Bern Township: Riverfront plans drive-thru ATM at Route 183

The vacant corner where W. Leesport Road meets Bernville Road (Route 183) in Bern Township, across W. Leesport Road from the CVS and diagonal from the Wawa, is being lined up for an unstaffed drive-thru ATM by Riverfront Federal Credit Union, which has owned the ground since 2019. The township Planning Commission reviewed the credit union's formal subdivision and land development plan on July 14, the latest step in a review that has run since a first sketch plan in April 2025.

Township minutes describe the site as the southeast corner of West Leesport and Route 183. Here is what the public record shows.

What the plan shows

Riverfront's engineers presented a revised sketch plan to the Planning Commission on December 9, 2025. Per the township's minutes, the property comprises two lots, 125-B and 125-D, and the plan splits Lot 125-B into two new lots: 125-B-1, at 1.2 acres, and 125-B-2, at 1.1 acres. On 125-B-1 the credit union proposes "an automated bank teller drive-thru, no occupied building," with five off-street parking spaces. That is an ATM lane, not a staffed branch.

The other new lot has no announced purpose. Asked directly at the supervisors' January 5 meeting what the second lot is for, the project team said there is no intended use for it at this time.

The zoning detour

A drive-thru is not a permitted use in this zoning district, so before the formal plan could move, Riverfront needed zoning relief. Representatives brought the issue to the Board of Supervisors on January 5, 2026; the supervisors' summary that night recorded no opposition to the drive-thru or to a common driveway serving both lots, with work still needed on the entrance and exit plan.

By the supervisors' April 7 meeting, the plan had been revised to show no entrance or exit onto either W. Leesport Road or Route 183, and the board discussed sending its solicitor to the zoning hearing on two requested variances: relief from the requirement for a 20-foot open area along the side and rear lot lines, and permission for the drive-through use itself. The zoning hearing board's decision has not been posted, but the formal plan's arrival on the July 14 agenda indicates the project cleared that step.

What is confirmed about the ground

Berks County assessment records list the site as a 3.52-acre commercial parcel owned by Riverfront Federal Credit Union, whose headquarters is at 2609 Keiser Boulevard in Wyomissing. The credit union bought the ground on May 31, 2019 for $1.25 million. The county still assesses it as vacant land, with a building value of zero. The credit union runs two branches, both in Wyomissing.

What "subdivision and land development" means

The item on the July 14 Planning Commission agenda is the "Riverfront FCU Subdivision and Land Development Plan." Those are two things in one filing. A subdivision draws new property lines, here the split of Lot 125-B into 125-B-1 and 125-B-2. A land development plan is the site design for what gets built: the ATM structure, the driveway, parking, and stormwater controls, which the December sketch noted had not yet been designed.

What is not yet public

The minutes of the July 14 Planning Commission meeting have not been posted. Bern Township approves its minutes at the following month's meeting, so the July 14 discussion should appear in writing after the commission's August 11 meeting. The Berks County Planning Commission also reviews every subdivision and land development plan and reports back to the township before the township can approve it; the county does not post those review letters online, and its monthly plan-review summaries run about two months behind. The zoning hearing board's written decision on the variances is not posted either.

How to follow it

• Read the record. Bern Township posts Planning Commission agendas and minutes on its Planning Commission page. The commission meets the second Tuesday of the month at 7:30 p.m. at the township building, 1069 Old Bernville Road; the next meeting is August 11.
• Ask the township. The township planning engineer is Kent Morey of Spotts, Stevens & McCoy. The township office is at 610-926-2267.
• Watch the supervisors. After the Planning Commission finishes its review, a subdivision and land development plan goes to the Board of Supervisors for approval. The supervisors usually meet the first Tuesday of the month at 7 p.m.

The bigger picture on Bern's fields

An unstaffed ATM on a commercial corner is a modest project next to the big-footprint development pressing on the township's open land, including the industrial tract 0.4 miles up W. Leesport Road near Faller Lane, where a Penske truck facility and a proposed 260,000-square-foot warehouse have their own contested history before the township; our report on what's planned at W. Leesport and Faller Lane covers it. The Planning Commission is also revising the township's alternative energy ordinance, which sets the rules for solar projects, and in June voted to table its data center ordinance discussion until the next meeting. Bern is one of a growing list of Berks municipalities drafting data-center zoning; our report on six townships writing data-center rules tracks that wave.

We will update this report when the July 14 minutes post, the county review lands, or the plan reaches the supervisors.

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Correction and update, July 25, 2026: The original July 23 version of this report contained two errors and a gap. It said Riverfront runs branches in Reading and Wyomissing; its two branches are both in Wyomissing. It misdescribed the parcel's location, first as near the Spring Ridge corporate campus and briefly, in an earlier revision today, as the northwest corner of the intersection; township minutes place it at the southeast corner of West Leesport and Route 183, across W. Leesport Road from the CVS. It also said the posted record did not show what Riverfront intends to build; township minutes from December 2025 and early 2026, which are no longer linked from the township's website but remain on its server, describe an unstaffed drive-thru ATM, the lot split, and the zoning variances, and this version reports that history in full.