On the agenda for the Plymouth Township Planning Agency on March 4th is an item that reads, “Variances and Special Exceptions for a Gas Station” and involves the property at 625 West Ridge Pike in Conshohocken (Plymouth Township).

The planning commission will review the application and consider whether to make a recommendation to the township’s zoning hearing board on whether it should grant the zoning relief.

This property is the Conshohocken-Ridge Corporate Center that is on the corner of Ridge Pike and Colwell Lane and has several smaller office buildings. Over the past two years, the property owner, BET Investments, gave informal presentations on redeveloping a significant portion of the site with a mixed use building that would include a grocery store, a couple of other retail spaces, and apartments.

During that process, Plymouth’s council members asked BET to consider other uses for the property, that were permissible by the current zoning. The grocery store/apartment building would have required a zoning amendment or zoning relief for those uses.

We spoke with Michael Markman, president of BET, today, and he would not confirm the gas station brand that they are working with. We specifically asked if it was a Wawa, and he said he could not confirm that.

We also asked about the zoning relief and Markman offered that it is very similar to what was needed by Royal Farms, which is currently under construction just up Ridge Pike. The Commercial Zoning District allows gasoline pumps through the special exception process. Markman also mentioned that there was zoning relief needed for signage. Once we have obtained the application we will provide an update with the specific zoning relief needed.

If its not a Wawa, it could be a Sheetz. Sheetz recently opened a location in Royersford (Limerick Township). Wawa, Sheetz, and Royal Farms, are really the only gas station brands expanding in the area.

The proposed gas station, whatever the brand, would be neighbors to the Lukoil at the corner of Ridge Pike and Colwell Lane.

The meeting is scheduled for March 4th at 7:00 p.m. at the Plymouth Township Building.

More to come.

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Disclosure: BET Investments is an advertiser with Burb Media, the parent company of MoreThanTheCurve.com