Planning board amends environmental finding for Chick‑fil‑A, adds traffic‑management and monitoring requirements

The Town of Greenburgh Planning Board on Oct. 16 approved an amended negative declaration and associated conditions for a proposed Chick‑fil‑A at 20 Tarrytown Road, updating traffic‑management language to reflect a revised grand‑opening plan and new data from a recently opened Yonkers store.

Charlie Gottlieb, land‑use counsel for the applicant, told the board the amendment is focused on a single sentence in the original negative declaration to reflect changes resulting from White Plains’ site plan outcome and updated queuing assumptions. "It really is just one sentence out of the amended negative... that we're looking to remove or alter or revise simply to be consistent with this recent city of White Plains approval," Gottlieb said.

Philip Greeley of Colliers Engineering summarized on‑site and off‑site traffic work: Chick‑fil‑A will fund off‑site improvements, including widening Old Kensico Road to add an approach lane to Route 119 and coordinate signal timing with the New York State Department of Transportation and White Plains. The revised traffic‑management plan defines three staging zones (A, B, C), pre‑marks pavement areas for cone placement, and specifies triggers (for example, when queuing reaches about 40 cars) at which team members implement additional mitigation such as encouraging mobile ordering, shifting staff, or, for the grand opening, hiring off‑duty police officers paid by Chick‑fil‑A.

The board heard data from a recently opened Yonkers location showing a grand‑opening peak queue of roughly 46 to 52 vehicles. Greeley and the applicant’s traffic consultant said the Greenburgh site can accommodate between 53 and 65 queued vehicles in the revised plan (55 vehicles was described as a practical enforcement threshold where police would assess safety). The planning staff added a monitoring requirement: within six months of opening (or sooner if deemed necessary by the chief of police), the applicant must conduct a monitoring study reporting whether the traffic‑management plan was implemented during events at the nearby County Center and whether it was effective; the study must also report on any spillback to adjacent roadways.

Board members raised concerns about: (1) how grand‑opening operations would avoid conflicts with scheduled County Center events (graduations, concerts), (2) enforcement of employee‑only parking in an adjacent White Plains lot, (3) emergency‑vehicle access during peak queuing, and (4) contingencies if the traffic plan proves ineffective. Staff replied that the grand‑opening plan would be coordinated with the Greenburgh Police Department, that off‑duty officers would be hired for grand‑opening enforcement, and that the police could cap on‑site queuing at a safe threshold.

The board voted to approve the amended negative declaration (as revised in staff materials) and to reaffirm its prior neutral recommendation on the 12 variances previously reviewed; it also took a neutral position on the newly added 13th variance related to a storage shed location that arose during ZBA review. Planning staff said final site‑plan review and a formal public hearing will follow the ZBA process, at which point the board will consider more detailed conditions and any required plan changes arising from monitoring results.

Why it matters: This decision clears the way for the applicant to proceed to the ZBA and subsequent final site‑plan steps with clear expectations for traffic operations and post‑opening monitoring. The board added enforceable conditions intended to reduce the risk of spillback onto public roads and to provide data for future adjustments.

What happens next: The Zoning Board of Appeals will consider variances; the planning board expects to return the project for final site‑plan review and a monitoring‑results review after opening. Staff will coordinate with Greenburgh Police Department and DOT on implementation details.