Chick-Fil-A Expansion Plans Before Horsham Township Council Monday

HORSHAM TOWNSHIP —Chick-Fil-A is scheduled to once again appear before the Horsham Township Council at its meeting Monday night.

This time, the fast-food chain seeks to get final approval on its plans to add a second drive-thru lane at its Welsh Road location.

The meeting will be held at 7 p.m. at the Horsham Township Municipal Building.

Chick-fil-A, Inc. has proposed a revision to the existing restaurant to provide a second drive-thru lane at the 134 Welsh Road property.

Four parking spaces would be removed to accommodate the change. Others would be re-striped from parallel parking to diagonal parking.

The eatery's officials appeared before the council two weeks ago to say they have a plan for alleviating congestion and reconfiguring some of the traffic besides that drive-thru lane.

Officials and representatives of the fast-food chain have stated that the Welsh Road location's parking lot can cause mass confusion, congestion, and frustration. They've heard it from residents, from those nearby who frequent the eatery, and even from township officials.

"It's a problem. We all know that," said Horsham Township Council President Mark McCouch, a regular customer.

Attorney Julie Bernstein, representing the eatery on behalf of the Kaplin Stewart law firm in Blue Bell, outlined a preliminary land development plan that would shuffle around traffic.

"Everyone can move through this more efficiently," Bernstein said, while also lessening the impact on nearby businesses where vehicles cut through to access the eatery.

Jim Curry, a company representative, said that a full signage package would be put into place that would isolate drive-thru customers from dine-in customers.

He said that customers seeking to dine in or order takeout would enter through the Wawa side of the property while those just going through the drive-thru would enter from the Chase Bank side of the property, which is on the left of Chick-Fil-A before the Wawa on Welsh Road.

Curry noted that the congestion came about from COVID when the business "flipped" its percentages to 70 percent drive-thru nationwide.

Curry said the plan would alleviate the congestion and speed along drive-thru customers by having two lanes instead of one.

Curry said that since Chick-Fil-A has so many repeat customers, they can be trained about the new entrances and that it would "take a lot of signs" to change that mindset.

"We're really trying to keep traffic off Welsh Road and help Chase Bank," he said.

In order to make the change, the business would have to be closed for about three days, Curry said.

But the business would remain open during construction so it doesn't see a drop in sales, he said. Curry said a lot of fencing would be put up to protect customers and staff as well.

Township Manager Bill Walker asked how long the project would take. Curry responded that it could take 5-6 weeks, or maybe two months, depending on the weather.

The eatery opened on April 15, 2020, and has seen a constant stream of customers, officials said.

"You guys are amazing with how fast you get things out," McCouch said.