The Havre de Grace Planning Commission on Oct. 16 unanimously approved the second and final one-year extension for site-plan approval of a proposed Popeyes restaurant at 1101 Pulaski Highway (case 2023-0010). The extension preserves the original site plan approval dated Nov. 7, 2022, and gives the developer a final year to begin substantial construction.

Eric Lawrence of the Department of Planning summarized the application and identified the applicant representative as Aliza (Aliza/Eliza) Hertzmark of Boller Engineering. Hertzmark told commissioners the project received site-plan approval in November 2022 and a first extension in November 2024. She said the State Highway Administration (SHA) reviewed the initial plans and is requiring full acceleration and deceleration lanes with bicycle compatibility — described in the hearing as a 17-foot module — at the site access. The SHA request, Hertzmark said, requires additional design work (including coring the existing roadway) and about 400 linear feet of improvements. As a result, the design and construction costs are significantly larger than the developer initially anticipated.

"SHA is maintaining that they're requiring full traffic bearing capacity for the acceleration and deceleration lanes," Hertzmark said. She added the property owner and Popeyes developer (identified in the record as Orrin Spin Bassett) still wants to move forward: "Yes, we still wanna make this work. We know we'll have another year to try to get these costs in line ... and we wanna push forward and try this."

Commissioners asked whether the SHA requirement would change the site plan or affect traffic on municipal streets; Hertzmark said the site plan itself has not changed and she was not aware of negative impacts on Lewis Lane. She also confirmed the final stormwater management approvals remain outstanding.

Planning staff and commissioners clarified the deadline standard: under city code the site-plan extension requires "substantial construction" to meet the expiration, which staff clarified as construction of the foundation rather than merely obtaining a permit. After closing the record, the commission voted to approve the final one-year extension. The roll-call vote recorded "aye" from Randy Craig, Harry Miller, Farhad Shaw, Warren Hartenstein, Ed Garono and Chair Volney Ford.

Approved action: second and final one-year site-plan extension approved for Popeyes at 1101 Pulaski Highway (case 2023-0010).