Unity GetGo site plan gets township OK, Sheetz proposal on hold

Unity Township’s planning commission approved a final site plan for a proposed GetGo convenience store at Route 30 and Giffin Drive.

But the board this week put a hold on plans for a new Sheetz store a short distance to the east, after the township’s planning staff and solicitor said they didn’t have enough time to review revisions submitted by email earlier the same day.

The GetGo will be relocated and expanded from the current location on Route 30 at the nearby Mountain Laurel Plaza.

Taking the spot occupied by the shuttered Arnold Palmer Motors dealership, the larger GetGo will be on just under 4 acres and will include a roughly 6,200-square-foot store and a 2,500-square-foot car wash, according to project engineer Mark Zimmerman of Morris Knowles and Associates.

Township solicitor Gary Falatovich suggested the developers relocate an ice machine and propane tank so they aren’t facing Route 30.

“We can look at moving that,” said Pat Avolio, director of development for Giant Eagle, which operates the GetGo stores. Seven gas pumps are to be placed outside the store, opposite from seating for diners.

Proposed sales of alcoholic beverages at the store would depend on gaining permission through the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board, Avolio noted.

The planning commission granted relief from normal landscaping requirements, allowing more shrubs and fewer trees in a buffer area, so as not to block the view of the GetGo store from the highway.

Zimmerman said an access point on Giffin, close to Route 30, would allow motorists to make right turns only while entering and exiting. An additional entrance is planned farther south on Giffin, which also serves as one of the entrances to the Wildcat Commons plaza.

A short connecting road would be added between Route 30 and Medical Park Drive and would be privately maintained by the property owners, Zimmerman said.

PennDOT has yet to complete its review of a traffic study needed for the project, according to Zimmerman.

He said state transportation officials have asked that the project include improvements on Route 30 at Giffin: A 25-foot extension of a lane for westbound drivers turning left into Giffin and a 75-foot extension of a lane for eastbound drivers turning left to enter the Latrobe 30 Shoppes on the opposite side of the highway.

The planning commission approved a subdivision plan for the GetGo store and a lot consolidation plan for the Sheetz store, which is slated to replace Geo’s restaurant on the northeast corner of Route 30 and Theater Drive.

After the township zoning hearing board last week rejected a parking plan for the Sheetz, which would have placed 10 spaces too close to Route 30, developer Skilken Gold submitted a revised plan that appears to shift the convenience store, and the parking spaces slightly to the north, away from the highway, Falatovich said.

But the plans “were emailed to the township about 10 o’clock this morning, and I didn’t get into my office until 1 this afternoon — and I was tied up with some other things,” Falatovich said Tuesday. “We didn’t have a chance to do a review of the revised plan.”

Ryan Herchenroether of Skilken Gold acknowledged the revisions were submitted late in the game. “We continue to tweak this plan, continue to respond to what we’re hearing,” he added.