Preserve the Beauty. Stop the Traffic.
Keep our community safe, peaceful, and green.
About Us - Save Ridge Road
Our Story
Our Mission
Our Story
What began as a small group of concerned neighbors has grown into an incorporated nonprofit organization representing more than 1,100 homeowners. We are committed to protecting the character, safety, and long-term well-being of our community through thoughtful advocacy, informed engagement, and responsible planning.
We do not oppose gr
What began as a small group of concerned neighbors has grown into an incorporated nonprofit organization representing more than 1,100 homeowners. We are committed to protecting the character, safety, and long-term well-being of our community through thoughtful advocacy, informed engagement, and responsible planning.
We do not oppose growth; rather, we advocate for development that is thoughtful, responsible, carefully planned, and proportionate to the capacity and character of our community.
The Issue
Our Mission
Our Story
Our community stands at a crossroads. A major developer, Retail Sites LLC, based in New Jersey, operating through the shell corporation Concord Acquisitions, has proposed a 24-acre retail development at the corner of Ridge Road and Route 202.
This project threatens to permanently alter the rural character, safety, and natural beauty that
Our community stands at a crossroads. A major developer, Retail Sites LLC, based in New Jersey, operating through the shell corporation Concord Acquisitions, has proposed a 24-acre retail development at the corner of Ridge Road and Route 202.
This project threatens to permanently alter the rural character, safety, and natural beauty that make our community home.
It will bring increased traffic and congestion to already overburdened roads, heighten flooding risks from stormwater runoff, and threaten groundwater quality, potentially rendering private wells unusable. It may disrupt local wildlife habitats, and erode the quiet, scenic character that defines our community.
Our Mission
Our Mission
Our Mission
As a newly incorporated nonprofit (EIN #39‑5058583), our mission is to protect the safety, well-being, and quality of life for residents of Chadds Ford and Concord Township.
To date this site has logged more than 14,000 visits - people who want to learn more about our work—and we’re just getting started!
Thanks to our passionate volunteers
As a newly incorporated nonprofit (EIN #39‑5058583), our mission is to protect the safety, well-being, and quality of life for residents of Chadds Ford and Concord Township.
To date this site has logged more than 14,000 visits - people who want to learn more about our work—and we’re just getting started!
Thanks to our passionate volunteers, who are donating hundreds of hours on behalf of affected neighbors.
Your Donation is Critical to Our Success!
The Issue We are Facing
Homeowners living near the proposed commercial development are facing significant and lasting impacts—from increased traffic and safety concerns to environmental risks and loss of neighborhood character.
The Reason to Join Us
As is too often the case, residents cannot stand up to a large commercial developer alone. That is because defending homeowners in large-scale commercial land-use matters is costly. Legal and expert expenses commonly range from $30,000 - $50,000, depending on the complexity of zoning appeals, PennDOT permitting, traffic and engineering review, and the length of proceedings. Developers budget for these costs as a matter of course; individual homeowners do not.
Your contribution directly supports the legal defense of homeowners living near the proposed Shoppes at Concord commercial development. This effort is about fairness, safety, and accountability. When residents pool resources, they gain a real voice in decisions that affect their homes, property values, and quality of life.
There are Several Ways to Donate
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Venmo
We accept donations through the provided Zelle QR Code -- or using our email address:
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Venmo
Use the link below to make a donation with Venmo or enter our account name: @SaveRidgeRoad
Personal Check
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Please share this appeal letter. Checks can be mailed to:
SAVE RIDGE ROAD
125 Commons Court,
Chadds Ford, PA 19317
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We’re building a team of neighbors who want to stay informed, share information, and work together to make sure our voices are heard.
Our Major Concerns
Traffic
PennDOT Plan
Traffic
The proposed development will result in an exponential increase in automobile and truck traffic along the Ridge Road corridor—an area whose road network evolved from historic Lenni Lenape paths and was never designed to accommodate modern high-volume commercial traffic.
