A Newtown Township resident has launched an online petition drive against a proposal to build a Chick-Fil-A restaurant on the east side of the township.
Newtown Equities, LLC, has filed a zoning application with the township to build a 6,000-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.
[Read “Chick-fil-A Wants to Set Up Shop at Intersection of NT-Yardley Rd and #NewtownPA Bypass”; https://sco.lt/5L9k7U]
The property is 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 has not formally presented its plan at a township meeting. It had been scheduled to appear before the planning commission on April 16, but several hours before the meeting asked to be removed from the agenda.
[Read “Chick-fil-A Fails CANCELS presentation before the #NewtownPA Planning Commission Meeting”; https://sco.lt/6k72zw]
Donna Serdula, a resident of the 50-home Wiltshire Walk development, which is located within 500 feet of the site of the proposed restaurant, said she's "deeply concerned" by the proposal.
So much so that she launched an online petition drive this week and said she's working to organize her neighbors in opposition to the plan.
“STOP Zoning Changes Allowing Chick-fil-A Construction in Newtown” petition.
"What people don't realize is that this proposed Chick-Fil-A is not on the Newtown Bypass. It's on Newtown-Yardley Road and Upper Silver Lake Road. And Newtown-Yardley Road can't handle the existing traffic. In the morning, you're already sitting through two or three lights to get to the bypass. If there's a Chick-Fil-A there, you're not even going to be able to make a left onto the bypass. It's going to become impossible.
"And we don't even have the Wawa yet," added Serdula. "On top of that, the township is working to change the zoning of the Newtown Business Commons to bring in different types of uses to support the local businesses. That's going to bring in traffic.
"Chick-Fil-A doesn't want to build there because they want to support the community," Serdula said. "They already have a Chick-Fil-A a few miles away. They're building there because they want to pull in business from I-295 and from the drivers getting gas at the Wawa," she said.
Serdula said the township and its residents need to start thinking seriously about what they'd like Newtown to be - a quiet, residential community or a traffic nightmare.
On Sept 23, 2020, the Newtown Board of Supervisors (BOS) voted in favor of a "curative" zoning amendment that would allow a Wawa to be built on the Newtown Bypass. The vote was 3-2 in favor. Kyle Davis and I voted no.
The amendment passed by Newtown, however, specifically does not allow a drive-thru Wawa. However, the amendment specifies approval of any application to build by "special exception," which means approval is up the Zoning Hearing Board (ZHB) - NOT the Supervisors as in the case of Falls. The ZHB is notorious for granting "variances," which Wawa may ask for to (1) add additional fuel pumps than the 12 allowed, (2) add a Drive-thru window, (3) sell alcoholic beverages (e.g.,beer) on site, etc. - all of which are not allowed in the special amendment passed by the NT BOS.
A little history - "A Wawa in the Park": Silver Lake Park at the intersection of the Bypass and Lindenhurst Rd achieved fame in May 2017 when a certain Supervisor suggested it as a potential site for Wawa (read "Idea To Bring Wawa To Newtown" https://patch.com/pennsylvania/newtown-pa/idea-bring-wawa-newtown-be-discussed-wednesday). Two supervisors attempted to pursue this at the time after talking to an owner of an athletic club who was also approached by Wawa to build on property he had a stake in another property on the Bypass. All this happened before I was elected a supervisor in November 2017.