Town of Babylon planning board closes hearing on Qdoba site plan, reserves decision

The Town of Babylon Planning Board closed a public hearing Tuesday and reserved decision on a site-plan application to demolish a former Checkers building and construct a 2,363‑square‑foot Qdoba restaurant with a single drive‑thru lane at the northeast corner of Sunrise Highway and North Green Avenue.

The application matters to nearby residents and traffic planners because it requests a parking variance (22 spaces provided vs. 29 required), seeks 24‑hour operation, and proposes a drive‑thru configuration that the applicant says will be restricted to right‑in/right‑out access on Sunrise Highway and an exit‑only driveway onto the side street. The board left the record open for written comments and said it will review feedback and outstanding site plan issues before issuing a decision.

John Farrell, attorney for the applicant with the firm San Ward, Braff & Cascagnano, presented the proposal and said the site will replace the single‑story, double drive‑thru former Checkers with a new 2,363‑square‑foot building containing 50 seats (44 indoor, six outdoor) and a single drive‑thru lane. Farrell said public utilities are available at the site and that the property has been vacant since Checkers closed several years ago.

Sean Mulrion of Mulrion Engineering, the traffic engineer for the applicant, testified that the planned driveway on Sunrise Highway will be configured as right‑turn in and right‑turn out only because a raised median prevents left turns. Mulrion said the rear driveway on the side street will be reconfigured as exit‑only so drive‑thru circulation does not rely on the side street. He told the board the site plan provides 22 parking spaces and a six‑vehicle drive‑thru queue and that New York State Department of Transportation review of the Sunrise Highway curb configuration is ongoing.

Jacqueline Peralta of Key Civil Engineering described landscaping and circulation details. The applicant proposes to install 17 Green Giant arborvitae along the rear property line to screen adjacent residences, maintain and augment street trees on North Green Avenue, and add planting on the corners of the site. Peralta said bollards will be installed along the curb line at roughly 4‑feet on center in addition to a metal railing to protect seasonal outdoor seating near Sunrise Highway.

The applicant asked the board to accept a parking variance and indicated it will apply to the Zoning Board of Appeals for that relief. Farrell and the project team said delivery trucks typically come about three times a week around 10 a.m. for about 20–30 minutes and that truck turning movements and a short loading area have been shown on the plans so deliveries will not block circulation.

A nearby resident, Ashraf Mikhail of 919 North Green Avenue, spoke during public comment, saying litter, windblown paper and “rats” from the former Checkers site reached his yard when that business operated. Mikhail said the site's prior condition left his property “very dirty” and said he feared the same problems with a new tenant. The board asked the applicant to return to the podium to address nuisance and pest‑control concerns; Farrell said the franchisee follows industry standard pest control and that the applicant will follow the covenants provided to the board.

Planning staff read a covenant (item 19 in the provided covenants) into the record that requires removal of noncontained or free‑flowing trade waste and debris from the subject property and public properties within 200 feet of the site at 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. The applicant’s counsel said the franchisee’s other local locations have been maintained and that the applicant will employ industry standard measures to prevent rodents from spreading to adjacent yards; the civil engineer and an environmental inspector described bait boxes and targeted inspections as typical practice.

Board member Rich Casey asked staff to make a note to contact the Suffolk County Water Authority regarding a separate complaint the resident raised about water pressure and an adjacent car wash. The Planning Board closed the hearing by motion, with the record left open for written comments to the planning department.

A motion to close the public hearing and reserve decision was moved by Dan (surname not specified) and seconded by Juan Leon. The board voted in favor; the chair announced the public hearing was closed and the decision reserved.

Next steps listed at the hearing: the applicant will continue work with the Town planning staff and the New York State Department of Transportation on curb and access details; the applicant must seek a parking variance from the Zoning Board; the planning board will review written comments submitted to planning staff before issuing a final decision. The planning department contact information was read into the record for public submissions.