PA hotel takes step forward

Lodging and dining may come next to Home Depot

By TOM KANE

TEXAS TOWNSHIP, PA - Come spring, construction may begin on an 80-room hotel with a separate 4,000 square-foot restaurant building, located on the same hill as Home Depot.

Beach Lake landscape architect Mike Wood of Woodland Design Associates outlined the steps that the project must follow before construction can begin. He has submitted a land-development plan, which will be reviewed by the Texas Township Planning Commission at its meeting on November 18. If approved, the plan moves on to the township board of supervisors for consideration at its December meeting.

The plan is required by the township subdivision ordinance, Wood said. It is a proposal for a non-residential property and addresses storm water flows, lighting, parking, grading plan and other utilities. The hotel will be served by 88 parking spaces, while the restaurant will have 20.

The property, which will share the access road with Home Depot, has two sections, one for the hotel and the other for the restaurant and office building, he said.

A need for a second exit was dismissed by the township at a past meeting. “We are offering a second emergency exit through the Quiet Acres Mobile Home Park, although we were not required to do so,” Wood said.

Bob Suhosky, a spokesman for the developer, Route 6 Development Company, LLC, is an associate of the company. The names of the owners or principals of the company have not been made public.

“The Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) must then approve the project’s NPDES [National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System] application,” Suhosky said. This is a process whereby any earthmoving project must prove that it controls point-source water pollution, like water from a pipe or man-made ditch. If DEP approves, construction can begin.

The company has done a marketing study and is in communication with several flagship hotel/motel companies but has not received a firm contract, Suhosky said.