Plans For New Chick-Fil-A Restaurant In Newtown On "Indefinite" Hold

NEWTOWN TOWNSHIP, PA — Plans for a second Chick-Fil-A restaurant in the township are on "indefinite" hold.

According to township manager Micah Lewis, "the applicant has granted the zoning hearing board an indefinite continuance from the time limits under the Pennsylvania Municipal Planning Code to hear the application. The applicant will notify the township if it wishes to re-impose the

time limits."

The Chick-Fil-A application had been scheduled for review by the township's planning commission and the zoning hearing board later this month. Both of those reviews have now been continued indefinitely.

Newtown Equities, LLC, filed an application earlier this year with the township seeking zoning relief to build a 6,100-square-foot restaurant with a drive-thru at the former site of the TD Bank at 98 Upper Silver Lake Road near its intersection with Newtown-Yardley Road and the Newtown Bypass.

In its application, Newtown Equities is seeking a use variance to allow drive-thru service; dimensional variances for setbacks, drive aisle width, and to allow the use within 300 feet of Newtown-Yardley Road and the Newtown Bypass; and relief to allow additional signage for the property, including one facing the bypass.

The application, brought to light by Supervisor John Mack in a community posting on Newtown Patch, prompted a response from neighbors living near the site who had planned to attend an April planning commission meeting to voice their concerns. The review, however, was pulled from the agenda by the applicant just a few hours before it was to be heard.

A few days later, Wiltshire Walk resident Donna Serdula launched an online petition drive opposing the application. The 50-home Wiltshire Walk development is located within 500 feet of the site of the proposed restaurant.

"We fear this development will bring noise, smell pollution, traffic congestion, and block emergency access to several houses due to increased traffic. Moreover, it poses an environmental threat as it is situated right by Silver Lake," Serdula writes in her online petition.

"I am not against Chick-fil-A as a business. However, I firmly believe that a fast food restaurant known for creating insane traffic backups does not belong in our small residential neighborhood, disrupting the tranquil life we chose to return to," writes Serdula. "The site, previously a quiet TD Bank, is simply unsuitable for such a high-traffic business."

To date, Newtown Equities has not formally presented its plan at a township meeting.

The property is located diagonally across the Newtown Bypass from the site of the new Wawa convenience store and gas station approved by the township last year through a settlement agreement.

Newtown Equities, LLC, submitted an application to the township earlier this year seeking zoning relief to build a 6,110 square foot drive-thru Chick-Fil-A restaurant at the site of the former TD Bank at 98 Upper Silver Lake Road.