Wednesday, October 7, 2026
Representatives of Chipotle made a pitch before the Town of Hempstead Board of Appeals on Aug. 6 to open a Mexican grill at 590 Hempstead Turnpike in West Hempstead.
On the property sits a T-Mobile, which occupies about 2,700 square feet of space, and the property owners have proposed construction of an additional 1,895 square feet of space to left of the T-Mobile to make room for the new Chipotle. The Mexican grill would face Hempstead Turnpike and sit beside Ruby’s Drive In Cleaners on Nassau Boulevard.
During the Aug. 6 board meeting, Chipotle representatives made requests for several zoning variances, including for parking, a trash enclosure, and the installation of a six-foot-high fence.
“I’m very optimistic it will get approved,” David Escava, the property owner, told the Herald. “It will create a lot of jobs. We’re very excited about servicing local schools and bringing a lot of services to the neighborhood.”
Representatives of Chipotle expressed hope that the restaurant would open in 2026, if the variances receive approval.
The new restaurant would operate from 10:45 a.m. to 11 p.m., seven days a week, except when it’s closed for major holidays. The new business is expected to employ between 35 and 40 people, with the majority being local hires.
The proposal is on the smaller scale for Chipotle, with its storefronts usually averaging between 2,300 and 2,400 square feet. Current plans require a variance for the building to sit eight feet back on the property line, instead of the required 10 feet, making room for a 500-square foot dining area that could seat 20 customers.
The proposed restaurant would not include a “Chipotlane,” Chipotle’s version of a drive-thru for digital orders, because it would decrease available parking on-site and could conflict with traffic from the adjacent drive-thru at Starbucks, located across Nassau Boulevard.
The decision to exclude a “Chipotlane” will make this a less active Chipotle location, William Bonesso, a lawyer representing Escava and Chipotle, said.
There are currently five curbs on the property — two on Hempstead Turnpike, two on Nassau Boulevard, and one on Euston Road South, from which visitors may enter or exit T-Mobile’s parking lot.
Design plans for the new Chipotle include closing one curb on Hempstead Turnpike and another on Nassau Boulevard. This would allow available parking to increase from the current 15 spots to 28, including an accessible parking space. In creating these parking spaces, sight lines for drivers may be obstructed, and would require approval from the board.
Town of Hempstead zoning laws require 35 parking spots for a lot of this size. Wayne Mueller, a traffic expert with Huntington-based R&M Engineering, told the board that 28 spots is an adequate number for the location, meeting requirements to accommodate T-Mobile customers as well.
Mueller shared that Chipotle estimates 60 to 70 percent of activity at Long Island Chipotles is driven by app ordering, with its pick-ups taking less time than on-site dining, resulting in a higher turnover for parking. Chipotle also would suggest where Uber and other delivery app drivers could park when picking up orders. Mueller doesn’t expect any significant traffic to be generated as a result of the development.
Since Chipotle’s promise is to “make food fresh,” deliveries are made to Chipotle locations every morning. All food is prepared on site, so there are no freezers or microwaves in the kitchen, Bonesso said. Two employees arrive every morning to begin food preparation and to oversee deliveries. Eight employees will be working between the peak hours of noon and 4:30 p.m. Three to four employees will be working during off-peak hours.
All deliveries at the location would be made through the Hempstead Turnpike entrance, and once offloaded, deliveries will be brought through the front door and into the kitchen. Garbage pickup would occur four to five times each week through the same parking lot entrance, with dumpsters to be located in the front of the building to ease concerns of residential neighbors.
A variance was requested to enclose the trash area, which would be surrounded with natural landscaping.
A request was also made to install a new six-foot-high fence at the back of the property, replacing the current fencing. The proposed fence might interfere with clear sight lines for traffic as well, so designers offered an alternative with fencing that declines diagonally to 30 inches at the end of the property line.
Katuria D’Amato, a member of the board of appeals, said that the board received several emails from local residents concerned about off-site parking on Euston Road, a residential street and the only northbound curb exit that would remain after renovations.
Kelly Holdsworth, Chipotle’s northeast store development design manager, addressed concerns by suggesting the introduction of a directed curb cut that would discourage visitors from driving up Euston. She added that 90 percent of traffic is expected to come through Hempstead Turnpike.
A resident who attended the Aug. 6 meeting voiced her concerns with the plans.
“I would love to see a Chipotle there,” Kathryn Bruchhauser, a Franklin Square resident, said. “But you guys need to seriously consider which egresses and entrances you want, because if you put in a directed curb, nobody can head north. So they’re going to head up other nearby roads, or they’ll do something crazy to try and head north.”
She also emphasized the proximity of the proposed restaurant to Carey High School in Franklin Square. Given that Chipotle’s is popular amongst the younger generations, Bruchhauser suggested the developer be mindful of the impact the local high school’s open campus lunch policy may have on traffic flow and parking.
“You got to remember that that intersection is the gateway to three different communities — Franklin Square, West Hempstead and Garden City South,” she said.
Mohit Patel, a communications analyst for Chipotle, confirmed via email to the Herald last Wednesday that a West Hempstead restaurant is scheduled to open in 2026 but declined to share additional details.
The Board of Appeals will now decide whether to grant the variances, and the decision will be mailed to all parties involved.
Have an opinion on this article? Send an email to mgusler@liherald.com.
