Would Wawa negatively impact a Ferguson Township neighborhood? Company hears from residents

Residents filled the Ferguson Township municipal building meeting room Wednesday night to hear from Wawa representatives about a proposed location that some worry will negatively affect the Overlook Heights neighborhood.

Mike Spiegel, real estate project manager at Wawa, gave an overview of the popular convenience store and explained why the location along North Atherton appealed to the company. He also fielded questions from would-be neighbors of the project, many of whom raised concerns at a township meeting last month.

The proposed location, 169 W. Aaron Drive, State College, is ideal because it’s at a major intersection with a traffic signal, Spiegel said. The traffic signals are beneficial to allow customers, employees and delivery vendors to move safely in and out of the site, he said.

“When we found this location and decided this was going to be a great location for us as one of our two first sites that we signed here in Centre County, the other one being in Benner Township outside of Bellefonte. We know that this is where we want to be. I’m not saying that these are the only two, there are more to come,” Spiegel said.

He acknowledged there are some challenges to the site and it is not the “typical” site for Wawa. The store would be 5,330 square feet, which would make it one of Wawa’s smaller stores due to the site layout.

The building itself will be 22 feet high, with the top point of the tower 33 feet high. The top of the canopy slope over the gasoline pumps will be 21 feet. The current building on the lot is 19 feet high.

Neighbor concerns

More than 40 Ferguson Township residents went to the meeting to share concerns and ask questions, most of which were similar to comments shared during a recent township meeting. Traffic, noise and environmental impacts were among the most discussed topics.

Because the location is planned to be open 24/7, one resident asked about the potential of drunk and rowdy college students coming to the Wawa and the neighborhood after a night out.

“We’re not within the borough itself so I think the mass of students, especially the ones visiting the bars, are probably not going to be driving — hopefully they’re not driving — all the way out here to go to just Wawa,” Spiegel said.

Wawa has locations in college towns such as Gainesville, Florida, he said, and have experienced what the college atmosphere provides. A manager is on every shift and associates are trained to know when someone should be asked to leave. And though this proposed Wawa intends to sell beer and wine, the doors to that area are locked after a certain time so people can’t even buy it.

Tony Fruchtl, the PennTerra engineer on the project, said traffic studies and counts have been done, and Ferguson Township and PennDOT are reviewing the traffic study.

No traffic counts were done in the neighborhood.

“I believe the consideration from both PennDOT and the township is this is not going to generate traffic through your neighborhood,” Fruchtl said. Several residents pushed back on that, saying people already cut through the neighborhood to get to Atherton Street or Aaron Drive. The representatives said they would bring those concerns back for further consideration.

What’s next?

Wawa has not yet submitted a formal land development plan, but a variance request was submitted. The township’s zoning hearing board will hear the request at its next meeting and potentially make a decision.

The developer requested a variance from the township’s zoning ordinance that “prohibits all structures from being located in the setback.” According to the request, a 110 square foot variance is needed for a gasoline canopy. The current building, which was formerly a car dealership, encroaches in the setback, the request states, and removal of that building will result in reducing the setback encroachment from 1,625 square feet to 110 square feet.

The Ferguson Township Zoning Hearing board is set to meet 7 p.m. Sept. 26 in the meeting room of the municipal building.

Township manager Centrice Martin encouraged residents who want to stay involved with this project and approval process to sign up to receive emailed meeting agendas via the township’s website.