Driveway Disputed, Hearing Continued for Freedom Road Sheetz

After hearing testimony about an unresolved issue between a business owner and a developer, the Board of Supervisors continued a public hearing for and convenience store on Freedom Road.

At the hearing Thursday during the board's meeting, Dr. Mike Sradomski, who operates a dental practice next to the location of the proposed Sheetz, testified that he is concerned about restrictions on a shared driveway in an agreement with Sheetz.

The driveway would connect his property to the Sheetz parking lot and give his patients access to a intersection with a traffic signal on Freedom Road.

Under a proposed agreement, Sradomski said his access to the Sheetz-owned driveway could be revoked if he decides to expand his building.

“I should be able to slightly expand my dental business if I want to,” he said.

David Hazelet, director of development for Sheetz, said the company is not willing to deviate from the agreement. Under the terms of the agreement, he said Sheetz would not revoke the license to use the driveway as long as Sradomski continues to use the property as he does today.

Agreeing to different terms could create a hindrance for company officials if they ever decide to sell the property, Hazelet said.

“We don’t want to be burdened by something we can’t predict,” he said.

Until a sales agreement is complete, the site of the proposed Sheetz is owned by the Walker Family Partnership. The Walker family once owned a beer distributorship on the land, and a narrow gravel driveway still connects it to the parking lot of Sradomski’s dental office.

Instead of using the main entrance to his practice, Sradomski said many of his patients use the driveway to connect to an entrance with a signal on Freedom Road. That enables them to avoid pulling directly out of his office onto the busy highway, he said.

“My primary concern is safety of the patients,” Sradomski said.

Hazelet said Sheetz would improve and pave the driveway as an act of good will so that Sradomski’s patients may  continue to use the intersection. Typically, Sheetz does not grant access to private businesses, he said.

“We do not have to do that, but it already existed,” he said. “We don’t want to be the neighbors who take that away.”

Michael Streib, attorney for the Walkers, said the family had an oral agreement to allow Sradomski and his patients to use the current driveway. On Thursday, he said, they revoked that agreement.

Streib said the Walker family pulled the agreement because they did not want to get involved in a dispute between Sradomski and developers for Sheetz.

“It’s time for Dr. Sradomski and Sheetz to come to an agreement,” Streib said. “Perhaps they need to come together a little more.”

The hearing is set to resume at 6:30 p.m. on Aug. 25.

If the development is approved, Hazelet said he hopes to break ground in February on the property, located about 300 feet from the current Sheetz station on Freedom Road.

He said Sheetz also would demolish two vacant houses that sit on the Walker property. The main construction work for the 6,558-square-foot facility would take place in the spring, he said. Plans also include a separate 1,049-square-foot automated car wash.