Dollar store still hot topic in Washington Township
By JEFF STITT
jstitt@yourmvi.com
Washington Township’s board of supervisors had another discussion Wednesday about the possibility of a dollar store being built on Fayette Avenue (Route 201).
The board is being asked to submit a letter to PennDOT acknowledging Dollar General has submitted a Highway Occupancy Permit application.
After Supervisor Chuck Yusko read the item, Supervisor Jan Amoroso asked zoning officer Alan Spaw of K2 Engineering to explain.
He said a section of Pennsylvania code requires a municipality to acknowledge in a simple letter that it is aware a commercial entity has applied for an HOP.
Spaw said the township can include a statement indicating that it acknowledges the HOP has been applied for by the developer, GBT Realty. He asked the board to consider including a statement saying it is “aware of drainage features that aren’t in operation” in the area of Route 201 where the store is proposed to be built.
His recommendation to include a comment about non-functioning drainage features harkens back to previous meetings this year when residents expressed fears that water runoff from the property would create flooding and that a stormwater drainage system on Route 201 wouldn’t be able to handle runoff water.
Spaw explained at the June meeting that a stormwater management plan for the site has been recommended for approval by the township planning commission and that a study was part of the plan.
“They do calculations on pre-impervious vs. pervious area and compare it to the post pre-impervious vs. pervious area and then they take the runoff and they have to reduce it by 55%,” Spaw said in June.
During public comment at that meeting, residents, including Bob Yanish of Cozy Lane, said even though the developer has a stormwater management plan, which includes the installation of retention ponds, they’re concerned that once water runs off the Dollar General property, it will run on to Route 201 and into areas of the road or roadside where it pools instead of going into the stormwater system.
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