Radnor Township Zoning Hearing Board Meeting - May 21, 2026
Radnor Township Zoning Hearing Board Meeting - May 21, 2026
The Radnor Township Zoning Hearing Board met on Thursday, May 21, 2026, at 7:00 PM in the Radnorshire Room. The board considered three appeals: a continued Wawa electric vehicle charging request, a residential addition at 701 Camp Woods Road, and an in-law suite kitchen at 645 Radnor Valley Drive. Appeal 3251 was denied; Appeals 3264 and 3265 were approved, with 3265 subject to deed-restriction conditions.
Appeal 3251 - Wawa EV Charging Stations (Denied)
- The listed applicant, Philip Johnson, and project representative Owl Services, on behalf of Electrify America, Wawa, and the property owner, proposed four high-powered electric vehicle charging stations at the existing Wawa at 215 West Lancaster Avenue in the WBOD. The plan called for two dual 400 kW chargers on the east side of the parking lot and a new utility transformer and electrical equipment in the southwest corner. This appeal was continued from the April 16, 2026 meeting.
- Applicant testimony stated that the required retail parking was 26 spaces, the existing lot had 33 spaces, and the plan would reduce parking by seven spaces while still meeting the 26-space minimum. The applicant also cited an agreement for eight overflow parking spaces on the adjacent property.
- The hearing clarified that the charger spaces would not be reserved exclusively for EVs, so the actual parking reduction was three spaces and the parking variance was no longer needed. The remaining variance sought was from Section 280-53.14 for ground-mounted mechanical/electrical equipment at the front of the property instead of the rear, with screening.
- The applicant said undergrounding the transformer was not feasible because the utility company would not agree, and moving the transformer farther from the chargers would make the project financially unviable. The capital investment would come from Electrify America, not the property owner, with some federal funding supporting the project.
- Board members expressed support for EV charging generally but concluded that the hardship was self-created or financial, not a unique physical hardship of the property. One member noted the existing transformer in the same corner might indicate utility-related physical constraints, but did not find a clear variance standard. Board members also raised flooding concerns in the corner; the applicant said equipment would be mounted 4-6 inches above grade and could be curbed.
- A motion to grant the Section 280-53.14 variance was seconded; after discussion, the motion failed. No public comment was offered.
Appeal 3264 - 701 Camp Woods Road Addition (Approved)
- Applicant Fawad Rafi sought a variance from Section 280-15C to construct an addition to his R1-zoned corner lot at Camp Woods and Sproul Roads. The required 60-foot front yard setback was already nonconforming: 58.7 feet on Sproul Road and 52.6 feet on Camp Woods Road. The addition would increase the nonconformity by reducing those setbacks to 54.3 feet and 50 feet, respectively.
- Rafi testified that the home, built in 1972 and about 2,298 square feet, needed more room for his three children and for aging parents who could use a first-floor bedroom. Architect Nicholas Bategh, registered in Pennsylvania, testified that the addition squared off the home, the basement egress steps were mostly below grade, and the open front porch would be rebuilt.
- Rafi said he spoke with neighbors at 705 Camp Woods Road, who had no objection as long as construction did not damage their plants; he left plans for another nearby neighbor.
- The board viewed the request as de minimis and tied the nonconformity to the zoning code that changed after the home was built. The motion to approve the setback variances was seconded and carried.
Appeal 3265 - 645 Radnor Valley Drive In-Law Suite Kitchen (Approved with Conditions)
- Applicants Lori A. Tierney-McCann and Thomas J. McCann requested a variance to permit a full kitchen in an accessory in-law suite at their R1-zoned property. Without a kitchen, the suite would be permitted by right.
- The proposal was a one-story structure with a two-car garage, two bedrooms, two full bathrooms, a laundry room, and a mudroom. The applicants' parents, Rudolph and Rosemary Valentino, will be 79 in June and need one-floor living. Applicant testimony said the full kitchen was needed to allow the mother to continue daily-living activities such as cooking and so caregivers could prepare food in the suite.
- Registered professional engineer Elizabeth Springer prepared and testified about the plans, describing the suite as oriented behind the garage, within height limits, and designed with accessible/ADA-comfortable features.
- The applicants agreed to record a perpetual deed restriction barring rental or income-producing use and limiting occupancy to family/relatives and temporary guests. The board discussed tightening the language because 'friends' could be interpreted too broadly and run with the land for future owners. The deed restriction would require township solicitor approval.
- A housekeeping issue was noted: the application cited Section 280-15 (dimensional relief), but the actual request was a use variance for the full kitchen; the board accepted the verbal explanation.
- The motion to approve with conditions was seconded and carried.
Key Outcomes
- Appeal 3251: Denied. The board did not grant the requested variance for front-located EV charging equipment, and the appeal was not approved.
- Appeal 3264: Approved. Variances were granted for the Sproul Road setback reduction from 58.7 to 54.3 feet and the Camp Woods Road setback reduction from 52.6 to 50 feet.
- Appeal 3265: Approved. The variance for a full kitchen in the in-law suite was granted, conditioned on recording a perpetual deed restriction, to be approved by the township solicitor, prohibiting income production and limiting occupancy to family/relatives and temporary guests.
- The next Zoning Hearing Board meeting is scheduled for June 18, 2026; applications for that meeting were due May 19, 2026.