Traffic studies associated with the proposal project an increase of approximately 8,443 additional vehicle trips per day, bringing total daily traffic volumes to well over 10,000 vehicles. Notably, traffic impacts to secondary roads maintained by the Township have not been adequately studied.
Existing cut-through traffic in surrounding residential neighborhoods accessed via Smithbridge Road and Springhill Drive is already a significant concern for residents and can reasonably be expected to worsen as drivers seek to avoid congestion.
Many residents already describe traffic conditions along Route 202 as congested and difficult during peak periods. The cumulative effect of this increased traffic will place an unreasonable and unsustainable burden on multiple residential roadways, creating significant safety, noise, and quality-of-life impacts during construction and on a permanent, daily basis for as long as the proposed strip mall remains in operation.
Zoning
PennDOT Plan
Traffic
The developer has initiated an appeal of the determinations issued by the Concord Township Zoning Officer. On 12/17, Save Ridge Road through our legal counsel along with additional 35 homeowners claimed and were granted PARTY STATUS, as well as Chadds Ford Township through its attorney.
The Zoning Officer denied the proposed fuel pumping operations for two independent and sufficient reasons:
- First, the Zoning Officer determined that Section 210-127(D)(7) of the Zoning Ordinance does not permit the retail sale of gasoline as an accessory use to the proposed 57,000-square-foot supermarket.
- Second, the Zoning Officer determined that the proposed fuel station fails to meet the Ordinance requirement that such use be located on a corner lot with frontage on two arterial highways.
The developer has also appealed the denial of its proposed 95,000-square-foot principal building, which exceeds the maximum permitted building size of 65,000 square feet under the Zoning Ordinance.
PennDOT Plan
PennDOT Plan
Shared Aquifer & Stormwater
The proposed widening of Ridge Road to six lanes—combined with an elevation increase of approximately six feet—followed by an abrupt reduction back to two lanes presents a serious and foreseeable traffic safety hazard. As such, a revised scenario was submitted to PennDOT on 12/17. This new proposed plan:
- Relies on driver behavior assumptions: The plan assumes most drivers will use the new Route 202 access instead of Ridge Road. If drivers continue using Ridge Road, impacts could be worse than predicted.
- New signal on a busy highway: Adding another signal on Route 202 introduces new stopping points, which can increase congestion and crash risk.
- Unresolved property acquisition: The plan depends on acquiring land from a third-party property owner.
- Little room for error: Intersections are designed to operate at the minimum acceptable level, leaving limited flexibility if traffic grows faster than expected.
- Limited focus on safety beyond cars: The analysis centers on vehicle delay and lane capacity, with less attention to pedestrian safety, emergency access, and long-term cumulative impacts.
Shared Aquifer & Stormwater
Shared Aquifer & Stormwater
Shared Aquifer & Stormwater
Neighboring residents rely exclusively on private wells drawing from the Piedmont fractured-bedrock aquifer—a groundwater system recognized in Pennsylvania to have limited natural filtration and complex flow paths that make it especially vulnerable to contamination.
The proposed uses—including a car wash and a fuel dispensing facility—introduce a substantial and unreasonable risk of groundwater contamination from petroleum, solvents, detergents, and stormwater-borne pollutants. In fractured bedrock, contaminants can migrate rapidly through interconnected fractures, making even small releases capable of reaching private wells with minimal natural attenuation.
Regulatory guidance under PA DEP’s Source Water Protection program emphasizes the complexity of delineating wellhead protection areas in fractured-bedrock settings precisely because of this rapid and unpredictable flow behavior, underscoring the heightened risk posed by nearby contaminant sources.
This risk of contamination directly implicates the protection of public health, safety, and welfare, central obligations of municipal planning and the Pennsylvania Municipalities Planning Code, and aligns with PA DEP’s overarching groundwater protection policy, which directs that land uses that threaten groundwater quality should be discouraged in sensitive hydrogeologic areas.
