Members of the Ogden Zoning Board approved a special use permit and an area variance during their regular meeting Thursday, October 1, for the new Dunkin Donuts franchise proposed in Spencerport.
Frank Romeo of Ogden Land Company wants to open the franchise in the former CAM’s Pizza location on the southwest corner of the Route 31/Route 259 intersection.
The project needed a special use permit for the drive-thru window as zoning for the parcel only allows its use for a restaurant providing there is no drive-thru ordering or pickup.
Romeo’s attorney, Daniel Aureli, told Zoning Board members the town had previously granted a special use permit ten years ago for a drive-thru for a coffee shop proposed for the location, but that project never came to fruition.
Zoning Board Chair Duane Fregoe expressed some concerns over the volume of traffic at the drive-thru, noting that at some restaurants, “… the drive-thru (traffic) spills out onto the street.”
Aureli responded that drivers have a personal responsibility to be careful, “At some point, you’ve got to look where you are going,” he said and noted that the Dunkin Donuts location at the intersection of Buffalo Road and Howard Road in Gates is “more constrained” than the Spencerport location will be.
Additionally, Zoning Board members granted an area variance for the project regarding parking, “for 29 spaces, whereas the schedule of off-street parking requires 53 parking spaces.”
Aureli told board members the Dunkin Donuts is, “not a destination, sixty percent of the business is drive-thru.”
Zoning Board Chair Fregoe said he “was good” with the variance request. “It’s a similar use to CAM’s, most people will be using the drive-thru,” he said. “The actual use is not substantial.”
No residents spoke during the public hearing on both the special use permit and the variance. The Ogden Planning Board has already given preliminary and final approval to the project.
