Shoppes at Concord: What’s the 101 on the proposed new shops on Route 202?

By now, we’ve all seen the “Save Ridge” yard signs and have a general idea that there’s controversy around paving paradise to build yet another g(G)iant parking lot and more retail outlets along Route 202 at Ridge Road. I guess all the existing retail vacancies along the corridor don’t make them nervous? 🤷🏻‍♀️

A group of disenchanted neighbors formed the Save Ridge coalition to advocate against the proposed development as it’s currently designed. They have actively been working together to 1)  advocate for the community’s interests and 2) hold accountable the developer and all municipal organizations with a hand in the review and approval process. 

A robust website and an active Facebook presence from the group get into the nitty-gritty about a variety of issues related to the proposed Shoppes at Concord to help keep neighbors informed. However, it’s easy to get lost in the minutiae of traffic studies, environmental reviews, zoning hearings, and planning approvals or denials, and … how can we forget… the $15 G’s Rep. Craig Williams took as a campaign donation from the developer’s brother. 😉

Recently, I sat down with Ellen Spoehr, one of the leading community advocates for transparency and accountability related to the proposed project. I wanted to better understand the “view from 30,000 feet.” What are the big issues that concern residents about more retail in our backyard? And maybe… just maybe… what can we do about it?

Let’s dive in.  

The 101 of proposed development on Route 202

The proposed development site is an open field, roughly 24 acres, at Ridge Rd and Route 202 in Concord Township. It’s right on the border with Chadds Ford Township, and some argue the location gives Chadds Ford Township more jurisdiction than they’re claiming. 

The developer, currently operating under the name Retail Sites (the project has also gone by Concord Acquisitions), wants to build a large shopping center and a larger parking lot (ugh…) anchored by a Giant supermarket, along with additional retail buildings, restaurants with drive-throughs, and a car wash. An earlier version of the plan also included a gas station, which has since been removed (for now). 

Who has jurisdiction over the project? 

The property sits in Concord Township, so all land-use decisions rest with Concord Township. Some neighbors believe that a sliver of property sits in Chadds Ford, and the modifications to Ridge Road (which everyone agrees are in Chadds Ford) give Chadds Ford more legal standing to opine on and guide land-use decisions. So far, the developer and Concord Township are moving forward as if this is not the case. Chadds Ford Township would have to pursue legal action to prove this authority and, to date, the township has shown no interest in that option. 

Whether legally correct or not, as it stands now, Chadds Ford Township has no effective legal authority to approve, deny, or place conditions on the project, even though many of the residents most affected live in Chadds Ford. Chadds Ford Township and several residents of Chadds Ford (as individuals) have been participating as interested parties, submitting engineering comments and monitoring the process, but the final call belongs to Concord’s municipal leaders.

Concerns about the Shoppes at Concord

The Save Ridge group has organized much of the opposition, and their website (save-ridge.org) lays out the case in detail. The big-picture concerns fall into a few buckets:

Traffic and safety

Ridge Road traces an old, narrow corridor never designed for heavy commercial traffic. The current plan is estimated to add roughly 8,000 vehicle trips a day, along with a new traffic signal on Route 202 and new shopping center access points on Ridge Road. Neighbors worry this will push more cut-through traffic into residential streets (already burdened by excessive cut-through traffic) and further strain an already congested stretch of 202.

Clean water and environmental concerns

Homes near the site rely on private wells drawing from a fractured-bedrock aquifer — a type of groundwater system that filters poorly and is unusually vulnerable to contamination. Save Ridge has flagged the proposed car wash and stormwater plans as risks to that water supply, along with concerns about wetlands, tree loss, and wildlife (residents have reported juvenile bald eagle activity near the property). The project will require blasting to prepare the site for construction, which poses additional concerns about private wells and groundwater in the area.

Moreover, Save Ridge argues that multiple environmental reviews are either outdated or incomplete. Reports from the Delaware County Planning Commission and Concord Township Planning Commission also identify unresolved concerns related to these matters.

Stormwater management

Beyond water quality in the area, there are also concerns about the volume and flow of water from the site. The land currently absorbs water and includes wetlands that mitigate downstream flooding from the area. When approximately 70% of the site becomes impervious surface (under buildings and concrete parking lots), all that water flows downhill into the Ridings neighborhood, down Ridge Rd, and onto Smithbridge Road. 

Many of these areas already experience regular flooding during heavy rains. More development will almost certainly exacerbate these safety and infrastructure concerns and become a financial burden for Chadds Ford to manage going forward. 