Environmental & Wetlands
Shared Aquifer & Stormwater
Environmental & Wetlands
A review of the developer’s Environmental permit application found serious issues that must be addressed before the project can move forward.
Key concerns include:
- Old permits used for new plans: The developer is relying on permits issued for earlier designs, even though the current proposal includes major layout and stormwater changes.
- Incomplete wetland review: Only part of the site was evaluated for wetlands. Some areas proposed for construction were never inspected.
- Outdated environmental studies: Wildlife and wetland studies are several years old and do not account for newly identified wetlands.
- Incomplete wildlife screening: The state review did not include the full site and flagged a potential protected species concern.
- Conflicting application details: The application contains contradictions about land use, impervious area, and where stormwater flows.
- Tree and habitat impacts understated: Plans show tree removal and potential habitat impacts that were denied in the application.
- Past violations not disclosed: A prior state environmental violation within the past five years was not accurately reported.
Retail Oversaturation
Shared Aquifer & Stormwater
Environmental & Wetlands
The Route 202 has become severely congested and increasingly dysfunctional for local residents. On a routine basis, traffic volumes result in extended queues, stop-and-go conditions, and periods of complete standstill. The proposed development would exacerbate these existing conditions and further degrade traffic operations and roadway safety.
The surrounding market area is already well served by existing retail food stores. Within approximately four miles of the subject property, there are at least nine grocery options, including:
- Whole Foods (less than 1 mile)
- Wegmans (1 mile)
- Fresh Market (less than 2 miles)
- Acme (less than 2 miles)
- Trader Joe’s (3 miles)
- Giant (3 miles)
- Sprouts (3 miles)
- ShopRite (3 miles)
- Aldi (4 miles)
Similarly, the area is already served by multiple fuel dispensing facilities, including Wawa,
Sunoco, and Costco, with at least five operating gas stations within a three-to-five-mile radius. A sixth gas station at the intersection of Routes 202 and 1 remains vacant or abandoned.
The corridor also contains at least three existing car wash facilities within approximately three miles of the site.
We are Working Hard for Our Community
Legal Representation
Environmental Advocacy
Legal Representation
We have taken actions to ensure that the community is not merely observing this process from the sidelines, but is formally recognized, legally present, and impossible to ignore.
By being granted Party Status in the Concord Township Zoning Hearing proceedings through legal counsel retained on behalf of affected homeowners, our organization has secured the right to fully participate in the hearings—presenting evidence, questioning witnesses, and responding on the record. This status is essential to protecting due process and ensuring that community concerns are treated with the same seriousness as those of the applicant.
Our active participation in public meetings in Concord Township and Chadds Ford Township, often alongside impacted residents, ensures that decision-makers hear directly from the people who live with the consequences of these decisions. Showing up—consistently and in person—keeps the process transparent and grounded in real-world impacts, not just technical submissions.
Finally, by submitting formal written objections to the Delaware County Planning Commission, the applicant, and both Townships, we have ensured that our concerns are permanently documented and preserved in the official record. This matters not only for current decision-making, but for accountability and any future reviews or appeals.
Together, these steps protect the community’s voice, its rights, and its future. They ensure that decisions affecting the character, safety, and well-being of our neighborhoods are made with full public participation—not behind closed doors, and not without consequence.
Community Advocacy
Environmental Advocacy
Legal Representation
Decisions that permanently affect a neighborhood should never happen without the people who live there fully informed and able to participate. Community information rallies and direct outreach ensure that residents are not left in the dark about proceedings that may impact their homes, safety, and quality of life.
By organizing information rallies and distributing flyers to the approximately 250 residents living closest to the proposed development, we are making sure that those most directly affected understand what is being proposed, when decisions are being made, and—most importantly—that they know they have rights. These efforts are about fairness and access, especially in a process that can feel intimidating or difficult to navigate without guidance.
