Chick-fil-A has pulled out of the deal for a long-planned new Westminster restaurant on Route 140 near Old Baltimore Road, Westminster Common Council President Tony Chiavacci told Westminster Wire on Friday.
Chiavacci said he confirmed the project's status with the developer's attorney, Kelly Miller of Shaffer, Miller & Hurff. Chick-fil-A has withdrawn from the deal because of how long the process was taking, but the developer, The Morgan Companies, fully intends to move forward with the project. The site could work for other restaurants, and Chick-fil-A could come back into the fold at some point.
A manager at the chain's existing Englar Road location told Westminster Wire on Thursday that the deal for the new restaurant is "not happening," citing too many conditions attached to the project.
The project and its conditions
Westminster's Planning and Zoning Commission conditionally approved the site plan for a 5,493-square-foot restaurant on August 21, 2025, and the final resubdivision of the property at its February 19, 2026, meeting. The site is a 7.84-acre vacant parcel at the southeast corner of MD 140 and Old Baltimore Boulevard.
The restaurant was never cleared to have direct access to Route 140. As Westminster Wire previously reported, all access to the site was to run through Market Street Extended, a long-planned Carroll County–owned connector road stretching from MD 140 south to Old Westminster Pike, ending at an existing roundabout at the entrance to the Stonegate neighborhood.
The city's approval was tied to the road at every step: construction of Market Street Extended had to be actively underway — past excavation and grading — before building permits could be issued. And at a June 25 commissioners meeting, Carroll County Public Works Director Bryan Bokey said no certificate of occupancy would be granted until the road was fully built and accepted by the county. "I will put my name to that statement," he said.
Carroll County Public Works Director Bryan Bokey approved the road's final design on June 26, 2025, with all State Highway Administration comments resolved. No formal start date has been set, though Bokey told commissioners in late June he hoped construction could begin this summer, with the road open by July or August 2027.
What Chick-fil-A's exit changes — and what it doesn't
The site plan, which the city conditionally approved in August 2025, was specifically for a Chick-fil-A. The Market Street Extended road project, however, is bigger than any single tenant.
The road project is the focus of a pending public hearing regarding a request to close a portion of Old Baltimore Road, sought by neighborhood residents concerned about cut-through traffic to what was to be the Chick-fil-A site.
This is a developing story and will be updated…