Ferguson Twp. community raises concerns over proposed Wawa
STATE COLLEGE — The Ferguson Township Planning Committee met on Monday, Nov. 17 to discuss the proposed 24-hour Wawa convenience store on North Atherton Street, which was met with various concerns from residents of the local community.
Wawa is a Philadelphia-based chain of convenience stores and gas stations located along the East Coast of the United States.
The committee recommended that these concerns be heard by the developer before the vote reaches the Ferguson Township Supervisors for a final vote.
One side of the proposed Wawa would be located on North Atherton Street, with the
other bumping up against the Overlook Heights neighborhood.
Residents of the neighborhood gathered at the meeting to share concerns about
potentially dangerous increases in traffic, noise and more as a result of the Wawa proposed location.
Kimberly Smith, planning and zoning director for Ferguson Township, said at the
meeting that to approve modifications requested by the community, “hardship
must be shown.”
Overlook Heights resident Bridget O’Meara raised concerns about an increase of noise
next to the neighborhood with the fueling stations, vehicles, signage, delivery trucks and
garbage collection.
“If you look just at the ordinances that the township has, a boundary with a residential
neighborhood during the nighttime, the sound has to be under 55 decibels,” O’Meara
said. “Maybe there’s (a) plan for noise mitigation… But if there is, it’s not easy to find,
and I don’t feel like it’s been demonstrated or it’s included in the plans. And so that’s a
concern throughout the neighborhood.”
For resident Rob Venema, the biggest safety issue would be the new traffic flow coming
through the neighborhood because of the Wawa. Venema said there are four main residential access points to Overlook Heights, and the
traffic in the neighborhood is at its maximum.
“We’re now introducing Wawa as a waypoint destination,” Venema said. “It relies on
heavy turnover, and therefore heavy traffic, to be a profitable business. During those
times of congestion, it’s very likely that people will try to circumvent traffic on the North
Atherton corridor by going into our neighborhood.”
PennTerra civil engineer Tony Fruchtl discussed the status of lighting for the
convenience store and other factors that could impact residents who live closer to
the site.
“The lighting plan, we can’t revise that until we get the other things worked out,” Fruchtl
said. “Where the poles go, parking spaces, trees, inlets, signage that you find on the
site — those will get tweaked last because they go to an outside consultant. We have to
wait for them.”
Venema said the Overlook Heights residents are trying to preemptively address that
problem, rather than accept the “wait and see” approach.
He urged local leaders to work with the land developer and Wawa to mitigate the
problem.
“I’m hoping that by going through the appropriate channels and taking the appropriate
steps that have been outlined for us, that will be successful in helping,” Venema said.
“We’ve had several meetings to rally the troops and get people out to these meetings to
stand up and voice their concerns. Hopefully that will be enough to solve the problem.”
Planning Committee member Bill Keogh announced at the end of the meeting that five
items would be recommended for approval prior to action from the board — barricades
in the development, further discussion with the right turn on Aaron Drive, the Aaron
Drive one-way, a rear property noise barrier for Wawa and controlled access off
Bergman Boulevard.
