Plans for a new market specializing in Asian food, retail goods in Happy Valley move forward
A new retail Asian market has been proposed along North Atherton Street and the Patton Township Supervisors are expected to vote on the land development plan Wednesday.
J&C Market is a retail Asian market “specializing in Asian food goods and other retail goods,” the Patton Township Planning Commission’s agenda states. It is proposed for 1869 North Atherton Street, formerly Lohr’s Garage, in Patton Township.
The Patton Township Planning Commission recommended the project for approval with several conditions during its meeting Monday night. Ken Estep, project manager at Mid-Penn Engineering, presented the final land development plan for J&C Market.
The proposed single story building will be a total of 6,282 square feet. The project will entail complete building renovation, including an addition of 2,522 square feet, said Alexandra Castrechini, director of engineering, planning and zoning for the township. There will be 26 parking spaces.
Estep walked the planning commission through the floor plan, which shows shelving and freezer space, and a food prep area.
“They do sell and offer food items for sale at the market such as you would a lot of grocery stores,” Estep said. “...There is no indoor seating. This is not a restaurant, this is strictly a food prep area related to the market.”
The plans show three different check-out locations in the store, Estep said.
Brian Rater, Planning Commission chair, said the project is “exciting.” He noted some concerns, including pedestrian flow, as there’s a steep bank behind the building. He said when Lohr’s Garage was proposed and put in, there was not much development behind the parcel, but that has obviously changed.
“So much has changed. Particularly from a bus stop, Trader Joe’s, I feel like it would be very common for people to grab some groceries here, go on foot, go behind the facility, hit Trader Joe’s then maybe head over to the direction of … Wegmans,” Rater said. “I understand we’ve got a grade issue here, but I think that people are … just going to walk over the landscaping and go where they naturally want to go.”
He asked if they could put a sidewalk there to help with that flow. Patton Township Manager Doug Erickson said stairs would be possible, rather than a sidewalk.
Plans show there will be one entry and one exit connected to the eastbound lane on North Atherton and people will only be able to turn right out of the exit. Existing crosswalks would be repainted and signs would be posted to help with the traffic circulation, Estep said.
An existing driveway will remain, according to the plans, and will be used for truck deliveries.
“It is difficult to get larger trucks in and out. We can get them in this location but then to get them turned around on the site is very difficult,” Estep said. He said he’s had conversations with the state Department of Transportation, which has recommended they add rumble strips to the area to discourage other motorists from entering the site that way.
Some planning commission members were concerned that rumble strips wouldn’t do much to deter other motorists. Because it’s also going across a sidewalk, it could potentially be dangerous for pedestrians crossing. Estep said there will be a “do not enter” sign and a potentially a “truck deliveries only” sign.
For pedestrian safety, a recommendation was to take the sidewalk out and replace it with asphalt and paint it with stripes so pedestrians know they’re on a crosswalk.
The board conditionally recommended the board of supervisors approve the plan, which is on the agenda for Wednesday.
Conditions are as follows:
Include a bicycle rack for four short-term bike parking spaces
Include a set of stairs at the rear of the property so people can walk to the bus stop and sidewalk along Boal Alley, and provide lighting on the stairs
Adjusting the location of some trees so landscaping is not obstructing sight distance or the recycling/trash operations
Change the walkway material behind the rumble strips from concrete to asphalt and mark as a pedestrian crossing, with PennDOT’s approval
Determine if the paving under the dumpster needs to be concrete
This story was originally published September 13, 2022 at 4:49 PM.
