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WILKES-BARRE TWP. — A new Burger King project at Blackman Street and Route 309 appears to be just a zoning variance approval away from happening.
What remains to be seen is what that project and a proposed new Turkey Hill across the street will mean for traffic infrastructure at the busy intersection, which state Department of Transportation officials say accommodates more than 11,000 vehicles each day.
According to Thomas Zedolik, Wilkes-Barre Township zoning and code enforcement officer, Four One Co, LP, of Shavertown — an area Burger King franchise-holder — will present the plan at the July 9 meeting of the township zoning hearing board. The meeting will be held in the township municipal building on Watson Street at 6 p.m.
“The plan calls for taking down the building that formerly housed Country Ski & Sports and four residential buildings behind it along Company Row,” Zedolik said. “The project will be discussed at the zoning hearing board meeting and the public is invited to attend to ask questions and express concerns.”
Zedolik said Burger King is seeking a 50-foot front yard setback for the development to allow for construction of the restaurant on the one-acre site.
Developer/engineer George Albert is consulting for Four One on the project. Albert also has been retained for consulting services on the Turkey Hill project that is slated for the corner opposite where the Burger King will be built.
Zedolik said the Burger King project is separate from the Turkey Hill project that was announced earlier this year.
Traffic issues
“We will be re-crafting that whole intersection with two different entities — Burger King and Turkey Hill,” Albert said. “We will also be working with the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania on several traffic improvements.”
Albert said the plan includes addressing both current and increased traffic growth at the busy intersection.
“The plan calls for widening Blackman Street to five lanes and Route 309 to six lanes in that immediate area,” Albert said.
PennDOT spokesman James May on Monday told the Times Leader that no one has approached the agency with any requests related to changes at or around the intersection.
“It is not on our radar at this point,” May said when told of the plan Albert described.
PennDOT has on its own been looking at “some signal modifications and lane adjustments for that area,” May added, “but all that is several years down the road.”
Any plan such as Albert described would have to be submitted to PennDOT for consideration under its Highway Occupancy Permit (HOP) process, May added.
The intersection, where Interstate 81 exit 165 also empties onto Blackman and 309, handles an average of 11,446 vehicles per day, May said.
Project timing
Albert said the Burger King project, once all zoning requirements are approved, will begin by the end of 2019. He said the Turkey Hill project, for which the township’s planning commission recently granted approval, probably won’t start until July, 2020.
Zedolik said several existing buildings on Route 309 and Blackman Street, which once housed a repair garage, a bar and other businesses — along with three private homes — were purchased by Turkey Hill’s new parent company, U.K.-based E.G. Group. He said everything will be demolished for the project.
In April, Cindy Rantanen, vice president of brands and public relations for E.G. America, said the company has the property under contract. She said five properties were purchased from four different owners and the site measures three acres.
Rantanen said the plan is to begin construction in spring 2020 and the new Turkey Hill will include a full convenience store, a fast food restaurant with a brand partner still to be named, a car wash and fuel stations.
