Royal Farms store taking shape
Neighboring pre-school use may be requested
UPPER GWYNEDD >> While one new business takes shape at one of the busiest corners in Upper Gwynedd, a near neighbor is starting to seek approvals.
Township officials heard an update Monday night on the nearly-complete Royal Farms fuel station and store at Sumneytown Pike and Church Road, and a potential neighbor could be next.
“Royal Farms is almost done: we’re getting close to starting, it would seem, after a slow start on that site,” said planning and zoning officer E. Van Rieker.
In August 2019 the township approved a final version of plans that had been up for discussion since early 2016 for a new Royal Farms fuel station and restaurant, surrounded by two retail buildings. Those talks began roughly a year after a Giant supermarket located on the
site had closed; according to MediaNews Group archives, that supermarket had been built as a Genuardi’s in 1977 after approvals the year before.
Developer Hartford Properties held a formal hearing in August 2018 on plans for a fuel station and convenience store surrounded by two retail buildings; talks continued through October 2018 before the board gave conditional use approval in November 2018, and the Royal Farms site developer has hinted that a transfer for a liquor license request could be made for alcohol sales at the store.
What was left of that supermarket building was demolished over the past winter, and in recent weeks the new occupant has taken shape: a brick-and-tan Royal
Farms store, with a canopy covering the adjacent fuel pumps and freshly installed landscaping surrounding the site.
“I think it’s a great improvement, to what was really a run-down property for a number of years,” Rieker said.
The zoning officer did not have a specific opening date for the Royal Farms station Monday night, but a sign posted on the corner says “Coming soon,” another says “Spring 2021” and an online listing for the property says “this spring.”
Those listings also contain site plans and aerial photos of the entire property, and it’s the buildings behind the fuel station that may be up for discussion soon. The approved plans feature two rectangular retail buildings along the edges of the site, one on the northern edge facing Sumneytown Pike and totaling roughly 10,620 square feet, and one on the eastern end of the site facing toward Church Road and containing 13,884 square feet; Rieker said the board and public could learn more about at least one potential occupant soon.
“The applicant has asked you for permission to hold a public hearing, to consider a conditional use for a day school, in one of the two buildings yet to be built,” he said.
“We don’t know the details, much, on that yet.”
Township Manager Sandra Brookley Zadell added that the hearing with more information could be held at one of the commissioners’ April meetings, scheduled for 7 p.m. on April 12 and 20, and Rieker explained what the commissioners could be asked to decide.
“This is a use that is authorized in the zoning ordinance, but requires a special hearing, to be considered by (conditional) use,” he said.
“You, the commissioners, become the jury, so to speak, in determining whether or not they meet the conditions that are established in the zoning code, and then any general recommendations that you might have,” Rieker said.
The property listing for the site gives one other hint: documents show the building on the north side of the property, facing Sumneytown, has a “signed letter of intent with national daycare/preschool” for 10,620 square feet of that building — and the other building, facing toward Church, is listed as “signed LOI with 1,560 square feet of fast casual sandwich concept.” The listed real estate contact for that site has not yet responded to a request for comment.