Whelihan’s wants outdoor seating

Posted by Rich Schwartzman on February 8, 2012

Bob Platzer still wants to open
a P.J. Whelihan’s in Birmingham Township by the end of April, but whether the
restaurant will have outdoor seating remains a question. At issue is parking.

Platzer, who owns Whelihan’s, wants an area of
60 seats along the south side of the restaurant located in the Shoppes at Dilworthtown Crossing. Doing so will reduce
the number of parking spaces available at the pad, bringing it below the
minimum level set by township code.

One possibility is to use
spaces in other parts of the center, which means getting a nod of approval from
Thornbury Township. The center is within both townships with only the portion
along Route 202 being in Birmingham.

The restaurant site currently
has 110 parking spaces, but the proposed covered seating area would eliminate
11 of those spaces. There are eight extra spaces in the Birmingham Township
area near the restaurant, but they are on the south side of the two entrance
and exit lanes along Route 202. Those lanes separate the parking spaces from
the restaurant.

Attorney Brian Nagle,
representing the applicant, said there is cross-easement parking within the lot
itself, but Birmingham supervisors want the applicant to go before the
Thornbury supervisors to get their opinion.

“If Thornbury Township has no
objections to you using spaces, I don’t object,” said Birmingham Supervisors’
Chairman John Conklin. “…We want to work it out with the neighbors.”

By Birmingham’s code, the
restaurant would be required to have a total of 138 parking spaces for the
200-seat interior of 6,500 square feet and a 60-seat exterior that adds another
1,700 square feet of seating area.

Whelihan’s is moving into the
space that was formerly Bull Durham’s and Bennigan’s. Proposed operating hours
are 11 a.m. to 2 a.m.

The applicant is currently
renovating the interior of the building.

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.