New Sheetz Gets the Green Light

approved the final development plans Tuesday for the .

The three-lot development sits along Route 248 at the corner of Northwood Avenue and Route 248, where the First Star Bank used to be.

In addition to the convenience store and gas pumps, the development will include a , said David Lear, project manager for Lehigh Engineering Associates Inc. in Walnutport. The third business hasn’t been determined yet.

According to the drawings, Sheetz plans to have parking next to its building that lies beside a road that will connect Northwood Avenue to Kingston Road.

Cyndie Carmen, planning director for , told the supervisors that the township’s ordinance doesn’t permit vehicles to back up into or near a public roadway.

Lear told the supervisors that the road is designated as a private driveway and would remain this way. That driveway will be 30 feet wide, and vehicles will be permitted to travel in both directions.

However, the roadway could be used by traffic wanting to come into the convenience store.

Vehicles traveling on Route 248 could turn onto Kingston Road and then left onto the driveway to enter the parking lot. That is the only access way from Kingston into the parking lot, according to the drawings.

Lear said that there will be a divided access way directly into and out of the development that will not allow for left-hand turns into or out of the driveway.

Carmen replied said that the road really “functions more as a private road than as a private driveway.”  

After the discussion, supervisors accepted the plans as presented.