Our Major Concerns

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  The proposed development would drastically increase traffic along the Ridge Road corridor—roads originally based on historic Lenni Lenape paths and not built for high-volume commercial use.  Existing cut-through traffic in nearby neighborhoods is already a concern and is likely to worsen.

A responsible Highway Occupancy Permit (HOP) design must reinforce—not undermine—the function of the local road network. Arterial roads are meant for higher-volume regional and commercial traffic, while residential and minor collector roads are intended for local access, lower speeds, and safe neighborhood mobility. 

Commercial access should prioritize entry and exit from arterial roads, minimizing incentives for drivers to cut through residential roads.

Without these safeguards, the surge in traffic will place an unsustainable burden on local roads, creating serious safety, noise, and quality-of-life impacts during construction and permanently thereafter.

 A review of the developer’s environmental permit application identified serious deficiencies that must be corrected before the project can proceed. 

Key issues include reliance on outdated permits for substantially revised plans, incomplete wetland evaluations, and environmental studies that are several years old and do not reflect newly identified wetlands. The wildlife review did not cover the entire site and flagged a potential protected-species concern.

The application also contains conflicting information regarding land use, impervious coverage, and stormwater flow, understates tree and habitat impacts, and fails to accurately disclose a prior state environmental violation within the past five years.

 The developer has appealed the determinations of the Concord Township Zoning Officer. 

Save Ridge Road, through legal counsel, along with 35 homeowners, has been granted Party Status, as has Chadds Ford Township through its attorney.

The Zoning Officer denied the proposed fuel station for two independent reasons: the Ordinance does not permit retail gasoline sales as an accessory use to the proposed 57,000-square-foot supermarket, and the site does not meet the 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 building, which exceeds the Ordinance’s 65,000-square-foot maximum.

 The site exhibits multiple high-risk characteristics, including closely spaced access points, a half signal on a major arterial, high peak-hour traffic, limited turn storage, and uncertainty in driver behavior. These factors warrant a conservative approach with enhanced review and mitigation.

Traffic assumptions in the plan predict that 60% of northbound site traffic will use the new half signal and 40% will remain on Ridge Road, projecting a 21–26% reduction in westbound Ridge Road traffic. If drivers continue using Ridge Road—due to habit, GPS routing, or signal avoidance—congestion and safety impacts could be significantly understated.

The analysis also fails to fully evaluate traffic west of the site, downstream intersections, and minor connector roads. Diversions to avoid signals could increase cut-through traffic in nearby neighborhoods, creating additional safety and congestion issues.

Finally, the proposed 200-foot northbound left-turn lane at the Route 202 half signal may be insufficient. Queues exceeding this length could spill into through lanes or back toward Ridge Road, creating serious safety risks and corridor disruption.

    Neighboring residents rely on private wells in the Piedmont fractured-bedrock aquifer, a system with limited natural filtration and unpredictable flow, making it highly vulnerable to contamination.

The proposed car wash and fuel facility pose a significant risk from petroleum, solvents, detergents, and stormwater pollutants. In fractured bedrock, even small releases can quickly reach wells with minimal natural attenuation.

PA DEP guidance highlights the difficulty of protecting wells in such settings, emphasizing that nearby contaminant sources create heightened risk. This directly affects public health and safety and underscores the need to discourage high-risk land uses in sensitive hydrogeologic areas.

Additional concerns arise from the proposed discharge points. Distances and dimensions—such as those for Discharge Point 2—appear incorrect or unsubstantiated, suggesting many reported values may be estimates rather than measured. Without accurate determination of distances, flow paths, and drainage lengths. As such, permitting bodies cannot reliably assess receiving water impacts, EP analysis applicability, or off-site flow paths.

     Route 202 is already severely congested, with routine stop-and-go traffic, long queues, and frequent standstills. The proposed development would worsen these conditions, further degrading traffic flow and safety.

The local market is already well served with many other retail spaces along Route 202 remaining vacant for years. 

Within four miles are at least nine grocery stores—including Whole Foods, Wegmans, Fresh Market, Acme, Trader Joe’s, Giant, Sprouts, ShopRite, and Aldi.

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.