New car wash planned for Concord

The applicant for a planned automated carwash at the southeast intersection of Routes 1 and 202 must wait another month before learning if the plan can go forward. Plans call for a 30,000-square-foot, automated carwash with vacuum stations to go into the area behind the Comfort Inn and the old Exxon gas station.

Concord Township Council held a conditional use hearing for the proposal by NHB-VA, LLC, Tuesday evening. The hearing closed after an hour’s testimony with Council President Dominic Pileggi saying a decision will be announced at the July 11 meeting. Carwashes are allowed in the C-2 Zoning District with conditional use approval.

Chadds Ford’s Dell Joshi, a partner in the project, said the carwash would have “minimum human action,” meaning there will be only one or two employees on-site at any given time. The washing, rinsing, and drying will be done automatically. Proposed hours of operation are 9 a.m. to 8 p.m., seven days per week during the summer, but 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. in the winter. Joshi also said that the south end of the property, where they want to put the car wash, gets the least amount of use.

In February, Concord’s Zoning Hearing Board granted a variance for parking. The carwash will take up an estimated 90 parking spaces, but Joshi said some of the hotel's uses will be cut back to offset the reduced parking area.

Attorney Ken Kynett, representing the applicant, said parking at the 7.3-acre site has always been non-conforming.

Responding to questions from Council members, project engineer Charles Dobson, from InLand Design, said the site would be mostly accessed from northbound Route 202 traffic, but there would be no stacking back to the highway.

He used the example of a Ford F-150 pickup with a super cab and explained that the length of the aisles to enter the carwash proper can handle 18 vehicles that are 19 feet long. He also said there would be signage to direct internal traffic flow on the property, and that most of the water used would be “reclaimed” or recycled water.

In response to a question from township solicitor Hugh Donaghue, Dobson acknowledged that a traffic analysis would have to be performed as part of the land use application. That study would look at the two entrances to the entire property, the one on Route 1 and the one on Route 202.

If conditional use approval is granted, the applicant must still make a formal land use application and go back to the Planning Commission for a recommendation, and then back to the council for final approval.

Pileggi suggested one possible condition during the hearing. He said he would like to see landscaping along the Route 202 frontage.

“It might be a condition if we move forward.”

In an unrelated matter during the regular meeting, attorney Don Petrosa asked council members to consider holding a hearing for a text amendment to the zoning code that would allow used car sales in the C-1 Zoning District by conditional use. Council agreed. The proposal would first have to go to the township and county planning commissions for review and recommendations before a hearing is held.

Used car sales are permitted in the C-2 district, but not the C-1. Petrosa said he has a client who wants to open a preowned car dealership at 409 Wilmington Pike, across Route 202 from Lane Sign. The property is in a C-1 district but is surrounded by properties in C-2 and is near the Maserati dealership.

Other business

• Council honored two Boy Scouts and the outgoing director of Darlington Arts Center during the June 6 meeting. Council Co-Vice President John Crossan honored Darlington Arts Center director Eric Thompson who is moving out of the area. Thompson has been the director since 2015.

Crossan said Thompson was ‘instrumental’ in planning and facilitating Delco Arts Week, Concord Township’s Summer Concerts in the Park, and the upcoming Sensory Play Space at Darlington, and that he “has structured and implemented a three-year strategic planning process that focuses on building and expanding the Darlington Arts Community, has put Darlington on the arts and culture map by creating a safe and welcoming space for all.”

Fellow Co-Vice President John Gillespie recognized two Boy Scouts for earning the rank of Eagle Scout. Gillespie said Jackson Lawrence McGehean received the honor of Eagle Scout for restoring a classroom at the Newlin Grist Mill, and Charles Thomas Connolly received his Eagle Scout honor for establishing a trail and viewing area for a 300-meter-tall oak tree on the property of Saint John’s Episcopal Church.

• Council also made three committee appointments. Jeffrey Santoleri was appointed to the Planning Commission to serve through June 6, 2027, Natalie Johnson to the Historical Commission through June 6, 2026, and Suzanne Zizza was appointed to the Parks & Recreation Board to serve through Sept. 6, 2025.

(Ellie Vasko provided content for this story.)

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.