Centre County car dealership eyes expansion. Here are the plans and what’s next

The Ferguson Township planning commission conditionally approved a preliminary land development plan Monday for two new additions to the Blaise Alexander Mazda Hyundai car dealership.

Located at 1703 W. College Ave., the dealership is looking to construct a new 22,983-square-foot car dealership building — which would become the second dealership building on the Blaise Alexander property — and an associated 3,426-square-foot, automated car wash.

Pending eventual final land development plan approval by the planning commission and township supervisors, the new dealership building would be built behind the existing auto sales building and body shop, and the car wash would be built near the rear of the dealership’s property, near the Pine Hall Cemetery’s northeastern corner.

The new building is labeled the “Hyundai building” in the preliminary plan, but it was clear if only Hyundai vehicles would be sold at the new building.

While the plan was unanimously approved, there was also extensive discussion on four code modification requests from the dealership that would allow it to carry out different aspects of the project in a manner that doesn’t necessary align with what the township’s code requires.

The four requests include an alternate landscaping plan, delaying the paving of the dealership’s auxiliary parking lot until a future project commences in exchange for surety, forgoing a sidewalk between the car wash and on-site parking, and gaining site access from the sidewalk being constructed along Old Block Road for the adjacent Rutter’s gas station development.

“I frequently run these requests under the ‘does it make sense?’ measure of what they want to do, and then try to make them work,” commission member Bill Keough said Monday. “And it just makes sense that these modifications be part of the [plan].”

In addition to the plan’s approval, a conditional use application for the car wash was also unanimously approved Monday, as a result of the site being located atop two different zoning districts.

The dealership building would be located in a commercial zoning district and is an accepted use there. The car wash would be located in an industrial zoning district, and is only allowed there as a conditional use, making the application mandatory.

Moving forward, the Ferguson Township supervisors will need to review and approve the preliminary plan and conditional use application at a future meeting. Following the preliminary plan’s approval, the developer will submit a final land development plan for the new building and car wash, which will also eventually be reviewed by the planning commission and supervisors.

Construction on the project can start after the final plan’s approval, although the project’s overall timeline and total costs for have yet to be shared.