P.J. Whelihan's Needs Wider Buffer, Zoning Board Says

Two and a half feet was all that prevented P.J. Whelihan's Pub from getting a decision Monday from South Whitehall Township on its $14 million rebuilding plan.

The Zoning Hearing Board said P.J. Whelihan's needs to resubmit and advertise a plan with a required 7 1/2-foot-wide buffer on the east side of the lot at 4594 Broadway, which is next to a small apartment building. The company submitted a plan with a 5-foot wide buffer.

P.J. Whelihan's owner Robert Platzer and Polaris Corner L.P. want to raze its pub and build a 9,240 square-foot, 250-seat restaurant with 114 parking spaces, which is more than twice as large as the current building, but would be more similar to others in the P.J. Whelihan's chain.

The hearing will be continued Aug. 1.

Owners Robert Platzer and Polaris Corner L.P. want to build a 9,240 square-foot, 250-seat restaurant with 114 parking spaces that is more similar to others in the P.J. Whelihan's chain.  

The restaurant is the chain's second location in the township after P.J.'s at the Walbert, which opened in 2000 at 1658 Hausman Road.

Board solicitor Maria Mullane said after the hearing the members could not make a decision on the restaurant's plan as a whole until the buffer issue was settled because failure to do so could require the plan to change.

"It gives them the option to either redesign it or ask for [zoning] variance relief," Mullane said.