Starbucks plans get board OK
TOWAMENCIN » It’s taken a few months longer than expected, but plans for a new Starbucks restaurant next to the Marriott hotel in Towamencin have now secured final approval.
Township officials voted unanimously Wednesday night to grant preliminary and final land development approval for the proposed Starbucks, after hearing the details discussed at length last month.
“This board approved the conditional use application on February 26th of this year, which some
how seems like a long time ago,” said attorney Carl Weiner on behalf of the applicant.
Plans for the Starbucks date to April 2019, when developer PSDC showed a new standalone restaurant surrounded with a drivethru adjacent to their Marriott hotel on the corner of of Sumneytown Pike and Towamencin Avenue.
The drive-thru traffic stacking was discussed last June, and in July, the board directed staff to prepare and advertise a code change allowing the new drive-thru restaurant use.
In September, the board approved that code change, and in January, the board held a conditional use hearing on the developer’s request that the drive-thru be allowed as associated with another use, in their case the hotel.
That use request was granted in February, and with subsequent supervisors meetings called off or moved online due to the outbreak of COVID-19, Weiner and engineer John Anderson gave the board its first look at the most recent revisions during the May 20 meeting.
The two summarized the concerns and comments received and addressed in a series of review letters subsequent to the February meeting, largely to do with the landscaping around the new building.
More screening has been added along the parking area between the main entrance off of Sumneytown Pike and the building, Anderson told the board, and the developer is proposing a low wall to prevent headlights from shining from the drive-thru toward the intersection of Sumneytown and Forty Foot.
“It’s a low wall that ties into an existing higher wall at the back of the Marriott hotel’s outdoor refuse area and loading area,” Anderson said.
“We feel that the added masonry brick wall, with the landscaping on either side, would actually be
“I would suggest the board consider this plan, that a condition also be that ‘the signage as presented tonight, be reviewed by township staff to make sure it’s in conformance,’ before the plans would be recorded.”
more of an enhancement to that area and prevent headlights from vehicles from interfering with the traffic intersection,” he said.
Review by the township planning commission also suggested that one parking spot shown on the plans be removed, to allow for more turnaround space on the driveway surrounding the restaurant, a change Anderson said the developer had no problem with.
Just past the wall, running along the corner closest to the intersection of Sumneytown and Forty Foot, is what’s shown as a grassy area on the latest plans, which Anderson said is due to a right-of-way for utility lines that run underground.
The review letters also call for the updated plans to show a formal agreement specifying that the Starbucks and Marriott will share their loading and unloading and trash areas, and that the stormwater runoff from the Starbucks site be channeled into lines running below the Marriott to a basin on the opposite side of Towamencin Avenue, conditions both said the developer will also comply with.
Lighting and signage plans for the new Starbucks have also been developed and vetted, and Anderson and Weiner said no new signs would be constructed for the Starbucks, but its logo would be added to the signs already in place for the hotel near that corner, with the distinctive green-and-white Starbucks logo to appear on all four sides of the new building.
“It’s designed to integrate with the architecture, and the color scheme, of the building. And it also blends in with the adjacent tenancy of the Marriott hotel, the culinary school, and also the Residences, for architectural features and also for signage,” he said, referring to other buildings on the same block.
Regarding lighting, Anderson said the lot where the Starbucks will be built already has lighting that was constructed with the Marriott, and the buildingmounted fixtures on the new Starbucks would only provide accent lighting but no new poles would be added.
“They’re not looking to light the drive-thru lane, or any portion of the area, with building-mounted lights,” he said.
Township engineer Tom Zarko said his main concerns with the latest version of the plans were that the shared loading and trash agreements be provided, which the developer said they would, and that the signage package be further vetted by staff.
“I would suggest the board consider this plan, that a condition also be that ‘the signage as presented tonight, be reviewed by township staff to make sure it’s in conformance,’ before the plans would be recorded,” Zarko said.
“That’s acceptable to us,” Anderson answered.
After further questions about details and specifics, the supervisors voted unanimously May 20 to direct staff to prepare preliminary and final land development approval resolutions.
Those resolutions were both approved unanimously Wednesday, after supervisors Chairman Chuck Wilson asked Zarko if the preliminary plan approval resolutions reflected the prior discussion.
“It does — it has every one of the conditions that was discussed with the board,” Zarko said.
Towamencin’s supervisors next meet at 7:30 p.m. June 24; for more information or meeting agendas and materials, visit www. Towamencin.org.