Wawa Plan Turned Down In Newtown Township; Developer To Appeal

NEWTOWN TOWNSHIP, PA — Plans to build a 24 hour Wawa convenience store and gas station on the Newtown Bypass are headed to court.

The board of supervisors on Wednesday night voted to deny preliminary/final land development plans for the project, which has been the source of discussion and debate in the township for the past four years.

Supervisor Kyle Davis, who has opposed the location of the store from the start, joined John Mack and Elen Snyder in voting to deny the plan while Chairman Dennis Fisher and supervisor Phil Calabro voted against denial.

The developer of the project, Provco Pinegood, will likely be appealing the decision to the Bucks County Court of Common Pleas where a judge will ultimately decide its fate.

At the meeting, Provco’s land use attorney, John VanLuvanee, presented what he called a “clean plan” to the supervisors, meaning that there were no outstanding issues that needed to be addressed under the township’s land development ordinances.

Provco’s plan for the nearly five acre site at Lower Silver Lake Road and the Newtown Bypass depicts a 5,585-square-foot food market with six fuel dispensers and a canopy.

Plans show the store facing the Bypass with front and rear store access, pedestrian walkways, bike racks, one electric vehicle charging station, two air pump stations and 60 parking spaces, including three designated for ADA.

Access to the store would be off of Lower Silver Lake Road via a right in entrance only and a full intersection at the entrance to the store across from Crossing Community Church.

“This is not an application to determine whether or not a Wawa should be sited on the southeast corner of Silver Lake Road and the bypass. That’s already been determined and a special exception has been granted,” said VanLuvanee. “Tonight we’re looking objectively at a series of land development plans to determine whether they meet the ordinance. That’s the only issue before you tonight.”

VanLuvanee pointed to previous approvals by the township that opened the door to the project, including passage of an E30 ordinance in 2020 that added a combination gas station and convenience store as a special exception in the township’s office/research zoning district.

That curative amendment was aimed at addressing a validity challenge filed by Provco against the township for not providing for a combination fueling station and convenience store in its zoning ordinance.

The sale of gasoline as an accessory use to a retail operation had not been permitted in the office-research zone, or for that matter anywhere in the Joint Municipal Zoning Ordinance (JMZO) making the ordinance challengeable, VanLuvanee told planners in 2019. The company followed
through filing a challenge over the exclusion. That challenge remains active, according to VanLuvanee.

Passage of the E30 Ordinance allowed Provco to request a special exception from the township for the development of a combination convenience store and gas station. The zoning board approved that special exception in March.

On Wednesday night, Provco had come before the township seeking land development approval, the final step in what has been a lengthy process.

“At this point we have worked on this plan for four years. We have addressed all of your review comments. And we have what we consider to be a bullet proof plan,” said VanLuvanee.

Following Provco’s presentation, the supervisors weighed in on the vote.

“There are a lot people in the community who would like a Wawa and there are some who don’t,” said Chairman Fisher. “We worked to create the E30 ordinance and I believe Wawa has submitted a plan that has tried to follow that ordinance.”

Fisher also cited job creation and the site’s location away from major housing developments and at a low impact intersection as reasons for approval.

“I believe through the land development process that we, as a board, have more control then if this gets decided by the court,” he added. “I also believe that approving this saves us the related expense of litigation and related costs going forward.”

Supervisor John Mack disagreed with Fisher that Provco has followed the ordinance, saying he believes that “Provco is not making a good faith effort to follow our ordinances. In fact every step of the way it has challenged the ordinance and even calls things in the ordinance silly. They have no respect for our laws and no respect for our residents.”

Earlier in the meeting, Mack also questioned Provco regarding the hours of operation of the store. He argued that because there’s a residential use well within 750 feet of the property hours of operation should be limited.

VanLuvanee disagreed with Mack’s interpretation of the ordinance. He said the property is owned by the church and in a letter explains that there are three rental units on the property and that the church and the residents have no objection to the 24 hours of operation.

“Having said that you can certainly try to impose hours of operation. We have the right to appeal that. But that isn’t a basis to deny the plan,” said VanLuvanee.

Supervisor Elen Snyder expressed disappointment that the proposed project is not more environmentally friendly. “I don’t think you made any effort to do so whatsoever. Yes, you do have native trees. I appreciate that. Other than that there’s not much to address climate change in the future. I’m not down with that. I’m sorry.”

Snyder also raised concerns over the impact the Wawa will have on the local mom and pop gas stations. “We have gas stations that have been here for decades. What I’m worried about is that you will undercut them as far as the price of gas and I don’t want to see our home-grown businesses lose business.”