Plans for proposed Rutter’s convenience store, gas station in Ferguson Township move forward
A second Rutter’s location in Centre County is moving forward following the Ferguson Township Planning Commission’s conditional approval Monday of a final land development plan.
The new Rutter’s gas station and convenience store would be located at the corner of Blue Course Drive and West College Avenue, adjacent to Blaise Alexander Hyundai.
The first Centre County Rutter’s was built in 2020 at 731 Rishel Hill Road in Benner Township, and preliminary plans for the second were announced in 2022. The preliminary land development plan was conditionally approved last May.
The planning commission was unanimous in recommending the conditional approval of the final plan for the 13,470-square-foot building, which includes a beer cave and wine wall, food kiosks, a dining area and various retail displays. The parking lot will have 96 total spaces — 49 regular spaces, 27 RV and trailer spaces, 16 fueling spaces and four American Disabilities Act-approved spaces. An area for RV sewage dumping is also included.
Although automotive diesel will be offered at the fuel pumps, high-speed diesel pumps for tractor trailers will not be, unlike at the Benner Township location.
“We would love to be able to (install tractor trailer diesel pumps), but that was not allowed by zoning here in Ferguson Township, so that will not be the case,” said Rutter’s Project Manager Tim Bieber, who also noted that the site would have no electric vehicle charging stations — at least not for now.
According to Bieber, EV charging stations were once included in the plans of many new Rutter’s, but the company that the gas station chain leased them from went out of business.
In accordance with the township’s code of ordinances, the site will also include 47 canopy trees, 28 understory and evergreen trees and 455 shrubs, along with five outdoor mounted wall lights, 18 fueling station-illuminating canopy lights and 20 pole mounted lights to illuminate the parking lot.
Drivers on both West College Avenue and Blue Course Drive will be able to access the gas station, with West College Avenue’s side of the property being accessed from Old Block Road. Traffic will be able to enter the road from both the avenue’s west- and eastbound lanes, although only a right turn out of the gas station onto the avenue’s westbound lane will be permitted.
A traffic signal with north- and southbound turning lanes will be built and used to access the Rutter’s from Blue Course Drive. From there, drivers will use a connector road that’ll eventually link up with Old Block Road, taking them to the gas station.
According to a memo submitted to the planning commission by Community Planner Kristina Bassett, Rutter’s will reconstruct an existing concrete median along Blue Course Drive to allow for an additional left hand turning lane to be built. Additionally, grading will be done to help improve intersection sight distance.
At Monday’s meeting, planning commission member Shannon Holliday asked if the site would be a joint venture that would see Rutter’s split the location with another food chain.
“It’ll just be a Rutter’s. The only location that I’m aware of where we do that is in Milroy, where we share the space with Arby’s,” Bieber said. “I would say the only reason we do that is when we bought the property, they had a lease we could not cancel.”
Moving forward, the gas station’s final land development plan will be reviewed by the township’s supervisors, who meet at 6 p.m. on the first and third Tuesdays of the month. Once the plan gets the supervisors’ thumbs-up, construction on the Rutter’s can begin, although no timeline was provided.
A Rutter’s spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request about the project’s timeline.
