Monday evening residents of Radnor Township came together to discuss the topic of a new Super Wawa to be built on the intersection of Lancaster and South Aberdeen avenues. Many of the townspeople were not too fond of the new convenience store.
Sitting at the intersection now is the Sunoco and BP gas stations. They currently sit on a 1.7-acre plot of land owned by father and son Gary and Peter Karakelian. The pair owns the other Wawa just down the street at Lancaster Avenue and Banbury Way, along with several other commercial properties nearby.
Nicholas Caniglia, attorney for Wawa, spoke out against the residents’ disapproval.
“This will be a much better looking sight. I think it will be good for the township. I think it will be good for the neighbors and community itself as well.”
Caniglia spoke out about the improvements they were planning on making with the new super Wawa. The Wawa would have only three curb cuts, opposed to the six currently there. There are also plans to cut the number of gas pumps down from 11 to six. The new Wawa will also decrease wastewater because of the removal of the car wash.
Matt Hammond, Wawa traffic engineer, believed that 76 percent of the traffic to the new Wawa would be cars that are already on the road. Despite this, he did admit that traffic would increase by 24 percent with a study predicting 84 to 113 new trips at peak hour.
Hammond at one point said, “I don’t live back there,” in reference to the neighborhood behind the Wawa site.
“We do!” a resident in the audience called out.
Despite Caniglia and Hammond’s efforts, the townspeople of Wayne were still opposed to the new Wawa. A few of the main reasons were due to the fact it would be open 24 hours, 7 days a week and attract more traffic. They argued that traffic could cause a problem especially with St. Katharine of Siena School and Radnor Middle School nearby.
“Let’s assume that I do not care about the increased pollution in our area with 4,000 cars a day,” said Dr. Sandy Desai, a mother of two. “Let’s assume that I don’t care about the decrease in my home’s value. Let’s assume that I don’t care about the traffic on my street or traffic up on Lancaster. […] That I live in Radnor Township because there is something special about living in Wayne. […] I wanted you to know that children are going to die. And I speak as a pediatrician here in front of you. Children will die. People will die as a result of this. I strongly urge you and beseech you to do your best to prevent this schematic and consider whether you can live with that statement.”
The 50 some residents in the audience applauded Desai’s comment as well as many of the other residents who spoke.
As of current, the proposal has provided a right-turn lane off Aberdeen to Lancaster Avenue along with traffic adaptive improvement to the traffic signals. There would also be no parking on the east side of Aberdeen on that block.
Residents suggested a flip in the whole proposal, having the gas pumps on the eastern side. This was suggested so that children would not have to walk through traffic getting gas in order to enter the convenience store.
Another pressing topic was the look of the Wawa. The proposal had a blank wall facing the street where trucks would be loading and unloading products. The townspeople of Radnor were opposed to this due to how it would look as people drove by.
“I love your coffee, but I’ll be damned if I want to look at your facility,” another resident said.
After all discussion was over Caniglia agreed to meet with the residents in hopes to come to a compromise. Planning Commissioner Charles Falcone warned residents that if the township officials deny a plan that is permitted under Radnor ordinances, Wawa could take the township to court and likely win.
