The Genesee County Planning Board recommends disapproval of a Taco Bell move to the former Timebuyer property, 244-248 W. Main St. in Batavia.

"The proposed site design inadequately addresses setbacks and buffers to the adjacent residential neighborhood, especially given that the drive-through is open late, until 1 a.m. A significant variance of 50% is needed in order to accommodate the use," County Director of Planning Felipe Oltramari read during Thursday night's board meeting. "In addition, a traffic study may be needed given that Montclair Avenue and its intersection with West Main Street were not designed for the volume of commercial drive-through establishments."

APD Engineering & Architecture Senior Civil Engineer Stephanie Albright said the proposal will go before the city Planning & Development Committee at its meeting next Tuesday.

The proposal is for a 2,163-square foot, drive-thru Taco Bell at the corner of West Main Street and Montclair Avenue. It's currently at 413 W. Main St.

Albright said APD ordered a traffic study. She expects the study to be done today and APD will submit it to the city.

"This would be the relocation, so all of the traffic is already in the area. It is just pushing it down the street," she said. Albright said there would be more traffic on Montclair, but not a huge increase.

"We are proposing two access points off of Montclair to give proper (delivery) truck access through the site. We would have one 'exit only' for the drive-thru traffic on West Main Street," she said. "We did have preliminary coordination with DOT (the state Department of Transportation) and they said they wouldn't allow a full-access entrance on West Main Street due to the proximity to both intersections out there."

There are two entrances off of Montclair for customers. There is a full bypass lane for drive-thru traffic. There are 22 parking spaces proposed.

Hospitality Restaurant Group Director of Real Estate Development Mike McCracken said Hospitality, the franchisee, has operated the Taco Bell on West Main Street for quite a few years.

"The building was slated to be demolished about 10 years ago and Taco Bell corporate has been letting us go. We've done just some small renovations," he said. "This site has far superior stacking (queuing of vehicles in a line) than where we are. We can only stack three or four cars before we'll impact the traffic light at the plaza. We've always felt that if we could find a longer site where you could queue more cars, then we would do even better and we could move cars through quicker."

McCracken said he's driven by quite a few times to see what the traffic breaks were like at that intersection.

"I know Main is busy, but I didn't have too much trouble making a left out of Montclair - at least, personally, I didn't and I did it quite a few times," he said.

McCracken said he knows there's some concern about a residential property, but said there will be a fence between the property and the proposed Taco Bell. 

"Also, we have an ambient-design speaker post that's going to be further in and not pointing at the residential," he said.

He said the speaker will have much lower-volume tones when it's quieter outside.

"It senses the sound coming from around and if it's later at night, it's just like a regular conversation between you or I. The speaker doesn't stay loud," McCracken said. "That's sometimes a concern, but we do use the latest technology to take care of that."

Oltramari said he used to live in a house that backed up to a drive-thru.

"It's the people in the cars. They have their music blasting and they're talking, laughing, especially at night," he said, saying that can be difficult.

Board Chair Laraine Caton asked whether delivery trucks coming at non-peak hours meant night. Albright said it would be mid-morning. McCracken said deliveries, most of the time are mid-morning or the early part of the day, when Taco Bell first opens.

Board member Tom Schubmehl said it looks like, for a truck to make deliveries, it would have to use up all of the parking to get in and out of the site.

"Yes, due to the property size, which is pretty common for a Taco Bell parcel. They do come in during the off-peak hours so they can navigate through the site as they need to and then get back out," Albright said.

The stacking line for vehicles would be right on the driveway of a neighboring home, Schubmehl said.

"With the driveways, anybody who's going to leave Taco Bell and continue east are going to have to sit at the Montclair intersection to get out," he said. "That's an awful lot for that one (intersection)."

Caton said it would be nice to have had the traffic study before having the discussion Thursday night.

"We like to have everything so we can make informed decisions," she said.

The project seeks a variance regarding green space along Montclair Avenue. There is virtually no green space on the parcel now, Albright said.

"We are adding a substantial amount of green space from what's there under existing conditions," she said. "We will need a landscape buffer along Montclair. There is just not enough property width to fit in the commercial building with drive-thru and parking."

Albright noted the variance is required for green space along Montclair Avenue. A 10-foot landscape buffer is required, but the site plan is only able to provide a 5-foot buffer.

"We haven't submitted for the variance at all yet and it's not for the rear. It is just the green space along Montclair and there is nothing there existing," she said. "I get that you're looking at it in terms of a percent variance, but there is nothing there today and we are adding green space."

Schubmehl asked how the board could do something without having the variance to make the site plan work. Oltramari said usually the board sees variances first.

McCracken said the variance was discussed with the city Planning & Development Committee.

"We have an option to get rid of the bypass lane of the drive-thru and then we would meet code. We could have enough green there if we get rid of the bypass lane," he said. "They felt the bypass lane was more important for safety than the green space."

Schubmehl asked how Taco Bell would do deliveries without asking for a bypass lane.

Deliveries aren't going through the bypass lane, Albright said. They will come up Montclair Avenue and through the northern entrance to the property, go through the site and leave using the southern entrance.

No one living on Montclair Avenue was at Thursday's meeting. The board received a letter, Schubmehl noted.

Schubmehl made a motion to approve the recommendation for disapproval, saying the city Planning & Development Committee could override that with a majority-plus-one vote.