Meeting Transcript
And we're product that we can say one nation. Thank you. The first uh the first uh item on tonight's uh agenda, which was uh continued from the April 26, April 16th, 2026 meeting is appeal number uh 3251. The applicant Philip uh Johnson property located at 215 West Lancaster Avenue and zoned uh Wayne uh business district. Uh applicant uh requests a variance from section uh 20 uh 280-53.9 to allow electric vehicle charging stations. Uh variants from uh 280 53 12 uh uh B in Prince. Uh the proposed uh project will result in the loss of three existing uh off-street parking spaces. Further, a plan um indicate that four existing off-street parking spaces will be converted to exclusive use by EV charging vehicles. As a result, the number of off-street parking uh spaces for the uh principal retail use has been reduced by seven. The variance from 280-53.14 uh requires that the uh mechanical slash electrical equipment mounted on the ground shall be located in the rear of the building and screen from view. The proposed location is in violation of these provisions. Uh please uh step forward and be sworn in. Anybody who's going to testify has to be sworn in, I should say. Uh I am not an attorney, but I we will probably both be speaking. Is there oil phone back to the three? And take it on the parking. Uh Philip Jaminette, J A M I N E T. Make sure you speak into the microphone. I'm sorry, Philip Jaminette, J A M I N E T. Yes. Pete Adu Shani, it's I U D I C I A N I. Thank you. Uh good evening. My name is Philip Jaminett. I am uh director of engineering here at Al here at Owl Services. Uh Al Services is the design build contractor for this project. We are here on behalf of Electrify America, Wawa, and the property owner. Um our project consists of installing four new electric vehicle high-powered um fast charging stations at the existing Wawa location. And we are here, as you stated before, to seek three variances for the installation of these vehicles, which is the permitted use of the vehicle of the electric uh vehicle charging stations, as well as the reduction of the parking and the screening of the equipment. Um shall we address each one of these individually, or do you kind of want me to go through all three of them? Okay. Okay, so uh as I stated before, we're gonna install um two uh dual charger 400 KW units for electric vehicle charging in the existing Wawa parking lot. Um I don't know. Do you guys have the have the plans uh in front of you? How do we get to here we go? The new one that I just emailed to him. Where did that one go? Where did that other set of plans go that I just fixed? So this is that set you just sent me the other one. There we go. Okay, so this is the location we um intend on stalling the uh charging locations to the east side of the parking lot, and you can see in the um what is the south west or I'm sorry, west side, the southwest corner is where we intend on putting the new utility transformer and the associated equipment to feed the electric vehicle charging equipment. Everybody can say so. So um as you can see, as a result of needing the additional space for the equipment and the charging equipment, we did reduce some stalls. I think the good news here is that we are still above the threshold for the minimum amount of parking needed for this space. I believe the way we calculated was if I could go north here for a retail parking space the required amount was 26 stalls. We currently have 33 stalls so with the reduction of seven we are still at the 26 so we hope that that will be amenable to the to the board here that for the variance in the parking count additionally to add some context to that is there is an agreement with the adjacent property owner for overflow parking here in these eight stalls to help you know some of that relief we have documents to show that particular agreement between the adjacent property owner yeah you want to give that to that in your packet no no we brought it with us here today this is how the we need uh we need two of these okay yeah where's the oh okay is the file are the files we'll get it we'll get them first you said yeah all right go ahead please sure so we feel we're comfortable that uh we're meeting the minimum threshold for the parking count and we hope that we can get the variance for the reduction of stalls here um the other two items as it relates to the permitted use of the electric vehicle charging stations this particular site um EA and electrify America and Wawa have a strategic partnership to electrify a lot of Wawa's locations this is a a prime location for them there's good traffic here they feel like this is a really good spot for both of them additionally there is um federal funding supporting this project that um makes the economics better for everybody involved um and then regarding the equipment screening um this will be a little bit tough for us I think we can screen in the existing location but there really is not a better location to put the stalls or the charging equipment there's a fire lane in the back of the in the back of the store so there's there's no additional parking that we can gather back there and we don't feel there's enough space in those those six stalls to the north directly adjacent to the building there to accommodate both the charging equipment and the supporting electrical equipment so we hope to receive a variance to to locate the equipment there. Additionally there is a existing utility transformer for the store right next to that one that is screened so we hope we can kind of follow that lead any questions related to maybe the what I think are I think the parking reduction it kind of speaks for itself we we are asking for some leniency on the rules on the equipment because we can't really locate it at the rear of the building we do feel we can screen it in this location appropriately and then obviously we're we're seeking the the permitted use as an accessory use to the primary retail store well in a sense you're creating the hardship yourself by putting in the charging units right if you didn't put the charging units in you did you won't have to get uh relief uh zoning relief but in the form of variance isn't that correct correct uh please keep in mind that Wawa is committed to not make these EV charging only so if you do come to the store and you aren't necessarily charging if that's an open spot you're more than welcome to park there really you're only losing the charge with the chart uh transformers correct uh there would actually be an additional reduction because of the way the charging equipment works we would we would lose a stall based upon the configuration of the new EV charging so you would lose at least that one stall plus the additional stall from the equipment Mr. Chair you mentioned something about a national program uh is to your knowledge is there a plan to put EV uh stations in the uh Wawa that's going up uh further east on Lancaster at this moment no not that I am aware of could you scroll up on this map sure a little bit Mr. Yes, uh, you should have your exhibits marked. So we uh you know A B C D, no, you haven't done that.
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