Centre County Planning Commission approves Wawa plans in Penns Valley. What’s next?

The Centre County Planning Commission approved plans for two new developments and a subdivision Tuesday, including final land development plans for a highly-anticipated gas station and convenience store in Penns Valley.

A Wawa, which will be located at 2892 Earlystown Road in Potter Township — a former Snappy’s location — saw its final plans unanimously approved by the commission. Approval by the township’s supervisors and planning commission are the final steps before Wawa can break ground.

With a memorandum of understanding between Wawa, the county and township approved by the county commissioners in late May, the planning commission offered sparse feedback on what was called a “standard” development plan by County Planner Chris Schnure.

The 6,577-square-foot gas station — which is the third planned Wawa location in Centre County — will be located at the corner of Earlystown and Old Fort roads, near Sheetz and a Dunkin’ location. Access to the Wawa will be made available from both roads.

It will offer eight gas pumps for 16 total vehicles, a canopy over the pumps, underground fuel storage tanks, an air station, a trash corral and a window to pickup online orders.

Forty-seven parking spaces are also included in the plans — three of which will be American Disabilities Act spaces, and another three will be 42-foot-long spaces for trailers. A special parking feature to accommodate Penns Valley’s Amish residents is also included.

“At the request of the township, right next to the trash recycling area, we will be adding a hitching post for the area’s Amish folk,” said Tony Fruchtl, the PennTerra project manager overseeing the project. “It is our understanding that Sheetz has one and that it gets used there, so it’ll get used here too.”

Wawa will lease the land for this location from the Smith-Pletcher Home Association, which is associated with the Smith-Pletcher American Legion Post. The existing structures on the property will be removed, Schnure said.

A timeline for construction has not yet been made available.

It’s been two years since plans for Wawa’s first location in Centre County were submitted, but neither that project along the Benner Pike, nor another planned location in Ferguson Township near Champs Sports Grill have broken ground.

Wawa officials have not responded to requests for updates from the Centre Daily Times.

The Benner Pike Wawa’s plans have already been approved by the township. In Ferguson Township, planning and zoning director Kimberly Smith wrote in a recent email to the CDT that a preliminary development plan for the Wawa was submitted in late June, and will be reviewed by the township’s planning commission in August.

The other two plans approved Tuesday night by the Centre County Planning Commission were a 7,000-square-foot storage warehouse for Continental Real Estate — located in Benner Township at the former site of Handy Delivery in the Airport Park development along High Tech Road — and the subdivision of a lot jointly owned by the Poole and Stuckey families into two. Both of these projects had MOUs approved by the commissioners in June.

The to-be-subdivided lot, which is located along the Benner Pike between G. M. McCrossin and the Centre County Correctional Facility, will eventually be home to two motor vehicle sales and service buildings, two commercial businesses and two fast-food restaurants.

More updates on the Penns Valley Wawa’s development will be share at future Potter Township meetings. The township’s supervisors meet at 7 p.m. on the first and third Mondays of the month, and its planning commission meets at 7 p.m. on the second and fourth Tuesdays of the month.