal of opening the Towamencin store by the end of 2019.
During the January hearing, company representatives said doing so would require adding a new loading dock at the rear of their side of the building, and said dividing the building would better fit the company’s standard size model. The current driveway configuration onto and off of the property will remain, with landscaping added in places, and the parking spaces to be removed would be behind the loading dock area and converted into green space, according to the developers.
Township codes require that an improvement of a non-residential property, or division of a space within one, got through the formal land development process. Wilson said that’s a step the board was asked to waive since the building footprint would not change, only the loading area and parking spaces nearby.
“At our meeting on January 23, we authorized the preparation of a waiver of approval, that would list conditions that Lidl agrees to comply with, during the redevelopment,” Wilson said.
“So what we asked staff to prepare was the formal agreement, which is going to serve as a waiver of land development for that project,” he said.
Township engineer Tom Zarko said he prepared the waiver agreement, and “basically it mirrors” the discussion by the board last month.
“Lidl had indicated they were amenable with complying with all of the conditions which were laid out by the township staff, which are contained in the draft letter before you this evening,” he said.
The board then voted unanimously to grant the waiver of the formal land development approval process, the final step needed before the company can begin construction. Towamencin’s supervisors next meet at 7:30 p.m. on Feb. 27 at the township administration building, 1090 Troxel Road.