MONROE, CT — Architectural plans for a 2,527-square-foot Starbucks with a drive-thru at 255 Monroe Turnpike will come before the Architectural Review Board Tuesday night.
The coffee shop would be built on a nearly one-acre-lot, where an old vacant white house stands at the corner of a section of Spring Hill Road the town recently closed, allowing 255 Monroe Turnpike to expand to the center of the former street.
The plan, brought by Tartaglia Commercial Properties for 255 Monroe Turnpike LLC, will need three approvals from the Planning and Zoning Commission.
The applicant wants to change the LOR (Limited Office Retail) District to a Special Design District within the Main Street Design District (MDD) Overlay. This would allow a restaurant use with a drive-thru under guidelines agreed to by the commission.
Then a special exception permit would be needed for the site plan. All three applications will be heard at once.
Representatives for the applicant are Attorney Kevin J. Curseaden, Esq.; surveyor Christopher Danforth, engineer Mark Grocki, landscape architect Rich Kluchman and architect Rich L. Root.
The property would be served by public water from Route 111 and testing was conducted to demonstrate septic suitability.
The Institute of Transportation Engineers is confident it will meet the parking demand for patrons, according to the application on file at Monroe Town Hall.
The hours of operation for the drive-thru service would be daily from 5 a.m. to 11 p.m.
“This SDD will provide a development opportunity, in furtherance of the Plan of Conservation and Development, for a long vacant property in a prime location on Main Street in the Main Street Design District that merits modification of the standards in these regulations,” the application says.
The application concludes:
If the change in zone does not occur, the parcel will most likely continue to sit vacant with minimal tax value for the foreseeable future. If the change in zone is allowed, the vacant parcel will be developed with a Starbucks, dramatically increasing the tax value and enhancing services on Monroe Turnpike.
The Planning and Zoning Commission hearing is scheduled for Thursday, July 6, at 7 p.m.
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