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Council approves Chipotle conditional use with app‑based pickup window at Burke Blvd. & Belcher Road
Summary
The council granted a conditional use for a restaurant with a mobile pickup window (no speaker box) in the Heavy Commercial zoning district at the Burke Boulevard and Belcher Road corner. The site plan reduces curb cuts, adds cross access and buffering, and met parking requirements; approval was unanimous on first and final reading.
The Pinellas Park City Council on May 8 approved a conditional use for a restaurant with a mobile pickup window — described by the applicant as an app‑based Chipotle location — at the corner of Burke Boulevard and Belcher Road in the city's Heavy Commercial (CH) zoning district.
Todd Byron, planning coordinator, presented the case (CUDash012500005) and said the proposed drive‑in/drive‑through is conditional because it includes a pickup window. Staff and the applicant emphasized this is a mobile pickup window only: there will be no speaker box and customers must place orders in advance through an app or delivery platform. Byron said the operation met the CH district's lot size, frontage and setback requirements, and recommended approval after the Planning & Zoning Commission's prior recommendation.
Lauren Rubinstein, representing the applicant, told council the site plan provides several public‑safety and circulation improvements: consolidation of four existing curb cuts on Park Boulevard to one code‑compliant driveway (subject to county/FDOT approvals), relocation of an access point on 70th Avenue, added landscaping and stormwater improvements, a six‑foot solid wall and a landscape buffer between the restaurant and adjacent residences, and cross‑access designed to enable coordinated access with the neighboring tire shop should that parcel redevelop.
The plan proposes one additional parking space above the code minimum (27 required, 28 shown). Rubinstein said the development agreement executed in February 2013 contemplated a drive‑through concept but expired after a three‑year conditional period; the applicant returned to council for current conditional‑use approval.
Council members pressed on operational details: council asked whether the restaurant will offer interior seating (yes), whether traffic and FDOT access requirements have been addressed (access reductions were developed with Pinellas County), and how refuse/dumpster pickup would be buffered from residences (dumpster to be enclosed with a separate wall and landscaping). The applicant and engineers said they would coordinate with county and county traffic officials for final curb‑cut consolidation.
Vice Mayor Seville moved to approve the conditional use on first and final reading; the motion carried unanimously.
