Supervisor Ellen Jarvis Publicly Resigns from Office

Thursday night's relatively routine supervisors meeting, which included the final approval of the development plans for a long anticipated Wawa, ended with the surprising declaration by a visibly frustrated Supervisor Ellen Jarvis that she was resigning her seat.

During the supervisor comment session at the end of the agenda, Jarvis had brought up an issue regarding the compenation of township tax collector Barbara Loftus. She believed that Warminster had overpaid Loftus for her services and wanted to have a public discussion on the matter placed on the next agenda.

Township solicitor Mary Eberle stated that she and township manager Richard Manfredi had investigated the matter and found no discrepencies.

Eberle's explanation was enough for the rest of the present supervisors, who denied Jarvis' request for the agenda addition. The vote proved to be the catalyst for Jarvis to publicly announce her resignation.

Manfredi said that he will need written confirmation from Jarvis that she is leaving her seat, rather than making a heat of the moment decision that she may wish to take back.

According to Manfredi, if Jarvis decides to make the resignation official, the board of supervisors will have 30 days following the acceptance of her written decision to find a replacement. If the remaining four supervisors are deadlocked over a candidate, the chairperson of the township vacancy board will cast the deciding vote.

The evening began on a much more positive note when the township supervisors welcomed Head Coach Steve Devlin and the five captains of the state champion Archbishop Wood football team. They each received commendations from the township and thanked the community for their support.

Later on in the agenda, representatives from Wawa and its architectural design firm presented its final plan for the development of a new location on Street Road, next to CVS and across from Norwood Ave.

Following concerns vocalized the night before at the Planning Commission meeting by residents who live on Orchard Ave., directly behind the site, the Wawa representatives offered to dim the street lights along the rear access driveway to the minimum requirement to decrease chances of illumination shining into the neighborhood. They also pledged to increase the size of the landscaping along the fenceline on Orchard and ensure no deliveries are made between 10 p.m. and 7 a.m.

All parties agreed that the traffic situation will have to be closely monitored once the Wawa is up and running. As the configuration now stands, the Street Road access point will be a right in/right out and left in entrance, meaning cars exiting through that driveway will not be able to turn eastbound onto Street Road.

Customers that need to travel in that direction will have two options. They can exit through the rear driveway, behind the CVS and make a right onto Mearns, which will be widened to add a second left turn lane. Drivers can also attempt a left turn at the unrestricted Brandow exit, about 40 yards west of the Wawa exit on Street Road.

Michael Viscuso, real estate engineer for Wawa, said that pending other approvals from the state, he expects construction on the new store to begin this fall.