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Planning board approves seasonal takeout window at All Play Family Entertainment Center
Summary
The Belfast Planning Board approved a site-plan amendment and use permit allowing a seasonal walk-up takeout and ice-cream window at the All Play Family Entertainment Center, requiring traffic rerouting, pavement markings and bollards to improve pedestrian safety.
The Belfast Planning Board on July 9 approved a site-plan amendment and use permit to allow a seasonal walk-up takeout and ice‑cream window at the All Play Family Entertainment Center, 49 Searsport Avenue. The board’s action included amended findings and conditions that require on-site striping, signage and bollards before the takeout operation opens.
City planner Alexandra Sykes told the board the property was originally approved in 2013 and that the proposed change is limited to a leased 800‑square‑foot kitchen area and a service window. “The modifications primarily concern site circulation, interior circulation and adjustments to the parking area,” Sykes said, noting the change triggers review under the city code of ordinances, chapter 90 (site plan), chapter 102 (zoning) and chapter 98 (technical standards).
Applicant Amy Drinkwater, who said she will lease the kitchen space through her business Double D’s, described the safety-driven circulation plan: closing the Route 1 curb cut and directing customers to enter and exit via Mitchell Street in a counterclockwise one‑way loop. “We would be blocking off the front and then add signage to come around,” Drinkwater said, adding that three front parking spaces would be removed and replaced by large landscaping rock buffers to keep pedestrian customers safe.
Board members pressed the applicant on surface materials, pedestrian path markings and trash handling. Sykes confirmed the applicant will add two trash receptacles by the service window and empty them into the existing screened dumpster at the rear of the property. The applicant also provided seasonal hours for the takeout operation to the board.
With conditions that require pavement striping, directional arrows, ingress/egress signage and bollards to close the Route 1 curb cut (with code enforcement to verify compliance before occupancy), the board voted to approve the findings, the amended conditions and the site‑plan amendment and use permit. The applicant must complete the identified site improvements before operating the takeout window.
The board closed the public hearing with no public comments. The planning board’s approval advances the applicant to the implementation phase, subject to staff verification of the required on‑site traffic and safety measures.
