Karli Franiak, of Team Toyota, is surrounded by members of Concord Township Council after receiving a plaque from council for being a sponsor for the township’s Parks & Rec programming.
The application for a proposed shopping center at Ridge Road and Route 202 came up again at the Concord Township Council’s March 3 meeting.
During the Citizen Comment period, resident Kevin Voit again spoke out against the proposed Shoppes at Concord. Voit addressed the council last week during Giant supermarket’s liquor license transfer conditional use hearing, calling for the council to deny the transfer. (That story may be found here.)
When speaking on Tuesday, he noted the applicant had withdrawn its National Pollution Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit application from consideration with the state’s Department of Environmental Protection.
“While the reasons behind this withdrawal are unknown, it stands to reason that the ongoing hearing before the Zoning Hearing Board should be halted pending updated site plans,” he said. “Continuing to hold hearings on a site plan that no longer holds relevance is a waste of township resources .”
Voit went on to say that the “shotgun approach of the applicant and associated tenants — Giant and their premature liquor license transfer application — should no longer be tolerated.”
He said all hearings on the matter should be halted “until the applicant gets its act together.”
Other business
Concord Township Council thanked Team Toyota for being a presenting sponsor of the township’s Parks and Rec programing for 2026.
Council Co-Vice President John Crossan said this is the third year for Team Toyota sponsoring the programming.
“They gave us $13,000 toward our programming, which last year, reached more than 5,000 residents,” he said before the council gave a plaque to Karli Franiak of Team Toyota.
Engineer Joe Renzo said there is movement on the Smithbridge Road roundabout project. He said roadway easement acquisitions are nearing completion.
“Agreements are in place, and documents are currently being recorded with the county, and PennDOT is completing a constructability review. Once this review is complete and the right-of-way documents have been submitted to PennDOT, we can prepare plans for bidding,” he said.
He added that the bidding could be letted by mid-July, with work starting shortly thereafter. Construction will take about two years.
Council made several appointments during the meeting. Members appointed Michael Sheridan as alternate solicitor for the Zoning Hearing Board; Saleem Shaik to the library board; and Joe Barbato to the ZHB.
And council also accepted two resignations. Tony Shahan resigned from the Historical Commission, and Sherin Motawea resigned from the Parks & Rec Board. Shahan recently resigned as the executive director at Ndewlin Grist Mill.
Concord Township Council holds a conditional use hearing for a restaurant liquor license transfer for the as yet unapproved Giant store planned for the also unapproved as yet Shoppes at Concord. Three council members were not in attendance, Dominic Pileggi, John Criossan, and Larry Mutschler. Pileggi has recused himself from all proceedings regarding the application for the Shoppes at Concord.
The as yet unapproved Giant supermarket proposed for the also unapproved as yet shopping center at Ridge Road and Route 202 wants a restaurant liquor license approval from Concord Township. Giant took its request to the township council for a conditional use hearing Tuesday night. No decision is expected until April.
Giant was awarded the restaurant liquor license after a bidding process, and the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board has specific regulations regarding the transfer of a license awarded in that manner, according to. Attorney Ellen Freeman, representing Giant. Her response was in response to a question from Concord Township solicitor Hugh Donaghue.
According to Freeman, those regulations mean the applicant must file for municipal approval within six months of being awarded the license. Giant was awarded the license on Oct. 9, 2025, making April 9, 2026, the six-month mark.
“If you don’t file by that date, you lose the license,” she said. Freeman later said that even if the council approves the transfer, “it would be moot” if the Ginat and development were declined. “Giant would not be able to move it anywhere else in the township. They would essentially lose the license.”
At that point, Donaghue noted the unique nature of the timing of the application since neither the Giant nor the development — The Shoppes at Concord — has been approved by the township council. And he mentioned that a revised plan might be proposed for the 23-acre site.
He continued saying he had previously suggested delaying the liquor license hearing until the land use was approved, but that was not to be the case because of the LCB’s six-month regulation. Donaghue said that any approval for the license transfer given before land development approval would have to be a conditional approval.
Freeman agreed to that and said she already filed papers for conditional language.
Council now anticipates announcing a decision at its April 7 meeting.
