Falls Township Zoning Board approves variances for car wash at 547 West Trenton with sound‑barrier condition

The Falls Township Zoning Hearing Board voted July 14 to grant multiple variances requested by Flagship Pennsylvania Opco LLC to convert a vacant Rite Aid at 547 West Trenton Avenue into a car wash, with a condition requiring a 6‑ to 8‑foot sound barrier along the Pine Grove Road side of the proposed vacuums.

Julie Von Speckleson, the applicant’s attorney, told the board the property lies in the Highway Commercial district and comprises roughly 3.155 acres. She said the plan keeps the existing 14,611‑square‑foot building footprint and adds three pay stations, a wet tunnel and two dry belts, 11 employee spaces and 12 vacuum bays while preserving cross‑access to nearby Wawa parcels.

Kestra Kelly, a professional engineer with BL Companies, described the site’s irregular shape, existing cross‑access easements, and the operational layout. Kelly said the three pay lanes would have 179 feet of stacking length and capacity for seven vehicles per lane, and that additional on‑site queuing (including roughly four cars between pay stations and the wet tunnel and four to five cars within the wet belt) would prevent overflow onto public roads. "It is a little over 14,600 square feet," Kelly said of the building footprint while describing the reuse plan.

Board members pressed the engineer on circulation and potential conflict points where vehicles leave the wet tunnel and seek the dry belts, and on whether vacuum motors and pay‑station activity could create noise for nearby residences. Kelly said comparable Flagship sites had real‑world queue counts (averaging about 10 cars on a weekday peak and up to 16 on Saturday midday, with maximum observed queues of about 20 cars) and that the site layout plus staff‑managed circulation and an escape lane would avoid queuing onto West Trenton Avenue or Pine Grove Road.

A nearby resident, Randall Reber, testified during public comment that the Wawa delivery configuration and tractor‑trailer movements could create conflicts with the proposed vacuums and lanes and said the existing buffer appeared to be overgrown brush rather than a planted screen. "I think traffic is going to be a mess," Reber said, raising concerns about deliveries, left‑turn movements at Pine Grove Road and the absence of a dedicated loading area.

In response, counsel and the engineer noted that deliveries are typically scheduled during nonpeak hours, that the applicant intends to preserve existing access geometry, and that the conditional‑use and land‑development reviews will address detailed circulation, signage and equipment choices (including a concrete enclosure option for the vacuum producer motor to reduce noise).

Board member Aaron moved to grant the variances as read into the record and add a condition requiring a 6‑ to 8‑foot sound barrier along the Pine Grove side of the vacuum bays; the motion was seconded and passed on a roll call of members present.

The board’s vote grants relief from the ordinance provisions read into the record (stacking length and capacity, accessory structures in the front yard, locating the tunnel entrance at the front of the building, no loading area, permitting certain activities outside an enclosed building, and extending the deadline to obtain a building permit from one to two years). The chair and staff noted the approvals do not substitute for conditional‑use or land‑development approvals, which the applicant must obtain and which will include more detailed traffic and noise review.

Next steps: with zoning relief granted, the applicant will proceed to conditional‑use and land‑development review and to technical review by the township engineer and traffic consultant, where the circulation plans, equipment specifications and any required mitigation will be examined.