Ferguson Township’s Board of Supervisors on Monday approved a land development plan for construction of a Sheetz on a portion of former Harner Farm property at the corner of West College Avenue and West Whitehall Road.
The 6,077-square-foot convenience store with a drive-through will be constructed on 5.6 acre lot to the southwest of Whitehall Road. Plans include six fuel pump islands, 47 parking spaces and a 1,048-square-foot car wash.
Jenna Wargo, township director of planning and zoning, said lighting proposed for the property meets township ordinance requirements. Mark Torretti, project manager for PennTerra engineering, said the fuel station will not have the typical lighted red canopy, and a rendering showed a darkened canopy at night with lighting on the underside focused on the pumps below.
Access to the property will be from West College Avenue and West Whitehall Road. A traffic study calls for left turn signals, which can be phased for time of day and traffic volume, at the Whitehall Road approaches to College Avenue. It also includes the addition of a right turn deceleration lane for entering the driveway along College Avenue at the south end of the lot.
The College Avenue access will have a stop sign and can be used for right- and left-turn entrance and exit. Ronald Seybert, township engineer, said PennDOT accepted the results of the traffic study and found it met requirements for service and safety.
Following a request by the Harners and developer Whitehall Aspen, the township approved in June 2018 rezoning about 71.9 acres of the 105-acre Harner Farm for commercial and residential use. The property, which is surrounded by commercial and residential development, is within the regional growth boundary, and since 2000, it has been designated as mixed-use in the regional comprehensive plan land use map.
Whitehall Aspen completed the purchase of the 71.9 acres in November 2018 for $5.6 million.
Prior to approving the land development plan on Monday night, supervisors approved a four-lot subdivision for part of the property. That included the 5.6-acre Sheetz lot, another 3.68-acre commercial lot, a 0.603-acre rural agricultural lot where a Harner family home will remain, and a 16.568 single-family residential lot.
Supervisors also approved a 36-lot subdivision plan for the single-family residential site, called the Orchardview subdivision, which will eventually have homes on lots ranging from .25 to .50 acres.
Aspen Whitehall suggested in a concept plan presented in December 2018 that the 3.68-acre commercial lot could contain a mixed-use building for retail, offices and apartments, but have not yet submitted any plans.
The developer has not presented plans for the remaining 45 acres of purchased land, about 28 acres of which is residential and 17 acres commercial.
The Harners are maintaining the remaining 33 acres for downsized fruit and produce production and their farm store.
