"If I could provide a good explanation for the delay I would, but all I can offer is that we will continue to pursue resolution as aggressively as we can."
That line comes from an August 12, 2026 letter to the Pocono Township commissioners. Christopher S. Brown, legal counsel to Ertle Development LLC, wrote it about the land at 3453 Route 611. If you drive Route 611 through Bartonsville, you know the corner. It's the old Ertle Service Center at Bartonsville Avenue, the site that was supposed to become Pocono Township's second Wawa.
The letter also explains what's holding things up. The developer isn't waiting on the township, and it isn't waiting on a traffic study. According to Brown, "the only outstanding items that need to be addressed are certain documents and letters of credit from Wawa, the eventual tenant of the land development site." He wrote that the developer had been "pleading with Wawa, through all of our contacts, to finalize these documents and tender the letter of credit for essentially all of the 2026 calendar year."
What's actually planned for the corner
The site is the northwest corner of Route 611 and Bartonsville Avenue. Until recently it held a building of about 1,950 square feet that served as an automotive service station. The approved plan replaces it with a 6,049-square-foot Wawa, 12 fueling stations and 57 parking spaces. Cars would enter from both Route 611 and Bartonsville Avenue.
The roadwork matters most for anyone who uses that intersection every day. The township's review calls for a deceleration lane on Route 611 and a right-turn lane from westbound Route 611 onto Bartonsville Avenue. PennDOT also weighed in on pedestrians. Board minutes from May 20, 2024 say PennDOT was pushing for handicap access on all four corners of the intersection. The same minutes record that PennDOT and the township were both concerned about people parking along 611 to stop at the Wawa. In July 2024, at PennDOT's request, the commissioners authorized advertising a no-parking ordinance for the parcel.
The plans got that far because the hard parts were handled years ago. The timeline shows how long ago.
Three years of approvals and extensions
The Pocono Record broke the news in October 2023 under the headline "Another Wawa in Pocono Township? Plans for second location submitted." From there, the public record runs like this:
- October 10, 2023. The Pocono Township Planning Commission administratively accepts the plans for the "Ertle Bartonsville Wawa Land Development Plan."
- April 8, 2024. The Planning Commission recommends conditional approval.
- May 6, 2024. The Board of Commissioners adopts Resolution 2024-08, granting conditional preliminary/final approval. The conditions include agreements, financial security and every required outside permit before the plans are signed. All of it has to be done, and the plan recorded, within 12 months.
- June 30, 2025. Monroe County publishes Ertle Development's invitation to bid on the "Pocono Township WAWA HOP 310177 Project." The bids use highway occupancy permit plans dated May 30, 2025 and are due July 14, 2025.
- 2025. Resolution 2025-23 adds another 12 months.
- October 2025. Asbestos-containing siding comes off the old service center ahead of demolition, Township Manager Jerrod Belvin tells the Pocono Record.
- May 18, 2026. The Board unanimously approves Resolution 2026-20, which gives Ertle Development until July 6 to meet the conditions and record the plan. Under the resolution, the approval would be void if that deadline is missed.
- June 8, 2026. The Pocono Record reports that construction "should be good to go" once one last condition is met.
- August 17, 2026. After Brown's letter, the commissioners approve the Ertle Wawa request for another 60 days.
The early dates are when the project faced real public questions, like turn lanes, curb ramps, parking along 611 and the asbestos. The late dates are almost all requests for more time. Brown's letter sums up what remains as documents and a letter of credit. A letter of credit is the kind of financial security the 2024 resolution required before anything could be signed.
The date on the township's own spreadsheet
Pocono Township tracks every pending land development plan in a status table that runs in the back of its meeting packets. The September 8, 2026 packet lists the Wawa project with "Approval Extended to 10/16/26" and a note reading "60 Day Extension Recd 8/17/26." Sixty days from August 17 is Friday, October 16, so the math matches.
As of today, September 30, that's 16 days away. The date comes from a staff tracking sheet, not from a new resolution, but it's the most current deadline in the public record.
The same September 8 agenda listed a presentation by Chris Brown titled "Wawa (Ertle) – Site Construction and Financial Security," marked as a possible action item. "Financial security" is exactly what Brown's August letter said was missing. The September 8 minutes, printed in the September 21 packet, don't record any Wawa discussion or vote. An item on an agenda doesn't mean anything happened, and the public documents don't say whether the presentation took place.
None of the sources reviewed show a groundbreaking, a finished demolition, a confirmed PennDOT permit or an opening date. The most recent first-hand report on the building itself is from October 2025, when the siding came off. Whatever happens next will probably show up in Pocono Township's meeting documents before anyone breaks ground.
How the first township Wawa got built
Pocono Township has been through this before, a short drive up the same road. Cherry Lane Development Partners' plan to put a Wawa on the Tannersville Inn property got conditional Board approval in February 2023. WNEP reported that the inn closed for good after the pandemic. The Pocono Record reported it demolished by June 9, 2023. The store at 2977 Route 611 in Tannersville held its grand opening on June 27, 2024 and runs 24 hours.
That project went from conditional approval to grand opening in about 16 months. The Bartonsville plan got its conditional approval in May 2024, about a month before the Tannersville store opened. It's now well past two years with no recorded groundbreaking. Both projects went through the same township and the same PennDOT corridor. In Bartonsville, the developer's own counsel says the remaining step is on the tenant's side.
Where the nearest Wawa is in the meantime
Until anything changes at Bartonsville Avenue, these are the closest open stores, according to Wawa's own locator. All four are listed as open 24 hours:
- Tannersville: 2977 Route 611, on the former Tannersville Inn site
- Stroudsburg: 1015 W Main St
- East Stroudsburg: 237 Mosier Farm Dr, which the Pocono Record reported opened in April 2025
- East Stroudsburg: 207 Prospect St
Another Wawa has been proposed for Route 611 in Stroud Township. In February 2025, the Pocono Record reported it was still waiting on a PennDOT highway occupancy permit. No later status turned up in the sources reviewed.
What to watch before October 16
The decisions on this project are recorded in Pocono Township Board of Commissioners meetings, held at the municipal building at 205 Old Mill Rd in Tannersville with a Zoom option. Agendas, full packets and minutes are posted on poconopa.gov. The township has granted extensions three times so far: Resolution 2025-23, Resolution 2026-20 and the 60 days approved in August. The next packet should show one of three things: a fourth extension request, a vote on financial security, or the project dropping off the township's status table.
I drive past that corner on Route 611 as often as you do, and I'll keep checking the township packets as October 16 gets closer. If you live near Bartonsville Avenue and want to talk through what a new turn lane and a 24-hour store could mean for your street or your property's value, reach out to Kacey Conaty. I'm glad to walk through the plan details with you.
