New businesses in Benner Township bring new challenges

CENTRE COUNTY, Pa. (WTAJ) – Benner Township, specifically Benner Pike, has been seeing multiple business openings and developments. While good for the local economy, this has come with some growing pains.

Benner Township Zoning Officer Mike Lesniak is not surprised that Benner Pike has become so popular, calling it an “ideal location.”

“Benner Pike in the commercial district has significantly, greatly grown,” Lesniak said.

Some may lament the big influx of new businesses, but others have a different approach.

“We look at it positively,” CentrePeace Executive Director Barbara Squires said. “We think it’s going to have a very positive impact on CentrePeace.”

With new businesses bringing more people another problem is created.

“People have started using alternate routes just because of how the traffic is impacted at that time of day,” Squires said.

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Lesniak said that Benner Pike was not built for such a large number of businesses, so now it is up to PennDOT to figure out a way to reduce traffic. He added that the township is also running out of available space, so the number of new businesses in the area should begin to slow down.

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