Regional Planners Have Concerns About Plan for Massive Auction Business in East Coventry

A proposal to build an auction facility for used vehicles and heavy equipment near the intersection of Route 724 and Fricks Lock Road in East Coventry consumed most of the attention of the regional planners Wednesday night.

J.J. Kane Auctioneers, Inc., which has a facility on Conshohocken Road in Plymouth Meeting, are looking to open another location on 48 acres in East Coventry.

Screen shot from J.J. Kane Auctioneers web site.

According to its web site, the company auctions off used cars, trucks, SUVs, vans, flatbed trucks, service trucks, cranes, and construction equipment every 60 days.

The company has approached the township about building a small 4,800 square-foot office and 700,000 square-foot gravel inventory parking area where it will conduct its auctions.

Walt Woessner, who serves on East Coventry's Planning Commission and is one of two township representatives on the regional planning committee is not a fan.

"Our planning commission has had one session with this and I'm not sure how everyone else feels about it, but I think it's a disaster," said Woessner.

He said the developer's traffic study indicates no problems, adding "but then, I've never seen a developer's traffic study that finds one." 

Tours of Frick's Lock Village are offered by the East Coventry

Historical Society.

The East Coventry Historical Commission also has concerns about heavy truck traffic on Fricks Lock Road, which leads to historic Fricks Lock Village, which has been restored and at which the historical society frequently offers tours.

Then there is the traffic. All the planners noted the sharp angle of that intersection would make turns for tractor trailers carrying heavy equipment to auction difficult to say the least, not to mention the traffic on auction day.

Last but not least, the planners also expressed concern about any environmental risks to the groundwater and to the nearby Schuylkill River from vehicle fluids like motor oil or transmission fluid, "especially from older, used equipment," said Pottstown Councilman Ryan Procsal.

That said, the proposal does comply with the regional comprehensive plan in that it is in the "growth area" designated in the plan in that it is near to a major road and does not have man y residential properties nearby, said Montgomery County Planner Marley Bice, who advises the planners.

The regional planners voted unanimously to express all of those concerns to the East Coventry officials in their review of the project.

Here are the Tweets from the meeting.