Town Board approves Dunkin' drive‑through in Center Reach with delivery, hours and development covenants

The Town of Brookhaven on March 25 approved a change of zone and site plan allowing an existing Dunkin' at Middle Country Road in Center Reach to add an accessory drive‑through and related site improvements, after the applicant agreed to new covenants and the board added conditions to address neighbors' concerns.

The planning director, Don Hoehn, summarized the revisions engineers supplied since the application was last heard: a larger on‑site loading area, widened drives to accommodate truck turning, a truck‑routing plan that keeps deliveries on site and removal of a parking stall to protect turning movements. The applicant's attorney, John Farrell, said deliveries would be scheduled off‑peak — typically larger truck deliveries twice weekly after 10 a.m. — and the owner agreed to several concessions including additional landscaping and restricting the drive‑through hours.

Why it matters: Residents living on Selden Boulevard and nearby streets said the current site already creates safety and quality‑of‑life problems — parked cars, delivery trucks stopping on Middle Country Road and traffic on narrow residential streets. Neighbors urged the board either to deny the drive‑through or require changes to avoid trucks and queueing that could block local roads. The board concluded approval with conditions intended to reduce those impacts while allowing the business to operate.

Key details - Approved actions: the board voted to change the zoning to J Business 5 and approved the related site plan (motions carried by voice vote; no roll‑call tallies recorded in the transcript). - Delivery and loading: applicant committed to on‑site loading and a truck routing plan intended to prevent deliveries from staging or stopping on Middle Country Road; the plan was modeled to accommodate the industry‑standard 69‑foot truck but the applicant said typical delivery trucks would be shorter. - Parking and access changes: the plan eliminates one parking stall to protect truck maneuvering space; the applicant also widened internal driveways and added no‑parking signage for the adjacent roadway per MUTCD standards. - Overnight hours covenant: the owner voluntarily agreed that the drive‑through window will be closed overnight (board recorded a final pledge to close the drive‑through between 11:00 p.m. and 5:00 a.m.; interior retail hours were to remain as now). - Development restriction: the board required a covenant limiting future development on two adjoining northern parcels (tax parcels to be listed in the covenant); the parcels must not be developed for additional commercial uses without an extraordinary majority (6 of 7) of the town board. - Landscaping and screening: the applicant agreed to retain a buffer on the Ronkonkoma side and to keep existing vegetation where feasible; board members sought a naturalized screening approach and a darker, low‑profile fence design so any fencing blends into the plantings.

Voices from the hearing - Don Hoehn, Planning Director, Town of Brookhaven, provided the plan summary and noted the updated truck routing and driveway geometry. - John Farrell, applicant attorney, said the franchise operates deliveries on a staggered schedule and described the changes to queueing, parking and driveway geometry. - Tahir Qureshi, applicant representative, discussed truck modeling and said the computer model used a 69‑foot truck while the actual deliveries are typically somewhat shorter. - Joanne O'Loughlin and other neighbors described repeated near‑misses, parked delivery trucks and the effect on their daily lives; several speakers asked the town to reject the drive‑through or require stronger safeguards.

What the board directed next The change of zone and site plan approvals were granted with the conditions described above. The approvals include submission of finalized on‑site truck routing and formal site plan revisions reflecting the parking and driveway changes, no‑parking signage on the adjacent residential road, and the recorded covenants limiting hours and future development.Although neighbors urged denial, board members said rejecting the plan would leave the existing configuration in place without these new restrictions and improvements. The board noted it will inspect and enforce the site plan after approval.

Ending The applicant will return with finalized plan sheets and recorded covenants; the board said it expects inspections and monitoring to enforce the off‑peak delivery schedule, the no‑parking striping/signage, and the newly offered overnight closure of the drive‑through window.