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Wawa agrees to marketing period: Regional Chain Compromises to Briefly Advertise Historic Guthriesville Building

EAST BRANDYWINE — Wawa has agreed to an abreviated eight-week marketing period to see if someone wants to renovate the Guthriesville General Store for re-use in the latest move in the building saga.

In a Jan. 4 letter to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Wawa's attorney, Michael Gill, said if the corps wants "to sanction a brief process of marketing the building for rehabilitation, Wawa would participate subject to some conditions and if the marketing period would not extend beyond March 1."

The suggestion to market the building was made by the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation in a Dec. 19 letter to the corps. The advisory council is an independent federal agency that developed the Section 106 regulations and acts in an oversight capacity. They can advise the Army Corps but cannot overrule them.

Wawa wants to build a convenience store on the corner of Route 322 and Bondsville Road but needs an Army Corps per

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mit to relocate a stream. If a historic structure is on the property, the Army Corps has to review how the proposed development will affect the historic building. This is the Section 106 process.

Efforts to save the building have been largely unsuccessful. The East Brandywine Historical Commission has criticized Wawa for not trying to accomodate the building on its site and for setting burdensome requirements for any prospective new owner. In September, the Army Corps reached a decision that it was economically unfeasible to save the general store.

But the township historical commission complained to the advisory council about how the Section 106 review was conducted and accused Wawa of refusing to entertain any alternative to demolishing the store.

The advisory council decided it would review the project and in December issued its opinion, including suggestions that the building be marketed and efforts to move the building be explored.

Wawa responded to the advisory council's letter and chided it for taking three months to review the process.

"We must convey Wawa's profound disappointment with the extraordinary length of time taken by ACHP prior to that body's issuance of the Dec. 19 correspondence," Gill wrote.

Wawa received its preliminary land development approval to build the 12-pump convenience store in 2001 but didn't apply for its final approval until last year.

Two weeks ago, the National Trust for Historic Preservation asked to join the Section 106 process as a consulting party. There are already more than 10 consulting parties to the proceedings, including the Army Corps, the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission; the Advisory Council on Historic Preservationp; Wawa; Claudio DiGiamberardino, the owner of the land; the East Brandywine Historical Commission; the Chester County historic preservation coordinator; Preservation Pennsylvania; saveGuthriesville.org, a local preservationist group; and next-door neighbors Bill and Jonathan Inslee.

The consulting parties receive copies of correspondence, attend meetings and participate in discussion. Theoretically, all the consulting parties would agree on the disposition of the building and participate in a memorandum of agreement spelling out what will happen to the building.

The National Trust for Historic Preservation is a private, nonprofit organization for the purpose of furthering the historic preservation policies of the United States. It has 250,000 members nationwide.

In a letter to the corps Jan. 3, Adrian Scott Fine, director for the northeast field office of the national trust, said the trust has "worked extensively with national chain retailers and corporations to develop more sensitive designs and development in historic communities."

The general store is the most significant historic building in the village of Guthriesville. The village has been nominated to be added to the National Register of Historic Places. In the mid-19th century, there were four villages that served travelers between Downingtown and Honey Brook. Guthriesville is the last intact village on the so-called Harrisburg Turnpike (Route 322) between the two towns.

Some residents of the village have said they do not want to be on the National Register of Historic Places and the township withdrew its application in 2007. The township is developing a master plan for Guthriesville that would revitalize it as a commercial center.

To contact staff writer Anne Pickering, send an e-mail to apickering@dailylocal.com.