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Lancaster County Planning Commission members today are expected to approve plans to tear down and rebuild the Bowmansville service plaza on the Pennsylvania Turnpike.
The service plaza on the south side of the turnpike in Brecknock Township is one of several projects the commission will review. Planners also will consider a shopping center planned for Lincoln Highway East and a retirement community planned for Clay Township.
No action on the latter two projects is scheduled for today's meeting.
As part of its upgrades to all 22 service plazas on the Pennsylvania Turnpike, the turnpike commission wants to demolish the existing buildings at the Bowmansville plaza and build a new 14,500-square-foot facility on the 6-acre lot.
Currently, the plaza is home to Pizza Hut Express, Philly Steak and Gyro, Bassett Turkey, Starbucks, Sunoco and APlus Convenience Store.
According to statistics provided by the turnpike commission, the Bowmansville plaza serves about 20,000 vehicles per day and sells about $5.1 million worth of food and fuel each year.
The construction plans for the new building provided to the county planners do not specify a timeline or budget for the project, and turnpike commission officials could not be reached for comment Sunday.
County planning commission staff recommended that the planning commissioners approve the plans.
In other business, the planners are expected to review plans for the Millcreek Square shopping center proposed for 35 acres on Lincoln Highway East in East Lampeter Township.Affiliates of High Real Estate Group LLC and Faison Enterprises Inc., of Charlotte, N.C., are planning a 287,000-square-foot center adjacent to Lancaster Host Resort.
The main entrance to the center would be opposite the entrance to the complex where Applebee's Neighborhood Grill and the Italian Villa are located.
Smaller retailers would be located along Lincoln Highway East, while midsize and large stores would form an "L" shape along the east side and rear of the property.
Developers have declined to name any retailers that might occupy the complex.
Planners also are scheduled to review a proposal for a 300-unit community for people age 55 and over on the west side of Hackman Road, north of Route 322, in Clay Township.
The development, called Home Towne Square, would be built on 85.6 acres and have about 20 acres of passive recreation areas and open space.
According to planning commission staff, the development plans state there are no historic resources on the tract and all existing buildings are to be removed.
But county records indicate a brick-end barn built in 1834 and a farmhouse built in 1857 are on the property, county planner Justin Evans wrote in his review of the plans.
(117) (88) (54) (38) (36) (26) (21) (4) (4) (3)Evans wrote that the buildings should be preserved by splitting the farmhouse and barn off from the rest of the development to be sold as a separate lot or by converting them into community facilities.
If the buildings must be razed, Evans wrote, then they should be photographed and dismantled and the parts should be sold for reuse.
The planning commission's meeting starts at 3 p.m. today in the conference room on the sixth floor of the county courthouse on North Duke Street.
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