Zoning and scale

The developer has appealed several rulings from Concord’s zoning officer, including the earlier denial of the gas station and a proposal for a building larger than the township’s size limits allow. Save Ridge, along with 35 homeowners and Chadds Ford Township, has been granted official “party status” in those zoning appeals, giving them legal standing to participate.

With respect to zoning, Save Ridge is concerned about: 

• Gas stations: contamination from tank leaks.
• Car wash: polluting effluents running into waterways and neighboring wells.
• Drive-throughs: currently allowed in this C-2 zoning district only under conditional use; the developer is seeking conditional-use approval. Drive-throughs can generate significantly higher traffic volumes, create vehicle stacking and queuing issues, increase noise, lighting, and emissions, and reduce pedestrian safety. 

🍟 P.S. We all know the drive-through at Chick-fil-A is a hot mess some days, and that it took a complete infrastructure overhaul to make it work as well as it does now. Has anyone been to In ‘n’ Out in California? Or seen the long lines that overflow onto Route 202 at the McDonald’s in Wilmington? No thanks. 

Retail saturation 

Save Ridge also makes a market-based argument: within four miles of the site, there are already at least nine grocery stores and five gas stations, plus long-vacant retail space along the same stretch of 202. What does this shopping center offer that doesn’t already exist in the community? 

The latest on the Shoppes at Concord

The project has been before Concord Township since December 2025, with multiple continuances along the way. 

A few notable developments from the past several months:

• In February, the developer withdrew its stormwater permit application (NPDES/NOI) with the state DEP — a procedural step that means the current stormwater plan isn’t authorized to move forward as submitted.
• In April, Concord Township Council deadlocked 2–2 on transferring a liquor license to the proposed Giant store, so the transfer did not pass. Giant has since appealed that outcome in county court.
• Also in April, a sign along Route 202 that had described the project as “approved” was corrected to say “proposed” after residents pushed back.
• In May, the developer submitted a revised plan that drops the gas station and caps individual buildings at 65,000 square feet, but keeps the same general footprint: a large, car-oriented retail center with roughly 750 parking spaces. Chadds Ford Township’s engineering consultant reviewed the traffic component and raised concerns that the changes could turn Ridge Road from a local street into a higher-volume through route.
• On July 16, the Delaware County Planning Commission rejected approval of the project due to concerns about regional and cross-border impacts. The formal recommendation is called “revise and resubmit” because many issues remain unresolved. This decision is advisory only, so it does not itself approve or deny the plan, but it places regional concerns into the official record before Concord Township makes any decisions. You can find the full report here. 👇🏻

Where the project stands today

• Concord accepted a revised development plan for review in June 2026.
• The current plan has not received final land-development approval. On July 13, the Concord Township Planning Commission prepared a 32-page Memorandum of concerns and recommendations related to incomplete information about the car wash considerations, well-water risks, lack of clarity around future tenants, unresolved concerns about roads and parking, and more. You can find the full report here. 👇🏻

• The developer continues to pursue approval for a variety of conditional uses in the plans, including:
  • Beer and wine sales at Giant.
  • A car wash.
  • A fast-food restaurant with drive-through service.
  • Fast-food restaurants with seasonal outdoor seating.
  • Permission to place parking between buildings and surrounding roads.
  • Permission to reduce the required parking ratio (fewer spots than typically required by code).
• The older zoning appeal involving the gas station and other determinations has been continued; the gas station is not part of the current revised plan.

Most recently, the Concord Planning Commission held a public meeting on July 28 to discuss some of the aforementioned conditional use considerations. They spent so much time working through which property owners are entitled to formal notification and standing in the process that they never got to any of the conditional use matters. 

Right now, this is a slow-moving train. That’s not a bad thing when a potential development can impact a community in so many ways. It’s important to work through each issue thoughtfully and with proper diligence. But there are a lot of moving pieces that will likely continue to jockey for some time. 

Township revenue + expense from the Shoppes at Concord

One of the most frustrating aspects around this proposed development is the misalignment of costs and benefits. While the benefits accrue to some parties (mostly the developer and, to some extent, Concord Township and the Garnet Valley School District), the costs accrue to an almost entirely different set of stakeholders (mostly Chadds Ford Township residents and, in part, Concord Township residents who frequent Route 202 around Ridge Rd). 

Chadds Ford Township leaders are in the best position to advocate for township residents. They’ve engaged in some advocacy on behalf of residents, but outspoken residents seem to believe that much of the advocacy has been performative or of low quality. Chadds Ford Township has been reluctant to push too hard on the matter, seemingly to avoid risking significant legal expense. This is a legitimate concern, but one many residents seem to believe is worth the resources. 

