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Politics & Government

Middletown Council Paves Way for Wawa SEPTA Station, Smedley Barn Reconstruction Begins With Partial Demolition

At Middletown Council's meeting on Monday night, Council passed an ordinance related to a potential Wawa SEPTA station, and awarded a contract for the demolition of part of a barn at Smedley Park.

At the meeting on Monday night, council passed an ordinance paving the way for an eventual and awarded a contract to Cirilli Associates for the demolition of part of a barn at .

Paving the way for SEPTA

Middletown Council also approved amendments to the township's Zoning Ordinance that pave the way for an eventual SEPTA station at Wawa.

The amendments make provisions for a regional rail facility as a Conditional Use within the R1, M-Manufacturing and SU1 zoning districts.

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If SEPTA decides to move forward with an extension of the Regional Rail line from Elwyn to Wawa in the future, this is simply one ordinance that would need to be in place for such a station to go forward, Township Manager Bruce Clark said.

SEPTA would still need to apply for a Conditional Use from the Zoning Hearing Board, present its land development plans to the Planning Commission and the Council, and show that their plans will satisfy the Township's requirements before the rail station comes to fruition.

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"There will be several more steps in the process," Clark said.

Smedley Barn to be partially demolished

Council awarded a bid to Cirilli Associates for $5,885 for structural improvements to the Smedley Barn in Smedley Park.

Within the past few months, the barn's roof has caved in, resulting in twisted walls on the structure. Structural engineers have recommended that all the wood structural elements be removed and the stone walls stablized by reducing them to a safer height, Council Vice Chair Lorraine Bradshaw explained.

The cost for renovation of the structure, in place of demolition, would be in the hundreds of thousands, councilmember Mark Kirchgasser added.

The stone walls cannot be used from a structural standpoint toward any future renovation, Bradshaw said.

"At this point, the township doesn't have any long range plans for what would go in that building," Kirchgasser said. "Our purpose here is to remove the wood and walls, which would maintain the ability for the township to build at some future point."

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