Burger King coming to town

February 08, 2002

Burger King coming to town

By RICHARD F. BELISLE / Staff Writer, Waynesboro

WAYNESBORO, Pa. - Bulldozers are tearing up the ground under what used to be Pugh's Petcetera at 1617 E. Main St. to make room for a new Burger King restaurant - the first fast-food chain restaurant to be built in Washington Township in more than a quarter of a century, according to a township official.

"It's in a good location between two shopping centers, Wayne Heights Mall and Bradley Center," said Jerry Zeigler, township code enforcement officer.

"It's going to be welcome. People in the township need more choices. We have a growing population and this will provide more variety," he said.

The McDonald's restaurant at 302 E. Main St. in Waynesboro was the first fast-food restaurant to open in the area, Zeigler said. It was followed by Hardees in front of Wayne Heights Mall in Washington Township in the mid-1970s he said.

The new Burger King is expected to open this spring, according to Zeigler.

He said the township supervisors early on saw the need to rezone land along Pa. 16 for commercial development long before development started to show up along the stretch of highway.

"Route 16 is the logical place for strip development," he said. "They showed good planning back then."

Zeiglersaid that while nothing official has come across his desk, he has learned that the Kentucky Fried Chicken chain is looking to open a restaurant in Waynesboro Marketplace, Washington Township's newest shopping center, which opened in Rouzerville last summer. That center is anchored by a Food Lion grocery store.

Another project may be looming for the township, Zeigler said. This would be on the Carl Diller farm behind Wayne Heights Mall. Until last year the farm was under option by the developer of a proposed shopping mall but that fell through, Zeigler said. He said another potential developer has taken an interest in the farm, but said he doesn't know who it is or what is being planned.

"The owner of the farm has not shared that with us yet," he said.

The two-story former brick home at 1617 that housed Pugh's Petcetera and a second-floor apartment was destroyed in a controlled burning Jan. 27 to provide training for area firefighters.

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