The Upper Providence Township Board of Supervisors approved conditional use Monday for a proposed Spring-Ford Area School District health clinic on Bechtel Road, clearing a zoning hurdle as neighbors raised concerns about traffic, drainage, and safety at the site.
The board approved the application on the condition that the clinic serve only the school district and its employees, their families, and their dependents. A third-party operator would be permitted to run the clinic on the district’s behalf.
The township approval does not mean the clinic will be built. Spring-Ford School Board member and Finance Chair Theresa Westwood said during the hearing that the school board has not yet decided whether to move forward with the health center.
If the district proceeds, it must still complete the township’s land development process before construction can begin. That review is expected to include a more detailed traffic study and stormwater management plan, as well as a further review of lighting, landscaping, and potential roadway improvements.
The plan calls for a 2,520-square-foot modular building, measuring 60 by 42 feet, with 13 parking spaces on a 4.66-acre parcel at 199 Bechtel Road. The site once held a school and later the district’s administration building, which was demolished in the early 2000s. The property is zoned R-1 and is within the township’s institutional overlay district, where a clinic is permitted as a conditional use.
Dan Pellegrin, the district’s director of planning, operations, and facilities, said Spring-Ford is self-insured and has about 1,200 employees. The clinic would operate similarly to a primary care facility, potentially offering services such as flu shots, preventive care, blood work, and treatment for urgent health needs.
Westwood noted that Spring-Ford employees and their families would not be required to use the clinic and could continue seeing their existing healthcare providers.
District representatives said actuarial projections indicate the clinic could save Spring-Ford about $5 million over its first five years. They said the concept is modeled in part on a similar program operated by North Penn School District.
Proposed hours are roughly 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., although district representatives stressed that operating hours have not been finalized and could change based on how employees use the facility.
Traffic and Safety Concerns
Several residents said the clinic could add traffic to a stretch of Bechtel Road they described as dangerous, particularly around an S-curve to the west of the property.
Applicant engineer Jeremy Maziarz said a traffic impact statement projected 66 vehicle trips per day and concluded that the clinic’s impact on surrounding township roads would be negligible.
The estimate included four employees, two scheduled visits per hour during an eight-hour day, six walk-in visits, deliveries, refuse pickup, and additional visitors.
Board Chair Kelly Stevens and several residents questioned whether 66 daily trips would accurately reflect use of a facility available to about 1,200 employees and their families.
Maziarz said a more detailed traffic review would occur during the land development process. Township Solicitor Zachary Sivertsen said the district would be required to submit a traffic study prepared by a traffic engineer, and that the township’s own traffic engineer would review the findings to determine whether roadway improvements are necessary.
Laura Schlegel, who said she lives along the Bechtel Road curve, described vehicles leaving the roadway and entering her property over the years. She said a vehicle carrying two Spring-Ford students once flipped about 40 feet into her yard.
Nearby resident Nicole Myer offered a different assessment of the road’s safety, saying PennDOT data she reviewed showed eight reported crashes on Bechtel Road between 2014 and 2024, with no fatalities or serious injuries.
Residents also raised concerns about existing runoff from the school district property. Maziarz said the site currently has no stormwater management facilities and that the district would be required to comply with township stormwater regulations if the project moves forward, including controls for the rate and volume of runoff.
Westwood encouraged residents with concerns about the proposed clinic to also attend Spring-Ford School Board meetings as the district considers whether to move forward with the project.
