Otto’s BMW in Birmingham Township wants to add a little more inventory parking and is planning to go double-decker. The dealership went before the township Board of Supervisors Monday night to get conditional use approval to install 19 double-decker parking units to take the place of 21 current employee parking spaces. Those spaces are against a retaining wall at the rear of the building.
Otto’s is located at 1275 Wilmington Pike near Penn Oaks Drive. Neal Camens, the engineer on the project, testified that visibility of the double-stacked parking units would be limited. They won’t be seen at all from northbound Route 202 traffic and only briefly visible through a slight angle from southbound traffic.
There would, what Camens referred to as a “filtered view” through trees from several homes on Penn Oaks, but that view would only be the tops of the cars on the upper tier.
The double-decker units, or stackers, are 15 feet long but are wider than standard parking spaces, so the 19 units require the 21 spaces. The result is a net gain of 17 parking spaces for inventory.
Camens added that the employee parking could easily be moved to the side of the building without needing to add more room.
Michael Vadasz, Otto’s center operator, said the stacked parking could be used for staging used vehicles before servicing prior to resale.
The township Planning Commission already recommended approval of the request, according to township solicitor Kristin Camp. The Municipalities Planning Code gives supervisors 45 days to render a decision. Birmingham’s board will announce theirs during the March Board of Supervisors’ meeting.
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.
