Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Zoning Amendments topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Planning Board reviews broad Chapter 285 zoning updates — new restaurant categories, drive‑through limits and parking changes
Summary
The Greenburgh Planning Board reviewed proposed Chapter 285 zoning text and map amendments that recategorize food and beverage uses, add an explicit "drive‑through restaurant" category with an 80,000‑sq‑ft lot minimum in mixed‑use corridors, centralize special‑permit procedures and propose flexible parking standards; staff will post materials and hold a public discussion July 15.
The Greenburgh Planning Board on July 1 reviewed a package of proposed zoning text and map revisions under Chapter 285 that would change how the town regulates restaurants, drive‑throughs, mixed‑use frontage and off‑street parking.
Commissioner Garrett Duquesne, a lead presenter on the amendments, said the changes aim to reflect how food service operations have shifted. “Incidental dining establishments are proposed to be any food or beverage establishment offering takeout services” with an eight‑seat cap, he told the board, and the updated definition of “restaurant” would allow curbside pickup and would not require waiter service.
The draft replaces the old “fast‑food/quick service” label with a new “drive‑through restaurant” category tied specifically to a drive‑through window. Duquesne told the board that drive‑throughs would remain subject to a Planning Board special permit and that the proposal sets an 80,000‑square‑foot minimum lot size in the Central Avenue (CA) and other applicable districts to limit intense, auto‑oriented sites on smaller parcels.
Board members pressed for data backing the 80,000‑sq‑ft threshold and asked staff to confirm lot sizes of existing drive‑throughs on Central Avenue (Starbucks, Burger King and others) so members could visualize how the rule would apply. Duquesne said the figure tracks standards used previously in some districts and promised to supply examples and lot statistics on request.
Other amendments discussed would:
- Add permitted uses to the CA District such as museums, adult day care and vocational schools and codify “complete streets” frontage expectations to improve pedestrian, bike and transit access; - Centralize special‑permit and noticing procedures into a single section to remove duplicated language across districts; - Standardize multifamily pedestrian frontage requirements and allow discretionary multifamily parking reductions where strong multimodal transit access exists; and - Retain a Planning Board review role (special permit and site plan) for incidental dining and restaurants.
Deputy Commissioner Schmidt told the board staff will compile discussion points from four meetings into a recommendations list, post the 400‑plus page redline for public review and present a public discussion (not a formal hearing) on July 15 so the Planning Board can receive community input before preparing a formal recommendation to the Town Board.
What happens next: staff will post the track‑change document and related materials, produce a short YouTube summary of prior discussions and provide the board with requested lot‑size and parking data ahead of the July 15 public discussion.
