Senior Living Center Planned In Newtown Near Proposed Wawa

NEWTOWN, PA — A Georgia-based senior living company is looking to build an 86-unit assisted living facility next to the site of a proposed Wawa gas station and convenience store in Newtown Township.

The sketch plans submitted by Lotus Park Senior Living, which runs senior centers in Georgia and South Carolina, call for a 25,000 square foot, three-story assisted living facility at Lower Silver Lake Road. The property is bordered by Lower Silver Lake Road to the west and the Newtown Bypass to the east.

Access to the site would be through the adjacent property, also known as the proposed "Super Wawa" development, where Philadelphia-area developer The Provco Group is looking to build a Wawa gas station and convenience store.

The senior center would be located in the township's Office Research (OR) Zoning District, where nursing homes are not one of the permitted uses under the current zoning ordinance, township planners from CKS Engineers wrote in a March 12 letter to Township Manager Micah Lewis. That will ultimately be just one of roughly a dozen variances the developer is requesting from the township.

In their letter, planners recommended that the developer considering providing alternative emergency access to the site in the event that the entranceway through the proposed Wawa development is blocked. They also recommended additional walkways, sidewalks or trails along with crosswalks be provided to the building along the driveway to the adjacent Wawa property and along all parking areas, including the parking area on the adjacent PECO property.

The township's board of supervisors discussed the project at its Monday work session, though it was not up for a vote. The project will need approval from the township's planning and zoning boards before supervisors can decide its fate.

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