Rezoning requested to make way for Rite Aid in Washington Township

October 30, 2008|By JENNIFER FITCH

WAYNESBORO, Pa. - The owner of a Rouzerville-based car dealership has again asked the Washington Township (Pa.) Supervisors to consider rezoning land slightly south of the intersection of Pa. 16 and Midvale Road to allow for a Rite Aid Pharmacy, a bank and professional offices.

D. Curtis Mummert has asked that six-tenths of an acre be rezoned from low-density residential to commercial at 13138 Midvale Road. The request applies to land and a two-story house and detached garage currently there.

That property, coupled with the commercial tract that holds the car lot, could be redeveloped so that the pharmacy and three other buildings would stretch east along Pa. 16 past the wedge-shaped intersection of Old Route 16.

Mummert owns Buchanan Automotive, which has dealerships on Pa. 16 in Rouzerville and across from Renfrew Park just east of Waynesboro.

On Sept. 15, the supervisors denied the initial rezoning request due to unanswered questions. However, Mummert recently presented them with a different traffic plan for the site.

Westbound traffic on Pa. 16 would turn left into the commercial entities from an existing turn lane.

The latest proposal indicates that only northbound traffic on Midvale Road could access the businesses - by turning right. Also, a concrete barrier would prohibit left turns made by vehicles exiting the businesses onto Midvale Road.

The flow of traffic on Midvale Road continues to concern the supervisors.

"That's the biggest issue that still exists," Supervisor Stephen Kulla said.

A public hearing on the rezoning request will be held Dec. 1, three weeks after it is reviewed by the township planning commission.

Carlene Willhide, executive director of the Greater Waynesboro Chamber of Commerce, recently lent support to the plan, saying that the intersection at Waynesboro Marketplace would be well-suited to host more businesses. Also, a new Rite Aid could move the pharmacy from its current Wayne Heights Mall location and open that space up to a new business, she said.

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