OUR History Should Teach Us Not to Rush To Judgement on Wawa

Sai Akiri

I might be in the minority here, but I am a little confused with this outrage against the proposed Wawa. I am still undecided. Having lived in cities around the globe and seeing my beautiful hometown turn into something unrecognizable in the name of development, I am sorry to say we don’t have a walkable downtown.

That ship sailed when councilwoman Jeanne Kingsley, Manny Cuoto, and many on the previous town council approved the rezoning of land behind Delicious Heights and approved condos downtown. Ms.Kingsley and the downtown beautification committee also got significant changes entered into our master plan that was short-sighted.

We lost NY Mart after initial plans were approved but later denied because of fish tanks. We could have gotten fresh fish. Rezoning of Lone Pine drive area was met by opposition from residents yet the town went ahead with it. NY Mart was denied permits for fish tanks and the town residents and neighboring towns were denied another option for grocery shopping, one that would have offered a wider selection of fresh and healthy food. Many of us opposed the rezoning when they were being voted on.

The previous council also approved the Connell park area to be rezoned. So now we have two competing sites for local small businesses.

We live close to the proposed Wawa and traffic has been bad since 2017 or so. We cannot make a left turn onto Springfield Ave; making a right is easier but takes time too. Every project approved gets a traffic study approved in a “silo” without looking at the holistic picture of how traffic flows through choke points during peak traffic hours through the entire town with a ~6-mile radius.

Since 2021 we have added more traffic to the main roads thanks to poorly planned redistricting and reconfiguration of our elementary schools. Instead of three neighborhood elementary schools, we have the entire district’s K-2 and 3-5 grade parents driving their kids to MKM William Woodruff, Hughes and Mountain park schools. We are a ticking time bomb and a worst nightmare for emergency responders – God forbid they need to respond to a 911 call during school drop-off or pickup times on Mountain Ave, Snyder Ave or Plainfield Ave.

The solution begins with a consolidated traffic study that factors in the following:

1. All the traffic during peak and off-peak hours from all the new developments off of Snyder, Locust, Plainfield ave and Springfield ave and the Elementary school as well as middle school traffic on Plainfield avenue.

2.Evaluation of choke points during peak and off-peak hours from school drop off and pickups as well as YMCA.

3.Evaluating the impact of developments by our neighboring towns and traffic study results from these proposed developments off of Emerson Ave.

Only once we have the results of the consolidated traffic study can we advise on redesigning and improvements to our downtown IMO.

Without doing the above, just calling for action against the proposed Wawa seems a little unfair as it offers employment opportunities for our teens, added tax revenue, affordable food, and 24hr coffee and gas.

Also, can we prevent the landowners or any other builder from building condos there?

Let me leave you with this final thought. Before we object to Wawa, take a moment to introspect about the Berkeley Aquatics project that was petitioned and rejected by many in town and how that has left us open to the potential for more costly and impactful condos.

So far, many of those who appear to be opposed to the Wawa were supportive of more costly options that are and will continue to negatively impact our schools and our wallets.

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