State College Area Sam’s Club Planning Expansion for New Pickup Area

Sam’s Club is planning a small expansion for its State College area store to create a new pickup area for online orders.

Plans for the store include include a 2,500-square-foot addition on the northwest side of the 381 Benner Pike building — next to the tire and battery center and across from the Walmart auto center — for online customer pickup and storing and staging space, according to a presentation to the College Township Planning Commission on Tuesday.

The concept is the same as the recently added pickup area at the neighboring Walmart, which was constructed on the side facing Sam’s Club.

“The whole initiative for Walmart and Sam’s Club alike is to make the online pickup and delivery process as safe as possible, and as separate from the regular operation as it can be,” Amanda Albano, of project engineer Bohler, told the Planning Commission.

Only employees will be able to enter the building addition, and as with the existing pickup operation, will bring orders directly to customers’ vehicles after they check in.

The new area will have 24 parking stalls, an increase from the existing 14 currently located in the middle of the main parking lot. Once the addition is completed, the current pickup spots will be re-designated for general parking, according to the plans.

Because the addition will add impervious area, a section of the far south end of the main parking lot, next to the gas station, will be replaced with grass pavers to create a net zero change in the surface coverage, Albano said.

The project will result in a decrease in the store’s overall parking spaces from 316 to 298, which will remain within zoning requirements.

New signage will be installed directing customer pickup traffic to use the outer circulation road around the general parking lot and away from the main driveway in front of the store.

Several Planning Commission members said it is likely traffic coming from Dreibelbis Road will still cut in front of the store rather than following the wayfinding signs.

“You can’t control everybody,” commission member Ray Forziat said. “The best thing you can do is require and ask for good signage. And to me, when I look at their plans, it looks like if all those places they have there… [showing] where a sign is going to go, it’s almost the best you can do.”

Walmarts and Sam’s Clubs around the country have been adding new pickup areas and have had no indications of significant increases in traffic flows, Albano said.

She added that Walmart and Sam’s Club “are both very cautious about the route of the vehicles for the pickup operation.”

Lighting plans for the new area are being modified to comply with township requirements. The addition also will tie in to the existing stormwater management system, and no new utility connections are required.

Planning Commission unanimously recommended conditional approval of the preliminary/final land development plan.

The plan next will require approval by College Township Council before the expansion can move forward.