Residents say no to apartments

Chadds Ford Township residents — and supervisors — gave a thumbs down to a possible apartment complex, but many left a meeting before learning someone wants to turn the William Bunch Auction House into a grocery store.

Both ideas were discussed during a special workshop meeting on July 8 with members of the township Planning Commission and Supervisors’ Chairman Frank Murphy.

No formal proposals or plans were on the table, but developers were free to discuss ideas. Murphy said the meeting was to weed out ideas that would be “nonstarters” before anyone, either a developer or the township, spent money on engineering or reviewing plans.

Murphy cited the two-plus years and the hundreds of thousands of dollars K. Hovnanian spent on its attempt to bring about a zoning change for a possible townhouse development that was turned down in June.

First on the agenda, and the concept that brought out most people, was a discussion regarding a possible 220-unit, high-end apartment complex on the Pettinaro property along Ridge Road, between the Ridings in Chadds Ford and the Concord Township property along Route 202.

The 22-acre property was already approved for 16 single family homes, but Pettinaro’s COO Mike Walsh said his company was under the impression that there was a problem with the sewer facilities and that Pettinaro could build another facility if it could build the apartments.

Chadds Ford Township Manager Amanda Serock, who is also the sewer authority manager, corrected Walsh, saying there were no problems with the Ridings plant.

Ted Mennicke, the Sewer Authority chairman, supported Serock by saying the plant is functioning properly with no violations.

Residents in the audience challenged the need for 220 apartments and opposed the idea, citing increased traffic, possible reduction in property values, and a greater strain on schools and stormwater management.

Walsh eventual said, “If you don’t want it, we’ll go away.

“We don’t want it,” came the reply from several in the audience.

Supervisor Samantha Reiner did not attend the meeting, but Murphy read an email from her in which she said there’s no advantage to the township in the apartments’ being built.

Murphy also opposed the idea. “Two members of the Board of Supervisors are telling you to not waste your time,” he said. “The township is not interested. This is finished.”

At that point, most of the residents left the meeting before learning that a German-based grocer, Lidl, wants to move into the current location of the William Bunch Auction House.

(Bunch was not available for comment, but Baxter Burnworth, an acquisition manager for MGP Retail Consulting, representing Lidl, said after the meeting that Bunch wants to stay in the area, just at another location.)

The company has an agreement to buy the location, and then tear down the building and construct a 30,000-square-foot store, according to Damon Healy of Lidl U.S.

He described Lidl as the largest grocer in Europe and the sixth largest retailer in the world. Most of their products are the store’s own brand, while other products are the “‘A’ names,” such as Coca Cola.

(According to the site grocery.com, Lidl is a chain of discount supermarkets with more than 9,000 stores in Europe.)

When asked why his company wants to come into the area where there is already a Whole Foods and a Wegmans on the way, he said Lidl likes the location because of the growth of Route 202 as a retail corridor.

Healy also said shopping at a Lidl store would be “a different shopping experience” in that it straddles the line between two types of stores, that it is “a convenient supermarket.”

Allowing a supermarket in that location would require either a zoning change or a zoning variance, and both Murphy and Planning Commission Chairman Craig Huffman said they had reservations about, as Huffman put it, “moving outside my comfort zone until we know what will happen.”

Huffman called the location a “gateway to a residential area” since the Estates of Chadds Ford and Painters Crossing Condominiums are in the vicinity.

Murphy said of the idea: “I can’t say absolutely no, but I don’t know I’d say yes. It’s not a nonstarter.”

There is no plan or formal application yet. Lidl currently has no stores in the United States.

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.

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