Monroeville Chick-Fil-A proposes updates to traffic configuration

The Chick-Fil-A on Route 22 is looking to be a better neighbor to nearby businesses.

Owners of the Miracle Mile restaurant received approval recommendation from Monroeville planners to reconfigure its existing parking lot and install an underground stormwater detention tank.

Michael Takacs of Bohler Engineering said large-scale changes in the way goods and services are acquired prompted the changes.

“There’s been a big shift in drive-thru usage (since the pandemic) among quick-serve restaurants, pharmacies and grocery stores, and in the use of curbside pick-up, which put pressure on sites that were never intended to receive that much drive-thru traffic,” Takacs told planning commissioners at their March meeting.

Takacs acknowledged that Chick-Fil-A’s popularity has created logistical challenges for the restaurant and neighboring businesses. He said the company looked at its restaurants across the country to identify where changes and updates needed to be made.

Takacs proposed the replacement of jersey barriers with permanent landscaping, and alter the overall flow of traffic, along with the installation of two canopies for ordering and delivery. A similar design was installed at Chick-Fil-A’s Cranberry store and is working well, Takacs told the commission.

Commissioners unanimously recommended approval for the site plan. Project officials said the restaurant would likely be closed during the improvements, estimating it would take about 12 weeks and would be completed in 2025.

Apartment complex proposed

Monroeville planners will hear a proposal for more than 400 apartments just south of the Target and Giant Eagle shopping centers, between Stroschein and Pitcairn roads, later this month.

Burkentine Land Development, based in Hanover, wants to build Old Stone Village, seven apartment buildings with a total of 426 units on six pieces of property in Monroeville’s R-5 zoning district, which permits multi-family residential housing. Part of the project is also in the municipality’s Conservancy Zoning District.

Burkentine has also filed applications for conditional use to move just under 44,000 cubic yards in a cut-and-fill operation.

The project is just under 54 total acres. Planning commissioners will hear from Burkentine at their May 17 meeting, set for 7:30 p.m. at the Monroeville municipal building, 2700 Monroeville Blvd.

The project was initially on the agenda for the commission’s April meeting, but Burkentine officials requested to wait until the commission’s May meeting.