No 'Gitty Up' for Pony Express

The Pony Express in South Abington Township is stalled.
Appearances to the contrary, the convenience store at the intersection of Fairview and Edella roads is not open for business and has no occupancy permit.
Township manager David O’Neill said developer-owner Warren Raker hasn’t met 11 items following an inspection to determine compliance with an approved plan. The plan stems from a civil-suit settlement agreement Raker signed a year ago.
In 2002, Raker sued both the township and the township’s zoning hearing board after the zoning hearing board rejected his request for a variance. The township supervisors and Raker later signed the settlement.
One of the terms in the approved plan is that the snack area of the store have no more than 16 seats.
O’Neill, who is also the township’s code enforcement officer, said depending on how many seats are within a bench, he counted 40 to 43 seats, enough for “a full-blown restaurant.” In addition to the seating being non-compliant with the plan, he said restaurants are not allowed in the residential (R-1) zone.
Raker is supposed to give the township a set of drawings that shows he built the store exactly as specified in the approved plan. O’Neill said that has not happened yet.
The plan calls for a 12-foot-wide rear driveway near the four-acre wetlands on the five-acre property. O’Neill said the driveway is actually 15 feet wide and could be encroaching on the wetlands or the Edella Road setback.
The presence of the wetlands created controversy among neighbors when Raker first presented his plans to the township in 1999. At that time, the area was zoned neighborhood commercial (C-1A), O’Neill said.
Other contentious points include: a 6-foot-high fence along the Fairview side of the property is actually 8 feet high and also longer than agreed upon; and a solid, sand-colored, 6-foot-high vinyl fence along Edella Road is actually see-through black aluminum, O’Neill said. He added that a refrigeration unit at the back of the building was supposed to be 10 feet long and 10 feet wide. It is 12 feet long and 13 feet wide and appears to be encroaching into the setback, he said.
The township has sent letters to Raker since last September, informing him of the differences between the approved plan and what is really at the site.
O’Neill said Raker and his contractor “have not done any changes that I’m aware of.”
“It’s up to him,” O’Neill said.

       

 

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