We also acknowledge the many homeowners and business owners who have stepped forward in visible ways—displaying lawn signs, wearing tee-shirts, and sharing bumper stickers. These small but powerful acts of participation signal something important: this is not the concern of a few individuals, but a shared community effort rooted in care for our neighborhoods and the future we are building together.
Public awareness leads to public participation—and public participation is how communities protect themselves.
Environmental Advocacy
Environmental Advocacy
Environmental Advocacy
Environmental impacts, once approved and built, are often irreversible. Wetlands, mature woodlands, wildlife habitat, and natural drainage systems cannot be easily restored once they are disturbed or destroyed. That is why it is essential that environmental reviews are based on accurate, complete, and site-specific information—not assumptions, omissions, or generic studies.
By submitting formal correspondence to the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection, the Delaware County Conservation District, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, the Pennsylvania Game Commission, and the Bureau of Forestry and Ecological Resources, we have elevated serious concerns about multiple deficiencies in the applicant’s environmental filings and permit submissions. This ensures that these agencies are aware that the record, as currently presented, may not fully or accurately reflect the environmental realities of the site.
We have specifically requested that the permitting and review process be re-evaluated using corrected, site-specific data, particularly with respect to the wetlands and woodland resources present on the property. These natural features provide flood protection, water quality benefits, wildlife habitat, and ecological balance—not just for this site, but for the surrounding community as well.
At its core, this effort is about stewardship and responsibility—ensuring that development decisions do not come at the expense of our natural resources, our safety, or future generations. Environmental protections exist for a reason, and insisting they be properly applied is one of the most important ways a community can protect itself.
Media Attention
PennDOT Intervention
Environmental Advocacy
Public awareness is essential when decisions of this magnitude are being made. Land-use and zoning proceedings are often complex, technical, and difficult for residents to follow, yet the outcomes can permanently reshape a community. Engaging with local media ensures that this process does not unfold quietly or without public understanding.
By working with trusted local outlets, we have helped bring transparency to a proposal that carries significant consequences for homeowners, road safety, environmental impacts, and quality of life.
To date, eight articles have been published, covering not only residents’ concerns but also explaining the zoning and approval process itself—information that empowers people to participate rather than feel excluded or overwhelmed.
We are deeply grateful to our local media for their thoughtful, responsible reporting and for their commitment to keeping residents informed with clear, timely, and accessible information. Local media plays a critical role in ensuring accountability and in giving voice to those most affected by development decisions.
The outcome of this proposal will have lasting implications for the character, safety, and well-being of our community. Informed public engagement is not optional—it is essential. When residents understand what is being proposed and how decisions are made, they are better equipped to speak up, ask hard questions, and help protect the place they call home.
Constituency Growth
PennDOT Intervention
PennDOT Intervention
Our group is more than 20,000 people strong, because protecting a community is never the work of just one type of person. It takes neighbors who have lived here for decades, families raising children, seniors who depend on safe roads and clean air, local workers, environmental stewards, and residents who simply love this place and refuse to see it harmed.
To date, this site has been visited over 14,000 times by people who are searching for information, clarity, and ways to help—people who care deeply about what happens here and who believe this proposed development is harmful and fundamentally out of step with our community.
More than 1,100 residents have put their names in writing—signing petitions and submitting formal letters—to say clearly and publicly that they are concerned, engaged, and ready to stand up for their neighborhood. Several residents have gone even further by choosing to be actively represented by Save Ridge legal counsel at the Concord Township Zoning Hearings, demonstrating not only opposition, but resolve.
Beyond these numbers are thousands more acts of support—emails sent, letters written, calls made, conversations sparked. Residents have reached out to elected officials, the developer, potential tenants, and the media. They have spoken up online, shared their stories, and encouraged others to pay attention. This is not casual interest or momentary outrage. It is sustained, heartfelt concern from a community that understands what is at stake and is determined to protect the place we call home.
PennDOT Intervention
PennDOT Intervention
PennDOT Intervention
PennDOT intervention is critically important because it ensures that the voices of local residents are legally recognized and cannot be ignored.