What’s in it for Concord Township? Less than you might think. 

Concord Township residents will experience some impacts, positive and negative, from the development. Concord Township and Garnet Valley School District benefit from some increased tax revenue. But the development also brings increased traffic on an already-jammed Route 202 and increased long-term maintenance costs of more traffic and development. Most Concord residents seem less interested in the increased tax revenue and more upset about increased traffic and development; it’s not a trade-off they find compelling. 

Steep long-term maintenance costs of suburban development

The developer argues the shopping center brings “millions” of dollars in financial benefits to the area, but this claim is incomplete. 

Save Ridge provides a compelling one-page Financial Impact Analysis that counters this claim, suggesting the developer is overstating the benefits as a developed commercial property relative to current financial benefits of the undeveloped land. Additionally, the claim ignores the increased long-term costs of maintenance such as: 

• traffic and intersection management, 
• stormwater oversight (post-construction responsibility remains with the owner LLC, but enforcement falls to the Township), 
• emergency response to a high-traffic retail site, and
• accelerated road wear and tear.

Strong Towns, a non-profit that advocates for financially strong and resilient communities, supports this idea and routinely cautions that the short-term financial windfall from new development in suburban areas rarely outweighs the long-term costs of maintaining that infrastructure. 

Moreover, this says nothing of the potential household or community costs related to increased flooding remediation from stormwater runoff, more traffic accidents, well-water remediation if needed, and more. 

Personal benefit to Concord leadership

On an individual level, Concord Council President Dominic Pileggi is the owner of the adjacent Olde Ridge Village shopping center. His personal business will likely benefit from increased shopping traffic in the area, and the Olde Ridge Village parking lot will get improvements via the PennDOT road redevelopment plan. He has recused himself from formal votes on the matter, as we should expect given the conflict of interest. 

What’s in it for Chadds Ford Township? Not much. 

The majority of the projected negative side effects, financially and qualitatively, will accrue in Chadds Ford Township. This imbalance is driving much of the passion and frustration from Chadds Ford residents who feel they’ve been left with insufficient representation, given the hardships they will endure as a result of the anticipated commercial profits. 

With almost no benefits, Chadds Ford Township will endure:

• Tree removal along Ridge Road
• Significant increase in (speedy) cut-through traffic along our neighborhood roads
• Risk of well water contamination (and the corresponding costs to health and for mitigation)
• Increased flood risk as the watershed flows into the Ridings neighborhood and down Ridge Road and Smithbridge Rd
• Individual and municipal (i.e. taxpayer) costs of property damage and infrastructure remediation from both acute and persistent water damage

Chadds Ford residents may enjoy a new fast casual restaurant or slightly more convenient grocery store access (marginally closer than Whole Foods or Wegmans, which are a bit more expensive, and only relatively more convenient than price-comparable grocery alternatives). But I’ve yet to find a single Chadds Ford resident who finds these benefits even close to worth the costs. 

What about a Community Benefits Agreement? 

Community Benefits Agreements (CBAs) are becoming increasingly popular as we see a surge in large-scale land development (particularly around energy projects and data centers). As defined by Columbia Law School: 

“Community Benefits Agreements (CBAs) are legally binding contracts between developers and host municipalities and/or local community groups that can serve to mitigate local impacts of large infrastructure projects and other types of development. These agreements can be tailored to meet the specific needs of the host community and to address the specific impacts of a project. The host community will typically receive a combination of monetary benefits and non-monetary benefits, while the developer will typically receive increased community support and increased certainty in the approval process.” (source)

Retail Sites, the shopping center developer, has offered no community engagement (beyond municipal compliance requirements) and has made little to no effort to make this shopping center compelling to those who will endure the costs of its profit machine. The developer has not exactly been a chatty cathy with the plebs while he’s running from his Bentley 🤴🏻 into the township building, to say the least.

He and his company want to make money for the lowest possible cost, and seem to have little regard for how their actions impact the community in which they neither live nor work. I get it. 💰 #Capitalism. 💰

But let me interrupt for a quick PSA: Profit maximization never has to be the sole goal. That is a choice. We can always choose to value stakeholders beyond investors, even if Mr. Monopoly Man 🎩 doesn’t agree. If a developer doesn’t want to become a vested member of the community in which they’re building, maybe they shouldn’t be building there. Thank you for listening to my TED Talk. 🫶🏻

Back to business…

Could a CBA facilitate the development of this shopping center in a way that more equitably balances the winners and losers? Some may prefer no development at all, which is a perfectly respectable preference. If that’s not an option, a CBA could make the playing field more fair. 

