Thumbs Down to Plumstead supervisors for telling residents they were committed to fighting the legal battle against the developer of a proposed Wawa in Fountainville while taking part in settlement discussions behind the scenes.
Thumbs Down to Plumstead supervisors for telling residents they were committed to fighting the legal battle against the developer of a proposed Wawa in Fountainville while taking part in settlement discussions behind the scenes.
Wawa has wanted to build a location at Route 313 and Ferry Road since at least 2013. The latest incarnation of the project calls for a 4,700-square-foot convenience store with 10 gas pumps on the Plumstead portion of the intersection where Plumstead, Doylestown and New Britain townships meet.
In September 2017, the township’s zoning hearing board denied plans for the store, following six months of testimony and deliberations. The developer, a Verrichia Co. partnership, successfully appealed the ruling to the court of common pleas. Plumstead responded, last month, by appealing that ruling to Pennsylvania’s Commonwealth Court.
Whenever residents opposed to the Wawa asked about it at public meetings, officials assured them that Plumstead would continue to fight. Now comes word that supervisors have been meeting on and off with Verrichia officials for more than a year in an effort to settle the litigation, which would pave the way for the Wawa to be approved.
It’s not unusual for settlement agreements to come out of the clear blue sky, since negotiations take place in closed-door sessions. And it doesn’t appear that Plumstead violated any Sunshine Laws along the way. But what gets us is that officials seemed to be saying one thing publicly and doing something else when no one was looking.
[It’s not like the residents didn’t expect this! Read “Plumstead Residents Wary of “Closed Door” Deal to Settle Wawa Case and Urge Supervisors to Continue the Fight”; http://sco.lt/6IHTXN]
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