Gerrity’s to build shop-like facade at Mount Effort plaza
By Howard Frank Pocono Record Writer
Gerrity’s Supermarket, which will anchor the Mount Effort Shopping Plaza, will have a shop-like façade and other features to comply with a recently adopted ordinance aimed at improving aesthetics in Chestnuthill Township.
The front of the building will feature colors like Bottle of Bordeaux, a flat, light burgundy; some chocolates; and cream colors. “The picture doesn’t do it justice,” Gerrity’s co-owner Joe Fasula said of a rendering he presented at Tuesday's supervisors meeting.
“This will be a showpiece. It will be our invitation to people to come into the store,” Fasula said.
The façade will include overhangs and columns.
The design was created in response to the township’s building ordinance and SALDO (Subdivision and Land Development Ordinance) adopted in May 2014 aimed at avoiding the large box-store look that’s been built in the past, Chestnuthill Township Zoning Officer Matt Need said.
Ground floor facades that face public streets or contain the principal entrance to the building and exceed 100 feet must be designed to appear as a series of attached individual storefronts, even though the building only consists of a single retail occupant.
The Mount Effort Shopping Plaza is the third project to be subject to the new ordinance. Neeb said other constructions predating the ordinance, including Pocono Medical Center’s West End Health Care, the Tractor Supply Company and Kinsley's ShopRite all in Brodheadsville embody the spirit of the ordinance, Neeb said.
Mount Effort Development Company, LLC of New Jersey plans to build a 15-acre, 101,400 square foot collection of stores, offices and a transportation hub at the corner of Route 115 and State Road in Mount Effort.
Another section of the ordinance paints a bull’s-eye on windowless, long, bricked building views that face the principal street.
A minimum of 40 percent of the ground-story front facade between two feet and eight feet above the sidewalk must be comprised of glazed glass. And at least one-half of the total glazed area must have a "visible transmittance of 60 percent or higher." Up to 40 percent of all glazing on the ground floor facades can be painted blank on the interior.
Fasula’s design complied with the ordinance on the facade, but a problem arose on a secondary wall facing Route 115.
The township requires windows on a minimum 25 percent of the wall area on all other publicly visible facades between two and eight feet above grade.
Fasula said that most grocery stores use its outer walls for frozen and refrigerated foods, making transparent windows impractical. Fasula and the supervisors discussed black-painted mock windows, but the supervisors questioned whether that would appear tacky.
Fasula requested relief from the windows requirement at the meeting, saying he needed to design the floor layout before he knew if he needed relief. The board was reluctant to provide blanket relief until it saw a plan for the wall. It asked for, and Fasula agreed to present, two mock-ups at its next meeting; one meeting the requirements based on a café being located on that side of the building and another if the interior wall contains frozen or refrigerated goods.
Fasula will present the renderings at the Aug. 2 supervisor’s meeting. The supervisors will hold a conditional use hearing for the plan on Aug. 10.
Photo and Story from the Pocono Record
I truly hope with all this reluctance by the board that Gerritys doesn’t decide to walk away. This is a well needed store; and what’s tacky is how that plaza looks now. Shame on the board for being so picky. Thank you Gerritys for wanting to come to Effort!
When are they going to start building Gerritys
Why do we need another food store. There are two across the street from each other right down the road. It’s getting too built up around here. How about fix what we have. Or put something useful likes laundromat or something to do..