By submitting formal written objections and Petitions to Intervene to PennDOT regarding the proposed Highway Occupancy Permit and its accompanying traffic study—which contains significant deficiencies—we have moved community concerns into the official decision-making process. These filings are not symbolic. They become part of PennDOT’s administrative record, meaning they must be reviewed, weighed, and addressed before any final determination is made.
Several homeowners have already been granted limited intervention status, a meaningful legal threshold. This status gives residents the right to receive notices of hearings, filings, and PennDOT decisions, ensuring transparency and preventing decisions from being made quietly or without public awareness. Just as importantly, intervenors may submit written statements, technical materials, exhibits, and formal objections—and PennDOT is required to consider those submissions as part of its review.
In other words, this process protects the community’s seat at the table.
Recognizing how confusing and inaccessible this process can feel, we have also launched a homeowner education campaign to empower residents with clear information about their legal rights in the PennDOT review process.
Reach Out to Concord Township Officials
Email Concord Township
We must continue engaging with the Concord Township Council members, who retain final authority over approval of the land development plan, regardless of the Planning Commission’s recommendations. This remains especially important given that the project is currently subject to an active zoning appeal.
Dominic A. Pileggi, President, dpileggi@concordtownship.org (recused)
John J. Gillespie, Co-Vice President, jgillespie@concordtownship.org
John L. Crossan, Co-Vice President, jcrossan@concordtownship.org
Dana Rankin, drankin@concordtownship.org
James Hunt, jhunt@concordtownship.org
Vinita Deshmukh, vdeshmukh@concordtownship.org
NOTE: Concord Township Code section 160-76 states that all proposed subdivisions or land developments shall be coordinated and planned so as to be compatible with adjoining or nearby neighborhoods or approved subdivisions or land developments to the end that harmonious development will result. Such coordination shall also pertain to subdivisions or land developments located adjacent to neighboring municipalities.
Reach Out to Chadds Ford Township Officials
Email Chadds Ford Township
Chadds Ford Township has both the legal authority—under the Municipalities Planning Code and the Intergovernmental Cooperation Act—and a practical obligation to take an active role in representing the interests of Chadds Ford residents as this project moves forward. When development in a neighboring municipality has direct and foreseeable impacts, the Township is empowered not only to participate, but to advocate.
Our community relies on the Board to speak for and protect its residents when external development threatens to affect our roads, environment, public services, and safety. Active engagement is essential to ensure that these impacts are fully evaluated, addressed, and mitigated, and that the voices of Chadds Ford residents are meaningfully represented throughout the process.
Chadds Ford Township Supervisors can be e-mailed at:
Ms. Timotha Trigg, Chair, ttrigg@chaddsfordpa.gov
Ms. Kathleen Goodier, Vice Chair, kgoodier@chaddsfordpa.gov
Ms. Samantha Reiner, Supervisor, sreiner@chaddsfordpa.gov
Reach Out to Our State Legislators
Contact Rep Willaims and Senator Kane
We are grateful to our state legislators for taking a proactive role by hosting a joint meeting with PennDOT officials and the developer, giving our community a platform to voice concerns about the current traffic proposal. Representative Williams has consistently highlighted the risks of this project, issuing five public statements that warn of the traffic chaos it could bring along Route 202 and the disruption it would cause for residents in the surrounding neighborhoods.
Their attention to these issues reinforces the urgency of careful review and ensures that the voices of our community are heard at the highest levels. This advocacy is critical to protecting both the safety and quality of life of those who live near the proposed development. 2025-12-23 Interim PennDOT Submission.pdf
Residents should continue to share concerns about the projected traffic and road safety issues for the following roads: Route 202, Ridge, Heyburn, Smithbridge, Ring, Spring Hill, Pleasant Hill and Sunset Valley.
