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ZBA delays Chick‑fil‑A hearing after neighbors and staff raise traffic and inter‑municipal parking concerns
Summary
The Greenburgh Zoning Board of Appeals adjourned its hearing on a proposed Chick‑fil‑A to Sept. 19 after the applicant and traffic engineers described a conditional plan to use a neighboring White Plains lot for employee parking and rare overflow queuing; residents pressed the board on safety, flooding and whether the White Plains spaces may legally count toward Greenburgh parking requirements.
The Town of Greenburgh Zoning Board of Appeals on [meeting date] recessed consideration of case 2407, a proposed Chick‑fil‑A drive‑through, until the board’s Sept. 19 meeting after extended testimony from the applicant, its traffic engineer and nearby residents. The applicant’s land‑use counsel, Charlie Gottlieb, said the public hearing was reopened to respond to a July 18 letter from the City of White Plains and that the applicant has provided a recorded lease showing 20 Tarrytown Road Realty LLC as the property owner and a conditional agreement limiting the White Plains lot to Chick‑fil‑A employee parking except in exceptional queuing events.
Why it matters: The site straddles municipal boundaries — two tax parcels are in Greenburgh and two in White Plains — prompting questions about whether White Plains parking could be used to meet Greenburgh’s off‑street parking requirements and how to coordinate traffic mitigation across jurisdictions.
What the applicant said: Charlie Gottlieb told the ZBA the applicant proposed conditional language so any White Plains approval would contain identical mitigation conditions and a ‘‘secret negative declaration’’ adopted by the planning board would align with traffic conditions. Gottlieb said the conditional language allows off‑duty traffic control officers or Chick‑fil‑A team members to guide queued vehicles into the White Plains lot during rare peak events, but that people staged there must remain in their cars and not enter the restaurant.
Traffic engineer Philip Greeley of Colliers described operations at a nearby grand opening that initially produced long queues. ‘‘During peak times, you had as many as 16 to 18 vehicles on the shoulder lane,’’ he said, and added that the applicant’s management plan allows on‑site stacking for roughly 33 vehicles and up to 60 vehicles with the temporary closure of a secondary driveway and coordinated circulation. He told the board the plan would be fine‑tuned with local police and a ‘‘3‑month look‑back’’ to review what works after opening.
Neighborhood concerns: Several residents who live near County Center Road and Old Kensico Road urged the board to refuse the application or impose strict conditions, citing repeated event traffic at the County Center, observed backups on Central Avenue and basement flooding in storm events. Tom Bock, who identified himself as president of the Fulton Park Neighborhood Association, told the board: ‘‘I ask you to refuse this’’ citing traffic, flooding and the number of variances the applicant seeks.
Zoning and inter‑municipal questions: At least one commenter pointed to White Plains zoning provisions and argued the White Plains lot cannot be counted to meet Greenburgh’s parking minimums. A separate commenter who said they spoke with White Plains staff read portions of White Plains zoning sections into the record and urged the ZBA to treat the lots as separate projects.
Board action: Chair (speaker 1) and the board agreed that outstanding intermunicipal issues — including final White Plains action and hashed‑out language aligning both municipalities’ resolutions — made further review necessary. The board adjourned the application to Sept. 19 and asked the applicant to submit any written responses before that meeting.
What’s next: The applicant said it will file written responses and that White Plains’ planning board is expected to act; the ZBA set the next hearing date to Sept. 19 for further consideration.
