Getting ready for Freddy’s

Posted by Rich Schwartzman on March 8, 2016

Birmingham Township supervisors Monday night granted conditional use approval for a Freddy’s Frozen Custard and Steakburgers. The restaurant is planned for the site of a former gas station and convenience store on Route 202 at Old Wilmington Pike, across from Penn Oaks Drive.

According to township solicitor Kristin Camp, the conditional use hearing was needed to modify the previous conditional use that allowed for the gas station at 1302 Wilmington Pike (Route 202).

“It’s an amendment to a prior decision when this property was developed…There were prior conditional use orders that allowed prior use, to sell fuel. This amends that…and allows the Freddy’s eating and drinking establishment,” she said.

The applicant, Stephen DiMarco, went through the conditional use hearing on Feb. 1. He said then that there would be no alcohol served.

With the conditional use approval out of the way, the applicant can begin the next step by filing a land development plan. The gas station will be torn down and the new restaurant built once the board grants final approval.

Neither DiMarco nor any representative were in attendance when the approval was granted. However, he said in February that Freddy’s is a family style restaurant, similar to Applebees and TGI Fridays, but without the alcohol. It would be open for lunch and dinner only, from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Sunday trough Thursday, and 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. on Friday and Saturday.

Other business

• Birmingham will begin the negotiation process to renew its service agreement with Verizon. The current franchise agreement — which allows for FiOS television and Internet service in the township — expires at the end of 2018.

• Supervisors’ Chairman John Conklin announced that PennDOT will hold a public meeting on the Route 926 Bridge project on March 30. The session is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. at Pocopson Elementary School.

About Rich Schwartzman

Rich Schwartzman has been reporting on events in the greater Chadds Ford area since September 2001 when he became the founding editor of The Chadds Ford Post. In April 2009 he became managing editor of ChaddsFordLive. He is also an award-winning photographer.