Because of the municipal misalignment (the “losers” are mostly in Chadds Ford and not technically represented by the “negotiators”), this would require collaboration between Concord and Chadds Ford Townships. In essence, Concord Township would have to negotiate a CBA that would most likely benefit Chadds Ford residents as much or more than their own residents. But if we all want to be good neighbors, it’s not an impossible path forward. 

CBAs can foster a variety of benefits to the community; it really depends on what the community wants. In the case of this shopping center, examples of CBA commitments might be: 

• Build robust pedestrian infrastructure between the new shopping center, Glen Eagle, and Olde Ridge that allows visitors to safely walk between the three centers.
• Fund a stormwater management reserve fund for Chadds Ford Township (and Concord Township if stormwater flows in their direction too)
• Pay for improvements at the Smithbridge and Route 202 intersection to facilitate traffic flow through the area
• Pay for traffic calming infrastructure on Ridge Rd, Heyburn Rd, and Ring Rd (to the most aggressive extent possible allowed by PennDOT). Can we put a roundabout at Heyburn and Ridge Rd or Ring and Ridge Rd like the one that exists at Marshall Rd and Spring Valley Rd in Glen Mills?
• Fund a Painter’s Folly preservation reserve and pay for walking paths to extend Walkable Chadds Ford through the Brandywine Battlefield to Painter’s Folly and into the 1755 Preserve owned by North American Land Trust
• Fund an emergency response reserve for Chadds Ford (and Concord Township?) that will help cover the increasing costs of the Concordville Fire and Protective Association, a cost that will continue to beleaguer the municipal budget long into the future.
• Fund a reserve that provides grants to affected residents to pay for landscaping upgrades that will help their properties better absorb and filter stormwater runoff or install vegetation barriers to reduce the impact of anticipated light pollution.

I haven’t explored the costs or logistics of these items, but you get the gist. I’m sure you all have plenty more ideas about community enhancements we would love to see. Would it increase the cost for the developer? It sure would. But maybe it’s okay if the benefits of intruding on a community where you don’t live, in service of financial profits, are shared with the people who live where you’re interfering. 

Could we just crowdfund and buy the darn thing? 

Maybe! It sounds crazy, but we’ve done it before. 

A decade ago, give or take, residents worked together to preserve Beaver Valley through the “Save The Valley” movement. With plenty of financial and legal backing, the group purchased the land from the landowner to protect it from development. That land is now preserved in perpetuity. 

A few years ago, neighbors around the Brandywine Valley put their heads, hearts, and wallets together to Save Crebilly. The farm is now under the stewardship of Natural Lands. I know. I know. There’s still an Inn to save. The work there isn’t finished, and it’s getting really weird. 😕 But a lot of the land is conserved for good. 

The privileged reality is that there is a lot of money in and around our community. If someone (or lots of someones) want to preserve this lot or take ownership to put it to better use, I’m sure there’s a price at which that could happen. 

🌳 Here’s the thing we so often forget (and that deserves its own piece which I will eventually deliver). Open Space costs money. It just does. 

It costs tax dollars if owned by a municipality, donation dollars if owned by a nonprofit, personal wealth if owned by a high-net-worth individual or family office, or revenue from committed customers and clients if preserved for production (like our local farms). 

If we want to live in a community with open space, we need to pay for it. In Chadds Ford, we pay a dedicated Open Space millage that funds an Open Space fund. Thus, some of our tax dollars already pay for the open space in our community, but the more we want to conserve, the more we need to pony up the cash. 

How to Get Involved

If you want to go deeper, save-ridge.org has detailed pages on the environmental review, PennDOT traffic analysis, zoning history, and source documents, including engineering and legal letters. Their Facebook group is also active with real-time updates as hearings happen.

Residents can also: 

• Attend Concord Township and Chadds Ford Township public hearings and meetings on the matter.
• Request party status when appropriate (see the Save Ridge site for more information on this)
• Submit written comments and supporting evidence to decision-making authorities, focusing testimony on direct, property-specific impacts.
• Ask that the conditional-use record remain open while critical technical information is outstanding.

What other questions do you have?

Even though it was a long one, that’s just the high-level view of the project. 😬 Sorry. I tried to keep it shorter, but it felt incomplete. 

Hopefully it helped ground us in the facts and reality of the situation. I’d love to know if you have other questions I missed or see the situation from a different perspective.