BETHLEHEM TWP., Pa. — A Wawa convenience store planned at Nazareth Pike and Oakland Road in Bethlehem Township will not include a fire sprinkler system, according to updated plans the township board of supervisors approved Monday.
In July 2022, township supervisors approved a version of the project at 3806 Nazareth Pike that included a fire department connection, an inlet allowing firefighters to connect their hoses directly to the building’s sprinkler system.
The developer behind the project, Collaboration 3A LLC, last month submitted new plans removing that connection, which township Community Development Director Amanda Jensen wrote in an email was needed for buildings with sprinklers.
At a township commissioners’ meeting this month, Jensen said a sprinkler system was included in the originally approved plans, according to meeting minutes.
The fire department connection was left on the plan in error, she said Monday.
“Staff has no comments or concerns” regarding the change, said Jensen, which commissioners voted 5-0 to approve.
Bethlehem Township’s fire code does not require a sprinkler system for the planned gas station.
Fields at Farmersville
Township commissioners also voted Monday night to approve waivers for a housing development at 3107 Farmersville Road, set to include 110 units of housing spread across 55 acres.
Current plans for the project, called Fields at Farmersville, call for 48 single-family homes, six twin homes and 56 townhouse units.
In a 4-1 vote, commissioners granted permission for several streets within the development to be 4 feet narrower than the township’s land development ordinance ordinarily would allow.
The narrower streets were fine by the township’s fire marshal, who “worked closely with the developer’s engineer to come up with no-parking areas and had no issues.”Bethlehem Township Community Development Director Amanda Jensen
A civil engineer for the project, Dave Wilson, said the changes would reduce speeding and lessen runoff, which commissioners said were two important concerns in the township.
Jensen said the narrower streets were fine by the township’s fire marshal, who “worked closely with the developer’s engineer to come up with no-parking areas and had no issues.”
Another waiver approved by the body allows a stormwater detention basin on the property to have steeper walls than generally required, which geoengineers working for the township wrote in a letter would not pose a problem.
