Convenience store and gas station chain Rutter’s is looking to expand its presence in Centre County with a new location in the State College area.
The York-based company’s second location in the county would be along Blue Course Drive at the West College Avenue intersection in Ferguson Township, according to a preliminary subdivision plan and discussion at Monday’s township planning commission meeting.
Rutter’s opened its first Centre County location in 2020 at 731 Rishel Hill Road in Benner Township.
The new project, though, has several steps to go through before it could move forward and a land development plan has not yet been submitted.
“Certainly we’re not in land development but we hope to be soon,” Tim Bieber, site development and project manager for Rutter’s, said.
PennTerra Engineering submitted on behalf of M&G Realty — Rutter’s real estate development company — a preliminary subdivision plan to split a currently vacant 9.234-acre lot owned by John Imbt into a 6.313 commercial lot, where the gas station would be located, and a 2.921-acre stormwater management lot.
Planning commission unanimously recommended approval of the preliminary subdivision plan.
As part of the subdivision plan, sidewalks would be added along Blue Course Drive and West College Avenue, connecting with the sidewalk in front of the neighboring Blaise Alexander Hyundai property.
Bieber said the company anticipates a traffic impact study will result in a signalized intersection at the Blue Course Drive entrance to the property as part of the land development plan. That entrance driveway would then connect to Old Block Road along the Blaise Alexander property, creating road and driveway borders around each side of the planned Rutter’s.
A formal agreement outlining responsibilities for maintaining Old Block Road, which is currently a private drive, is expected during the land development process, Bieber said.
The subdivided stormwater parcel would continue to serve other nearby Imbt-owned properties but not the Rutter’s lot, which would have its own stormwater management.
Rutter’s will need to go through pre-application meetings with the township for the traffic impact study and stormwater plans before the land development approval process would begin, Ferguson Township Director of Planning and Zoning Jenna Wargo said.
“They’re working on traffic and stormwater,” Wargo told StateCollege.com. “The township requires pre-application meetings for those two items just because of how extensive they are and all of the requirements in order to meet them prior to submitting a land development plan.”
A Rutter’s spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment about further details of the project.
