Consideration of a special exception and four variances needed for a proposed second Middletown Chick-fil-A has been re-advertised for the July 12 township zoning hearing board meeting, Director of Building and Zoning Jim Ennis said.
The matter had been scheduled for the June 14 meeting but had to be shifted when a crowded agenda that night didn't allow time, he added. The July 12 meeting starts at 7 p.m. in the meeting room of the township municipal center at 3 Municipal Way.
Florida-based Wilkinson Development is proposing the Chick-fil-A with a multi-lane drive-through to replace the former Ruby Tuesday restaurant at 1440 E. Lincoln Highway (Business Route 1). The site is a 1.93-acre parcel adjacent to a Lowe's and a Wells Fargo Bank.
It's right across the highway and less than a quarter-mile away from another proposed Chick-fil-A to have been located at the Langhorne Square Shopping Center. The township supervisors had approved a subdivision for a separate lot intended for the Chick-fil-A to be owned by Waterstone Properties and not by the owner of the remainder of Langhorne Square.
However, Wilkinson Development President Richard Wilkinson said he has written confirmation from Chick-fil-A that it has terminated its lease with Waterstone for the Langhorne Square site, and that the Wilkinson proposal is currently the only one on the table for a second Chick-fil-A in Middletown. Waterstone representatives have declined to comment on that assertion and Chick-fil-A did not respond to requests for comment.
If the special exception and variances are granted, Wilkinson would also need land development approval from the township supervisors to proceed with construction. If the Chick-fil-A at the site of the former Ruby Tuesday is eventually built, it would join one about a mile away at Lincoln Plaza, adjacent to the Oxford Valley Mall.
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