After discussion of the timeline legalities, Freeman got down to some of the specifics of what Giant plans for the alcoholic beverage sales.
Freeman made the bulk of the presentation, but she had Scott Shaeffer, the brand compliance manager for Giant as a witness to confirm proof of her statements.
She made the formal request, asking Concord to give approval for the license transfer to allow for alcoholic beverage sales at the proposed Giant.
The floor plan for the alcoholic beverage portion of the proposed store. The booth seating area, as shown, is at the bottom and the kitchen area with the hot food is in the upper left. The large white space in the upper right represents a part of the grocery store area.
Freeman continued, saying Giant has 144 stores with active restaurant liquor licenses in the state. The chain of stores has operated with liquor licenses since 2009, and she said, “Even with their operations spanning well over a decade, Giant has an incredible record with the Pennsylvania Bureau of Liquor Control Enforcement, as well as the Liquor Control Board. They’re considered one of the gold standards in Pennsylvania with respect to how they operate their liquor licenses. Its gold standard and exemplary record are largely based on their safety policies.”
Basics of the proposal for the licensed area include hours of operation of 9 a.m. to 10 p.m., seven days per week. There would be a “booth seating area” about 36 feet long along one wall, and a food sales area where patrons can get sushi, fried chicken, and other hot food to eat in the store. There will be no formal wait staff in the area; getting the food will be self-serve. The seating area will accommodate about 30 people, Freeman said.
The area would also have separate cash registers for liquor sales, and such sales have to be made at those registers, not at any other register in the store. There would be a total of five employees in the area, and all of them would be RAMP trained, Freeman said.
RAMP stands for Responsible Alcohol Management Program. The program teaches sellers how to properly card people for ID, how to spot a fake ID, and how to spot a visibly intoxicated person. There is also an internal training program, she said. That program teaches the sellers what Giant additionally does to ensure the safe sale of alcohol.
The area will also have a trained manager for the license area. The manager’s training goes beyond what RAMP teaches the regular employees.
There will be limitations on what can be sold. Those limitations include selling no more than 192 ounces of beer to go, about the equivalent of two six-packs, 3,000 ml of wine, equivalent to about four standard bottles. They are also limited to selling no more than 192 fluid ounces of spirit-based drinks or canned cocktails.
“Because it’s a restaurant liquor license, the Liquor Control Board maintains that they must allow for on-premises consumption,” Freeman said.
But because of that requirement, Giant is limiting what a person can drink on-site. Those restrictions include 24 ounces of either beer or a ready-to-drink cocktail, or one 8-and-a-half-ounce bottle of wine.
In addition to those restrictions, a patron “must be sitting in the seating area,” Freeman said. “You are not permitted to walk around even in the licensed area with an open container, and you’re certainly not permitted to walk around the grocery store or the parking lot with an open container.”
Freeman then called Shaeffer, the brand compliance manager for Giant, who confirmed the truth of what she had said in her presentation.
Some members of the council asked Shaeffer several questions, many of which were in the nature of confirming Freeman’s presentation regarding the amount that can be sold. Other questions concerned how Giant would handle thefts, and a double check of how many employees there would be for the licensed area, and that the employees would be RAMP trained.
There were six members in the audience with only one — Concord resident Kevin Voit —speaking against approving the license. No one spoke in favor of the application.
Voit had previously sent a letter to the council asking that members deny the application, and he read most of that letter during the hearing. He made several points in his letter, including the fact that nothing — neither the shopping center nor the store has yet been approved.
“Without approved and finalized plans, the township cannot meaningfully assess the licensed premises in their ultimate configuration or evaluate their impact on traffic, safety, zoning compliance, and community welfare. Municipal approval at this stage would therefore rest on assumptions regarding future design elements and operational conditions that remain subject to change.”
Voit also referenced traffic issues. Specifically, he cited: “The introduction of a restaurant liquor license — particularly one facilitating off-premises alcohol sales — is reasonably expected to increase short-duration vehicle trips, peak-hour parking turnover, and internal circulation activity. Alcohol-related retail activity typically generates higher trip frequency and shorter dwell times than conventional grocery shopping, further intensifying ingress and egress activity.”
