Residents of upscale suburb outraged by plans to open 24 hour Denny's on their doorstep

Upscale suburban residents are outraged with a developer's plans to open a 24 hour Denny's right near their high-end locale. Locals ...

Upscale suburban residents are outraged with a developer's plans to open a 24 hour Denny's right near their high-end locale.

Locals in the swanky Honeygo neighborhood in Perry Hall, Maryland, are voicing strong opposition to the construction of the popular fast-food chain near their homes, citing concerns that increased traffic and noise could disrupt the character of their community. 

'[The residents] love the idea of a restaurant … but literally, you can throw a football from these townhouses to where this restaurant is going to be located,' Del Kathy Szeliga, told the Baltimore Sun.

'A 24-hour restaurant, I think, is not appropriate, especially after these folks literally just bought a home,' the local Republican of the area said.

The Denny's is planned to open as part of The Shops at Perry Hall shopping center. The commons has a 24-hour Wawa, a Valvoline and an Autobell car wash.

Residents are already infuriated by the 24-hour gas station, as one local expressed his concerns about the type of crowd that the Wawa has attracted to their quaint neighborhood.

'Loud cars, loitering, late night street racing, frequent police calls for disturbances, trash, people cutting through our neighborhood, a decline in peace, safety and property appeal,' lifelong resident Thomas Castello told the outlet.

'Adding a 24-hour diner will only compound these issues.'

The Denny's is planned to open as part of The Shops at Perry Hall shopping center. 

A council bill targeted at limiting restaurant hours in the Honeygo area has already received overwhelming support from concerned locals.

Upper Falls Republican Councilman David Marks introduced a bill that restricts restaurants within 250ft of residential areas from operating between 10pm and 5am. 

'I ask all of you: What would you think if you bought a home and then suddenly found out the restaurant that you were promised would be open for 24 hours a day?' Marks said at Tuesday's council meeting. 

'This bill doesn’t pick out any specific variety of restaurant, but does say that the restaurant has to close and open at reasonable hours.'

The Shops at Perry Halls developer told the outlet their company has grappled with trying to add restaurants at the center, until they inked a lease with Denny's in 2024.

Developer Ron Schaftel of the Southern Land Company has discussed solutions with locals such as: creating resident-only parking spaces, installing surveillance cameras, and adding traffic control tools.

'The sole purpose of this bill is to kill the Denny’s restaurant,' Schaftel said.

'This is very unfair to use legislation to try to kill a specific project that has such a long history and [is] so close to completion.'

'It is piecemeal zoning after the fact and would cause us to breach our lease and potentially subject us to costly litigation and leave us without any viable tenant for the restaurant pad at the Shops at Perry Hall,' he added.

The Daily Mail has reached out to Denny's for comment. 

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