Centerville residents review plans for proposed car dealership
CENTERVILLE – After almost a year, borough council may finally approve the opening of a new and used car dealership at the intersection of routes 40 and 43 in Malden. Five area residents attended the borough’s planning committee meeting Wednesday to ask questions and review plans submitted for the Solomon Chrysler Plymouth Jeep new and used car dealership.
Marlene McCoskey of Malden Road and Dennis Illar of Howard Avenue both reviewed the site plans during the meeting and asked questions.
The main issues of concern were where and how often “carrier” trucks would deliver vehicles to the dealership, where the customer entrance would be located and the stipulations of a required buffer zone.
McCoskey was concerned about increased traffic along her road, and she asked if vehicle delivery trucks would use her road to turn around to enter into the dealership.
“Malden Road is a little road. If there is heavy traffic, what will that do to the road?” she asked.
According to owner Norman Solomon, the dealership will receive deliveries once or twice a week. He said the entrance to the lot, which will be large enough to accommodate about 250 vehicles, will be directly off Route 40. He said a line of trees will be placed along Malden Road as a buffer, and lighting will be positioned toward the display area. If council approves the site plan, Solomon said, he hopes to be open within nine months
Illar said residents should be given the opportunity to review the plans before the borough approves them.
Council President Ed Sukal said the plans are at the borough building for anyone to review, before the issue is brought before council at 8 p.m. Tuesday during the borough’s regular meeting. He said he anticipates the board will be prepared to vote on the matter then.
Sukal said the site plans have already been approved by PennDOT and seem to meet all the borough’s zoning ordinances.
Councilman Susan Zebley said the opening of the car dealership has been delayed for about a year because a group of residents in the Malden area, particularly those along Malden Road and Howard Avenue, protested, thinking the area there was zoned residential.
However, Zebley said that council, in rezoning the whole borough, rezoned that area from residential to commercial a few years before Solomon ever made his proposal to open the dealership there. She said the matter went to court, but both groups decided to settle.
Zebley said the residents were passionate about the issue but have since begun to accept the plans, and the two groups have been working together. She said Solomon has worked with the residents in developing his site plans, addressing their concerns.
Solomon owns two Chrysler Jeep Dodge dealerships, one in Carmichaels and the other in Fredericktown. He said he is relocating the Fredericktown dealership to the Malden location because of its access to the Mon/Fayette Expressway.
“I’m counting on the highway to come through and give easy access to people from the surrounding communities,” he said.
Zebley said the opening of the dealership will be a “good addition” to the area.
“We haven’t had a project like this in a long time,” she said.
The expressway seems to be attracting different developers to the area, and more projects of this size are expected.
According to Sukal and Zebley, a number of businesses and developers have set their sights on Centerville because of the expressway, which gives area residents access to Route 51 in 15 to 20 minutes.
They said Building Services of America of Bucks County recently purchased the old Hugo Iacaponi farm along Route 40 across from the borough municipal building and plan to build about 100 single-family homes there. Zebley said the closing on that sale is this month.
They also expect about a dozen townhouses and a commercial plaza to be built near that area. They said those developments will most likely push a long-awaited Shop ‘n Save grocery store to open in the area.