Newtown Township Settles Wawa Litigation; Store Coming To The Bypass

NEWTOWN TOWNSHIP, PA — It’s official. Wawa is coming to Newtown Township.

On Wednesday night, the board of supervisors voted 3 to 2 to approve a stipulation and settlement agreement with Provco Pinegood, LLC that will end ongoing litigation and allow it to build a Wawa gas station and convenience store on a 4.95 acre parcel of land on Lower Silver Lake Road at the Newtown Bypass.

The agreement settles all ongoing litigation between Provco and the township. It also resolves disputes over signage and the number of gas dispensers and adds several new elements to the project, including EV charging stations and solar panels to power the new store and gas station.

Provco had sought a myriad of signage for the site, including a large, illuminated message center sign that would have displayed gasoline prices. It had also sought eight gas dispensers, according to township lawyer David Sander.

Under the agreement, Provco has agreed to reduce the number of fueling dispensers to a maximum of six. It has also agreed to an "extremely limited" number of signs, including two monument signs and two building-mounted signs, said Sander.

Provco has also agreed to install solar panels on the side of the fuel dispenser canopy facing away from the Newtown Bypass and to include EV charging stations in its parking lot.

"The majority of the board felt it was important to promote the use of solar energy and Provco pushed back on that," said Sander. "They said they couldn't do it in Pennsylvania because there is no reimbursement program. The board insisted on it and finally obtained a plan from Provco and a commitment to install panels on the side of their canopy facing the sun."

The agreement also includes a provision that Wawa designates a liaison who will be responsible for interacting with the community.

"The fact that a Wawa will be on this property is a forgone conclusion. It will happen," said Sander. "The question becomes what type of Wawa does the township wish to see? Does it wish to see one with large, internally illuminated signs and other signage on the bypass or does it wish to have something a little less demonstrative that would also contain fewer gas pumps and provide for several important environmental aspects that are important to the majority of the board?"

The agreement comes seven months after the supervisors voted in Oct. 2022 to deny preliminary as final plans for the proposed convenience store. Voting to deny plan approval were supervisors John Mack, Kyle Davis, and Elen Snyder. Voting in favor were chairman Dennis Fisher and Phil Calabro.

Provco responded by filing a land use appeal notice in November. Since then, the township and Provco have been in settlement talks. Provco also filed a validity challenge against the township's ordinances and was in the process of making its case before the township's zoning hearing board.

"If they win in court, which all of the lawyers indicate that they would, we would have no control whatsoever. So I’m going to stop the bleeding of Newtown dollars,” said Supervisor Elen Snyder who joined supervisors Dennis Fisher and Phil Calabro in voting in favor of the agreement.

"A vote against a settlement at this time will not stop this Wawa from coming here," added Snyder. "Ending this litigation imposes limits on what they can build as far as pumps and signage. They already own the land and as such they're entitled to build according to the law," she said.

"Believe me when I say there are no amount of solar panels or electric charging stations to make me vote for this in the first place," added Snyder. "I'm not voting for a Wawa. I'm voting for an end to this litigation, which is seemingly endless."

Supervisor John Mack, who voted against the settlement, predicted the vote would be the beginning of "Newtown Zoning Armageddon.

"It's good to know our attorney doesn't think he can win a case and that's the message that going to be sent to all the developers," said Mack, predicting that other developers "are going to come in complaining that our ordinances are unconstitutional. Already we have a validity challenge from Kuschner Real Estate for its planned 240-unit apartment building on Lower Silver Lake Road. There's a slippery slope that's happening here."

Chairman Dennis Fisher responded to Mack, "Some of that is pure speculation. Some are issues we will be fighting together. There's going to be a Wawa there. The zoning hearing board allowed for this use so they're coming. So it's a matter of whether we get some of the things we want or they get it all their way."

Fisher is referring to a zoning hearing board decision in 2020 to grant Provco a special exception, which essentially gave Provco permission to develop the site. At that same hearing, though, the board rejected relief for Provco's signage and gas dispenser request, which resulted in Provco's validity challenge.

At one point during the discussion, Supervisor Kyle Davis motioned to table the vote, arguing that the community hadn't had a chance to read the details and to respond to the agreement. His motion failed 3-2.

Davis raised a concern that had not yet been discussed or addressed. That concern has to do with people, and especially children, attempting to cross the Bypass to access the Wawa.

"It's dangerous and it's probably going to be a matter of time until something horrible happens. That's four lanes at a major intersection. Some kid is going to try and cross at some point," he said.

Davis has been a consistent vote against the Wawa project from the beginning. He initially voted against locating the store in the OR zoning district. "I really didn't want to see a gas station on the bypass in Newtown," he said.