Senator John Kane District Office
381 Brinton Lake Rd, Suite 3
Thornton, PA 19373
(610) 447-5845
Send Me an Email - Senator John Kane
Rep Craig Williams District Office
One Beaver Valley Road
Chadds Ford, PA 19317-9012
610-358-5925
Contact | PA State Rep. Craig Williams
Rep. Craig Williams Updates
Newsletter - January 23, 2026
If you have been following my articles about the proposed massive Giant shopping center on Ridge Road, you know that I have been quite engaged.
I will repeat it again plainly for those in the back of the room: I am categorically and completely opposed to this proposed project. I have a host of objections, including the impact on our Route 202 traffic and our environment. I wrote about it previously. I wrote about the meeting I convened with PennDOT, the developer and Senator Kane to voice my objections to their traffic plan, which involved converting our highway to their personal multi-lane driveway.
If you missed that article, please contact my office. We are happy to send it to you by email. I attended all three hours of the latest Concord Township Zoning Board hearing on appeals taken by the developer on certain determinations by the Zoning Officer. (I missed the first evidentiary hearing of the Zoning Board, because we were in legislative session that week in December.) Said plainly, the Zoning Officer made decisions adverse to the developer, which the developer is now appealing to the entire Zoning Board.
No decision has been made yet, and the hearings are continued again until next month.
The issue this week was whether the massive structure proposed by the developer is one building or three separate buildings. The Concord Township Solicitor did an amazing job exposing why this determination is so crucial for Concord and its neighbors: if the developer proposes a building larger than 65,000 square feet, then under the Concord Zoning regulations, the developer must create Main Street/Town Center style of construction. Picture the main street of the Concordville Towne Center – or the King of Prussia Town Center (which was designed by the same architect here, so he clearly understands our intent).
To avoid the conclusion that it is one building, the developer claims the massive structure is actually three structures separated by 2-4 inches and connected by expansion joints. They use that clever argument to avoid the conclusion that they must construct a Town Center feel to the property, consistent with the style and history of our community, allowing them instead to cover most of the 23 acres with a huge parking lot.
My teenage son wanted to attend the meeting to see the debate in action. At one point during the lengthy inquiry about whether the use of expansion joints makes a single building into three separate buildings, my son notes: we drive over expansion joints every day on roads and bridges. Does every expansion joint make a single bridge into many separate bridges?
Exactly right, son.
Share Your Concerns
Share Your Feedback with Potential Retail Tenants
The developer has stated that the strip mall is 70% committed, listing the following confirmed tenants:
- Giant SuperMarket (Anchor)
- Club Studio Fitness
- Discount Tire
- Flagship Carwash
They are also advertising three available pads with drive-throughs, defined as restaurants or food establishments that serve customers in vehicles via a drive-through window or service lane, whether or not indoor seating is provided.
These proposed uses are not permitted on this site under current zoning. Allowing them would require a reversal of the Zoning Officer’s determinations and the granting of multiple conditional use waivers.
WHY DRIVE-THROUGHS MATTER
Drive-through restaurants are often regulated separately because they can:
- Generate significantly higher traffic volumes
- Create vehicle stacking and queuing issues
- Increase noise, lighting, and emissions
- Impact pedestrian safety and the character of nearby residential areas
These concerns highlight why such uses are inconsistent with the site’s zoning and why careful review and community input are critical before any approvals are granted.
ACTION
Now is the time to reach to these retailers directly to educate them about your concerns.
Giant Contact Information:
The Giant Company
1149 Harrisburg Pike
Carlisle, PA 17013
Phone: (888) 814-4268
John Ruane, President, The Giant Company – John.Ruane@giantfoodstores.com
Ms. Rebecca Lupfer, Chief Merchant – Rebecca.Lupfer@giantfoodstores.com
Mr. Dave Lessard, Chief Operator – Dave.Lessard@giantfoodstores.com
Mr. William Regan, Chief Financial Officer – William.Regan@giantfoodstores.com
Flagship Carwash: Contact Us