Middletown supervisors approve Take 5 oil-change at Newport Plaza after conditional-use hearing

The Middletown Township Board of Supervisors voted 3-0 on June 3 to approve conditional-use application CU25-1, clearing the way for a Take 5 oil-change facility at Newport Plaza, 4565 New Falls Road in Levittown.

The approval, based on plans and testimony presented at a specially scheduled conditional-use hearing, allows Newport Plaza Holdings LLC to construct a roughly 1,600-square-foot, three-bay motor-vehicle service station to be operated by Take 5 Oil Change. The applicant presented civil and traffic studies and testimony from the operator and engineers to address zoning standards and township review comments.

The conditional-use request sought relief under the township zoning ordinance provision that governs motor vehicle service stations in the C (Commercial) district and the general conditional-use standards in section 503-209. The applicant provided plans, engineering and traffic reports, and review responses from the township engineer, fire marshal and the township traffic consultant as part of the record.

Des Roberts, one of the owners of Take 5 and the company’s director of real estate and development, described the operation during testimony. “They do not get out. There’s no public bathroom. They literally stay in the car,” Roberts said, describing Take 5’s drive-through, stay-in-vehicle service model. Roberts said the prototype typically staffs five to six technicians and that incidental free bottled water or soft drinks may be offered to customers.

Engineer Anand Bhat of Anand Engineering testified that the proposal locates the 1,600-square-foot building in the northeast corner of an underused parking area on the roughly 3.5-acre plaza. The plan shows 38 total parking spaces allocated to the site (13 around the proposed building and 25 in the rear of the shopping center) and designated Take 5 customer spaces adjacent to the facility. The plan also identifies stacking areas for three bays and additional queuing space; the operator testified to a maximum of eight vehicles serviced per hour.

Traffic consultant Marie Pantalone of Safe Highway Engineering said her traffic evaluation relied on observations at a comparable nearby oil-change facility and a review of the site’s existing infrastructure. “It was found to be adequate for the additional proposed use,” Pantalone testified, and the parking evaluation concluded there were at least 70 spaces available in the center during observed periods, which she said provided more than sufficient parking for the development.

The applicant’s engineer acknowledged two existing nonconformities on the property noted in township reviews: an overage in impervious surface and certain driveway widths. The plan reduces the impervious cover slightly from 89.3% to 88.8%, the engineer said. The applicant also testified that building height would be 28.5 feet and that lighting and landscaping would be addressed in the subsequent land-development phase.

After testimony and acceptance of exhibits into the record, a supervisor moved to approve CU25-1 “based upon the plans, documents, testimony presented and discussed during the meeting tonight, 06/03/2025, conditional use hearing.” A second was heard and the motion passed, recorded as “passes three-zero.”

Next steps: the board accepted the conditional-use approval; the applicant must complete the formal land-development process, submit a lighting plan and address any permits or certificates of adequacy required during that phase. The approval does not itself authorize construction until applicable land-development approvals and any permit conditions are met.

Details from the hearing are on the record in exhibits submitted at the meeting, including the conditional-use application, the zoning ordinance excerpts cited by counsel, and review letters from the township engineer, fire marshal and traffic consultant.