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 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.
Mystery Takes a Twist
On November 4, 2023, I took a hike up the LDR Trail to Yorkshire Drive to see if there was any further work involving the stop sign at that location. Lo and Behold! The sign was back up as shown in the photo: https://www.johnmacknewtown.info/blog/?viewDetailed=202310271142#twist
However, it is now about two feet south of its original location – closer to Yorkshire Drive. A traffic cone covers the hole left behind where the short piece of the pole was sticking up out of the ground.
I noticed that the pole was secured to this short buried piece by nuts and bolts (see insert). This leads me to believe that the pole was NOT originally sawed off as surmised by me and the resident who reported this to me! Several other signs along the trail were also secured this way. I’m not sure this is the most secure method to ensure that these signs stay put.
According to the November 2, 2023, Engineer’s Report “The Contractor has begun addressing punchlist items on 10/27/2023. RVE [the township engineering firm] is currently inspecting the work performed.” It is still not confirmed who has done this work on the Yorkshire stop sign!
Meanwhile, this and other new stop signs on LDR remain covered. Why??? Stay tuned!