Tanglewood Shopping Center seeks to add restaurant drive-up

UB Tanglewood LLC, which is based in Greenwich and owns the Tanglewood Shopping Center in Yonkers wants to add a satellite restaurant facility with a drive-up window. It intends to lease the new space to Dunkin’ Donuts. Dunkin’ already is a tenant in the shopping center at 2248 Central Park Ave. The project has an estimated cost of $1.3 million.

William Null of the White Plains-based law firm Cuddy & Feder represents UB Tanglewood LLC and told the Yonkers Planning Board that no lease had been secured with Dunkin’ for the new building as of late March.

The new building would be 1,600 square feet, scaled down from a previous proposal for a 2.200-square-foot building.

“The property is improved with the main Tanglewood Shopping Center building occupied by AutoZone, the anchor-tenant, among other tenants,” Null said. “In addition, there is a satellite commercial building situated along Crisfield Street.”

Null said that the new building would have a small area for use by diners and people not using the drive-up window who are picking up takeout orders. Drivers would enter a queueing line near the easterly property line and then move in a westerly direction toward the drive-up window.

When Yonkers planning staff reviewed the proposal, they noted the drive-up area is immediately adjacent to residences and called for the applicant to provide details on the loudness of the loudspeaker that will be used in the ordering system as well as demonstrate what will be done to mitigate any potential noise impact on the adjacent property.

The application had been referred to the Westchester County Planning Board for its comments. Richard Hyman, chairman of the County Planning Board, wrote to Yonkers that the board was “concerned over the proposed layout of the drive-thru, as the site plan indicates a queueing lane that would provide space for eight vehicles, with any additional vehicles in the queue forced to navigate the drive-thru exit, and if the restaurant is particularly busy, the main portion of the parking lot.”

The County Planning Board questioned the viability of a drive-thru “in this tight location, due to the potential on-site traffic conflicts as well as the unintuitive access path customers would have to follow through the parking lot.” The board also expressed concern about increased pollution levels for the neighboring residential buildings, due to the constant idling of vehicles in the queue.”

The County Planning Board recommended that a building without a drive-up window be considered, and that as much green and sustainable building technology as possible be used in the proposed development. It also encouraged including bicycle parking for both customers and employees.