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Planning board narrows Taco Bell variance, ties hold-harmless to Taco Bell tenancy
Summary
Hollywood City Planning and Development Board approved an amendment to the condition of a previously granted variance for a drive‑through Taco Bell at 2640 N. State Road 7 that limits a recorded hold‑harmless covenant to Taco Bell's tenancy rather than running in perpetuity with the land.
The Hollywood City Planning and Development Board on an unrecorded-date approved an amendment to a previously granted variance for a Taco Bell drive‑through at 2640 North State Road 7 in the Sheridan Oaks Plaza, narrowing a condition that required a covenant running with the land to hold the city harmless.
Planner Ersha Modi of the city’s Planning and Urban Design Division told the board staff recommended approval of the requested amendment. Modi said the original approval, recorded earlier in 2025, included variances for a drive‑through Taco Bell, a 50% reduction in parking, reduced window transparency and reduced vehicular use landscaping; the current petition sought only to amend the third condition tied to a recorded hold‑harmless covenant.
The amendment limits the city’s hold‑harmless arrangement to the period during which Taco Bell owns or leases the site, rather than leaving the covenant attached to the land in perpetuity. "Staff recommend the approval of the proposed request as requested," Modi said.
Dwayne Dickerson, attorney for the applicant, said the change was needed because the building is nearly complete and the hold‑harmless requirement was a precondition for a temporary certificate of occupancy or final certificate of occupancy. "This is a cleaner way to handle this because the variance was really specific to Taco Bell," Dickerson said, adding that Taco Bell representatives objected to a perpetual obligation. He said typical Taco Bell leases are "a 10 year, initial lease with 2 5‑year options," and that if Taco Bell leaves the site the variance would not automatically continue for a new, different tenant.
Board member Bob Glickman asked whether the store was corporate or a franchise; Dickerson said it is a corporate store and that the amendment is structured so the hold‑harmless runs with Taco Bell while they own or lease the property and would terminate if Taco Bell ceases to be the tenant. The city attorney advised that staff, the applicant and any members of the public present had waived quasi‑judicial formalities for the hearing.
A motion to approve the amendment "with staff's conditions" was made, seconded and carried by voice vote. The board's minutes record an affirmative voice vote of "Aye" with no opposed votes and no roll‑call tally recorded.
The file number for the item is 23DP06B; the board's action amends condition three of the recorded resolution tied to the earlier January 2025 approval for the Taco Bell site plan. The approved Taco Bell building was described in the staff presentation as approximately 1,600 square feet with five parking spaces as part of the previously approved site plan.
The board did not revisit the other previously approved variances (transparency, landscaping reductions and parking reduction) as part of this amendment; those approvals remain on the record.
