Borough planning commission members and members of the public will soon have an opportunity to learn more about a proposal to build a Sheetz convenience store and gas station near the I-78 interchange at the north end of Hellertown.
A rendering prepared for Tuesday’s Hellertown Planning Commission meeting shows the property on which Sheetz hopes to build a new convenience store. Currently the site of a used car lot, the parcel is located opposite the eastbound on-ramp to Interstate 78. Main Street (Rt. 412)–which runs north-south–is located at the top of the image, perpendicular to Kichline Avenue. A building that was originally a school that was located at the northwest corner of Main and Kichline–shown above–was demolished in July 2022. (Courtesy photo)
Planning commission member Liz Thompson–who also sits on borough council–said the proposal is to construct the business at the corner of Kichline Avenue and Main Street, where Star Pre-Owned is now located.
Just north of the car lot where the Sheetz is proposed, Lehigh Valley Health Network is planning to build a microhospital and medical office building on the site of the former Champion spark plug factory.
Thompson said some residents of the adjacent neighborhood have shared concerns about how parking could be affected by that project, and noted that the Champion property developers will need to widen Kichline Avenue between Main Street and Franklin Street to create additional parking spaces on the north side of Kichline as a condition of approval for the traffic plan that was submitted to borough officials.
Franklin Street will also be widened between Kichline Avenue and the medical building, according to the current plans, which were developed prior to the submission of the proposal by Altoona-based Sheetz.
Both properties are located in the borough’s highway commercial/flexible overlay development zoning district, which was created to encourage redevelopment at the north end of the borough.
That is where another project that will also be discussed by planners Tuesday is also located.
A different developer–Douera 1 LLC–is proposing the construction of multiple apartment units and offices on five adjacent parcels located in the area of Clauser, Hemlock and Williams streets, in the borough’s northwest corner. Only one of the parcels has a structure on it, which is a single-family home, and according to Northampton County property records the combined acreage of the lots is approximately 2.5 acres.
The third item on the planning commission meeting agenda is a request by the developers of the Champion property to pay a fee in lieu of planing 13 of 65 parking lot trees that would normally be required by the borough.
The planning meeting will be held this Tuesday, March 12 at 7 p.m. in-person at Hellertown Borough Hall, 685 Main Street, and online via Zoom and a livestream on the borough’s Facebook page.
Privately-owned Sheetz has recently been aggressive in proposing and building new stores in the area. A store on Rt. 412 in South Bethlehem–a couple of miles north of the proposed Hellertown Sheetz–is expected to open this spring, and the company recently presented an updated plan for a store on Rt. 378 in the Saucon Square shopping plaza to Lower Saucon Township officials.
