The Wal-Mart Supercenter in Foster Brook will soon have a new
outparcel – a gas station located on land near the Dollar General
store along East Main Street.

The desire to build the $413,000 structure was confirmed
Wednesday by Foster Township officials.

“We issued a building permit for the parcel next to Dollar
General,” township zoning officer Ralph Skaggs said, adding the
permit was issued in December and work is slated to begin sometime
in the spring.

Supervisor Bob Slike Jr. said there was environmental core
testing done at the site, located along the access road leading
into the Wal-Mart plaza.

The exact makeup of the station was not immediately available
Wednesday night.

This is not the first time the site – which currently sits empty
with a blacktop driveway leading into a grassy area – has been
targeted by developers.

In August of 2002, the township’s zoning board issued a variance
to McDonald’s restaurant, but those plans eventually fell through.
The site was also considered for an “unattended gas station” by
Wal-Mart at that time.

Township officials said then the station would resemble the one
located in front of the BJ’s plaza in nearby Allegany, N.Y., where
the customer would use a credit card-type device to access
gasoline.

No further information was immediately available Wednesday night
from Wal-Mart’s corporate offices as to the development of the gas
station.

The development of a gas station at that location would go
hand-in-hand with other current projects along the East Main Street
corridor across from the Bradford Mall.

Down the street, a handful of stores are in the process of
locating to Blaink Plaza, owned by Bradford businessman John
Kohler.

A Rent-A-Center has already located to the plaza, and will be
followed by The Beach House Tanning Salon and a Chinese Buffet.

The plaza is located at the site of the former Evans
Rollerdrome.

Meanwhile, there still hasn’t been any word on the fate of
another plaza located along Wal-Mart’s access road, which currently
sits vacant on the high side of the entranceway. At one point,
developers were hoping to lure a sit-down chain restaurant to the
site.

Last year, the owners of The Shoppes at Foster Brook announced
they were looking to sell the 32,000-square-foot strip mall, which
is currently home to Radio Shack, Fashion Bug, Subway and Tina’s
Hallmark, among others.