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Light Rain Taco Bell gets the OK — with conditions
Hempstead Turnpike location will replace one on Front Street
The Town of Hempstead Board of Appeals has unanimously approved variances to allow a proposed Taco Bell in East Meadow to include a drive-through and illuminated menu signage, but with a list of conditions in order to satisfy residents who opposed the plan.
The decision, on March 25, came two weeks after a nearly four-hour hearing at Town Hall, at which Taco Bell representatives, and about 15 residents who opposed the proposal, argued their cases.
It represented an agreeable ending to a three-month-long process that included two hearing adjournments and a contentious public meeting at which residents aired their concerns to Taco Bell representatives, led by Uniondale-based attorneys Chris Coschignano and John Farrell.
The proposed 1939 Hempstead Turnpike location, a 2,640-square-foot building on a 21,250-square-foot lot, is on the turnpike’s north side, just east of Eisenhower Park. The proposal required the permission of the Board of Appeals to demolish the current building — which formerly held a Zorn’s but is now abandoned — and build a drive-through, to install a menu board for the drive-through, and to construct a 20-foot-high illuminated pylon sign.
The rear of the property connects with the backyards of three houses on Marion Drive, and nearby residents voiced concerns that noise from drive-through customers would create a major disturbance.
The restaurant’s opponents, the majority of whom live on nearby Marion Drive and Bly Road, also focused on the noise, pollution, odor and traffic congestion that a fast-food restaurant might add to the neighborhood.
Five of the board’s seven members approved the variances — one was not present at the vote, and another abstained because he had missed the March 11 hearing. They also included a list of conditions Taco Bell must abide by, to protect the “health, safety and welfare” of the community, according to a notice of decision written by board secretary Richard Regina.