He also mentioned zoning concerns, saying that the zoning code does allow for a supermarket in the C-2 Planned Business and Commercial District, “retail liquor sales are not identified as a permitted secondary use.”
Voit also cited what he termed a “concentration of alcohol availability” in the township, noting that ACME, Whole Foods, and Wegmans.” He did not cite WAWA, which also sells beer.
In an exchange with. Freeman, it was determined that the state calls for one liquor license per 3,000 people in the municipality, while Concord currently has 24 restaurant liquor licenses, making the ratio 4.72 licenses per 3,000 residents.
Voit concluded, saying, “For all of the reasons set forth above, I respectfully request that Concord Township deny the proposed intermunicipal transfer of a restaurant liquor license to Giant Food Stores, LLC and memorialize that decision by formal resolution.”
There were four people from Chadds Ford Township, but they were only observers. None of them spoke in either support or opposition. There was no one from Concord Township supporting the application.
It was a relatively quick meeting in Concord Township on Tuesday, but not without a reference to the proposed Shops at Ridge Road. The proposed Giant Supermarket in the proposed shopping center wants a liquor license. A conditional use hearing date has been set for that.
Township solicitor Hugh Donaghue made the announcement during his report at the Feb. 3 Council meeting.
“The application that’s currently in front of the Zoning Hearing Board, Concord Acquisitions [aka Retail Sites], and specifically as part of that proposed development, is a Giant Supermarket. The Giant Supermarket is applying for a liquor license transfer.”
Donaghue explained that Giant was a successful bidder for a license that was auctioned off by the state Liquor Control Board.
“Their rule and regulations indicate that within six months, they have to obtain a clearance from a township if it’s an intermunicipal transfer. So, there will be a hearing on that liquor license matter here in the township building on Feb. 24 at 7 p.m.,” Donaghue said.
He added that the continued zoning hearing for the development is scheduled for Feb. 18, which will also be in the township’s main meeting room.
Following a question from Council Co-Vice President John Gillespie, Donaghue said the council will likely make a decision on the liquor license during the council’s March 3 meeting. He also said the public may take part in that Feb. 24 hearing by asking questions and providing testimony.
He said the council will then “have the ability to approve it, deny it, or give a conditional decision because, quite frankly, this Giant hasn’t even been approved yet.”
The store must still get land development approval for the shopping center before there is a Giant.
Gillespie commented that, “This board has not yet seen anything on this development, so we can’t do anything legislatively until the Zoning Hearing Board finishes their case. This is something unusual that just came up, so we will have the hearing on the liquor license. That will either be approved or denied. And the Zoning Hearing Board will make a decision on what’s in front of them. After that, we will then have a conditional use hearing for the remainder of the site. If that’s approved, then it will go to land development.”
Other business
• The township is moving ahead with the Smithbridge Road Roundabout Project. Township Manager Amanda Serock said PennDOT is requiring the township to apply for a grant to use one of PennDOT’s third-party approved inspectors for the physical construction of the roundabout.
“So, they had us fill out this form and resolution notifying that we will do so as part of the grant process,” Serock said.
Before the meeting, township engineer Nate Kline explained that a roundabout will be going into Smithbridge Road at its intersection with Kirk and Temple roads.
That roundabout will be connected to a trail that goes all the way down to the [Garnet Valley] middle school, park, and the high school complex. A left-turn lane will also be added to the school district driveway at the high school. That was a requirement made years ago, he said.
Kline said the school district, PennDOT, and the township will each have a portion to pay for the total project, but he wasn’t sure of the payment breakdown yet, but a large portion will be paid by PennDOT. Construction on the project could begin sometime this year or early next year.
• In honor of Black History Month, the Concord Township Historical Society will host a Harriet Tubman reenactment this coming Saturday, Feb. 7, in the community center.
• Tom Ferro was appointed to be an alternate on the Zoning Hearing Board. His term will expire Jan. 2, 2027.
“The application that’s currently in front of the Zoning Hearing Board, Concord Acquisitions [aka Retail Sites], and specifically as part of that proposed development, is a Giant Supermarket. The Giant Supermarket is applying for a liquor license transfer.”