At the November 22, 2022, Newtown Board of Supervisors (BOS) meeting, the supervisors approved and authorized the execution of a fee agreement to hire David C Babbitt and Associates LLC to assist the township in its defense against Provco Pinegood Newtown, LLC 's [Wawa’s] Substantive Validity Challenge (SVC) to the joint Municipal Zoning Ordinance (JMZO). The agreement and fees were laid out in a letter dated November 13 2022.

Wawa first filed its SVC several years ago (on October 16, 2019) and held it in abeyance UNTIL the BOS denied its plan to build a combination gas station and convenience store on Newtown Bypass at the October 26, 2022 BOS meeting. Provco has asked that its SVC be moved forward for a Zoning Hearing Board (ZHB) hearing. The schedule is not yet known, but an extension has been granted through February 28, 2023.

In order to assist the township, David Sander, the Township Solicitor, contacted Mr. Babbitt – “our go-to planner,” said Sander – who assisted the Township in fighting the variances for additional pumps and signs facing the Bypass (read “Newtown Twp vs Wawa: Round 3, Newtown's Expert Testifies”). Mr. Babbitt is therefore familiar with the site and, in Mr. Sander’s opinion, has the expertise necessary to review the substantive validity challenge and the ordinance and to testify in favor of the township.

What’s The Basis for Provco’s Claim? Read more...

UPDATE: On September 23, 2020 the Board of Supervisors approved this amendment. More...]

A developer seeking to build a Wawa with gas pumps just off the Newtown Bypass in Newtown Township (read “Developer and Attorney Present Their Case for a WaWa Superstore on the Newtown Bypass”; https://www.johnmacknewtown.info/blog/?viewDetailed=201805151057) has filed a challenge to the joint municipal zoning ordinance that governs it and two neighboring townships, claiming it is exclusionary by not providing for a convenience store/gas pumps use.

In a separate but somewhat related action, township supervisors recently approved a curative amendment that seeks to find a zoning area for the use within the jointure area of Newtown Township, Wrightstown and Upper Makefield (view the video here). The jointure is a collaborative body that sets zoning law for the three municipalities.

The curative amendment prevents any other developers from filing a plan for a convenience store with gas pumps in the jointure area for nine months, Newtown Township’s attorney said.

However, it doesn’t “protect” against the Wawa sketch plan/application because that predated the curative amendment and will have to play out along its own track, the attorney explained.