HATBORO, PA —Cranes moved earth and crews covered the scene at the corner of Horsham and York roads Wednesday morning.
Work is progressing on the new 5,585-square-foot Wawa convenience store, a store that has caused controversy for years after the borough lost a court battle to try and prevent it.
Crews are at work building the foundation for the store, with plans calling for six gas pumping stations and 54 parking spots.
The Wawa isn’t expected to be completed until the end of the year with the building taking at least six months to construct, borough officials said.
The project is nothing borough officials wanted.
“As the majority of our residents know, the Borough spent years in a zoning battle against Wawa due to a deficiency in Hatboro’s zoning code,” Borough Manager Diane Hegele has said. “This process was time-consuming and costly, only for the Borough to lose to Wawa in the end.”
In late January, the Borough Council adopted a Town Center ordinance in an attempt to have better control over its zoning laws with the main goal of preventing another Wawa.
In May 2019, the Court of Common Pleas of Montgomery County ruled in favor of the developers of the “super-Wawa,” a convenience store that features gas pumps.
The court said that the borough’s zoning hearing board “unconstitutionally excluded a legitimate land use” by denying Hatboro York Road, LLC the right to build the Wawa.