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Commission recommends special exception for Walmart pickup expansion, with conditions
Summary
The Warrington Planning Commission voted to recommend that the Board of Supervisors forward approval of a special exception for Walmart to expand a nonconforming building for online order pickup, subject to conditions on signage, architecture and removal of trailers.
The Warrington Planning Commission on June 5 recommended that the Board of Supervisors advise the Zoning Hearing Board to approve a special exception allowing Walmart to expand a nonconforming building to add space for online delivery and customer pickup.
David Schoody, an attorney with Troutman Pepper representing Walmart, told the commission the project is a roughly 5,000-square-foot addition to be used for online fulfillment and customer pickup. He said the zoning officer determined the store’s existing use should be treated as retail, not a shopping center, which makes current parking counts compliant and removes the need for a parking variance.
The commission’s approval was conditional. Chair (Speaker 3) and other members pressed the applicant to remove trailer and tractor-trailer storage from plan sheets and to secure any short-term trailer permits under the ordinance’s 60-day emergency provision. Commissioners also required that signage and the architectural/color features be reviewed and approved by the zoning officer before final-plan action.
Schoody said the applicant will address the conditions and submit required architectural drawings before the next hearing. “We amended our application to request instead a special exception for an expansion of a nonconforming structure,” he said, explaining the procedural change after the zoning officer’s determination on use.
The commission moved and seconded a recommendation to the Board of Supervisors that the municipality support the special exception and, if appropriate, recommend final plan approval contingent on the special exception’s approval. A voice vote recorded the motion as approved; no formal roll-call tally is available in the record.
Next steps: the applicant said the zoning hearing is scheduled for the 23rd (date as announced in the hearing); the commission requested that architectural and signage details be submitted to the zoning officer and that the final plan exclude long-term trailer locations.
