Op/Ed: Attend meeting on traffic

Posted by ChaddsFordLive on May 19, 2017

Please join concerned residents and business owners on Monday, May 22, at 7 p.m. for a Chadds Ford Town Hall meeting at the Chadds Ford Township municipal building on Route 1 to learn more about the proposed 190,000-square-foot Pettinaro development at Ridge Road and Route 202 that affects residences and businesses in Chadds Ford and Concord Townships as well as all drivers who travel the Route 202 corridor.

The planned development will contain a large grocery store along with six additional adjoining retail spaces and five restaurants, along with over 1,000 parking spaces.

Confirmed to be in attendance at the town hall meeting will be Chadds Ford Supervisors Frank Murphy and Noelle Barbone, Chadds Ford Township Engineer Mike Schneider of Pennoni Associates and Chadds Ford Township Solicitor, Mike Maddren.

We appreciate our supervisors holding the meeting and hope to hear feedback from the recent Chadds Ford car counting traffic study. The meeting will address concerns regarding the proposed quality-of-life changing six-lane Ridge Road expansion and location of the shopping center’s only entrance on our little country road.

At the meeting, we also hope to learn more about a lawsuit that Pettinaro has filed against Concord Township on this issue.

The plans for this shopping center and expansion of our country road to six lanes were approved in 2007 long before the enormous Wegman’s development and other shopping centers nearby.

Although the details are not clear, these approvals appear to have been “extended,” based only upon partial, “sample” traffic studies that did not include the many additional proposed centers on Route 202, such as the Royal Farms development and second Pettinaro center on the east side of Route 202.

Recently, we have seen concerned residents like Save the Valley and Neighbors for Crebilly Farms finding their voices to stop the traffic and encourage planned, responsible growth that does not endanger our quality of life. These are the reasons that brought all of us here and these are the reasons we want to stay.

All concerned residents and neighbors are invited to attend.