Known as the home of the original chicken sandwich, people hope the proposed Chick-Fil-A finds a new home.
“We do not need a Chick-Fil-A,” Brett Miller, a resident, said. “Honestly what the Borough should have been doing, is they should have been advocating for our downtown businesses who have restaurants."
The proposed restaurant would be built along Route 15 at the intersection of Chestnut and 32nd Streets. The 1.4 acres was re-zoned to commercial, and five houses would be torn down. But Miller said there are bigger issues.
“It is a walking community, a walking school district, and this is a direct route,” Miller. “We have children that go across this 32nd street, every single day, twice a day. We have a crossing guard here because it is so dangerous already.”
The borough manager said everything is still in the works, and that it's too premature to talk about anything. For police, their only concern is safety and heavy traffic.
“Do we want it? Not want it?” Camp Hill Police Chief Steve Margeson, said. “Whatever goes in there or any other development especially along a busy state highway like that, we certainly want it to be done in a safe and methodical manner.”
PennDOT said they wont approve an entrance or exit on 32nd Street because it’s already congested. What about changing the flow of traffic?
“We can’t even do a right turn lane out here,” Fritzi Schreffler, PennDOT spokesperson, said. “There is no room to do that. There’s a box culvert there I think people don’t actually realize there’s actually a little stream that runs underneath the 32nd Street. So there is an awful amount of work that would have to be done. Right now we just don’t have the room to do that and it’s not a priority for us.”
The land development plan has already been submitted to the borough. The planning commission will look at it next week but they don’t have to make a decision to approve, deny, or request an extension of the plans for the next 90 days.
“If everything stays the way it is currently with the signal system, I foresee significant congestion both on 32nd Street and on Chestnut and Trindle from people trying to use this light,” Schreffler said.
“I shutter to think, what life will be like in Camp Hill borough,” Miler said. “This is not what I envisioned when I moved to this town, and it’s not what I think of when I think small town.”
