Starbucks seeks special use permit from town for drive-thru window

Oyster Bay will hold a hearing next month on a special use permit for a new Starbucks with a drive-thru window in Massapequa.

The franchise would open at 4440 Sunrise Hwy. on land that is now used for parking next to the Massapequa Diner and across the street from the Long Island Rail Road station. The drive-thru service requires a special permit, Oyster Bay spokesman Brian Devine said.

The hearing will be held at the town’s Jan. 21 board meeting. The applicant, 4440 Sunrise Property Corp., wants to build a single-story, 1,822-square-foot building with a planned opening in late summer or early fall, said its attorney, Anthony Cincotta.
Part of the land would remain as parking after the building is completed. One of the principals is Valentino Zarboutis, who owns the diner.

The town board likely will vote on the special use permit in January or February, Devine said.

Also, the owners of another franchise, Panera Bread, are seeking to expand the number of customers allowed at their 407 Jericho Tpke. location to 122 seats.

Tim Doherty, vice president of development of New Jersey-based Doherty Enterprises Inc., which owns the restaurant, said they opened at the location in summer 2012 with a lower capacity than usual. Doherty said their restaurants are designed to seat more than 100 people but Oyster Bay’s zoning wouldn’t permit them to have a capacity of more than 75 in that space.

The company liked the spot and didn’t want to wait while going through the process to get a variance, which has taken more than year.

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“It was a site that I was very excited to open,” Doherty said. “We did not want to pay rent when we’re not generating revenues, subsequently we opened up with less seats than we typically open with.”

Doherty said the location has been successful and has “met and exceeded our expectations.”

The increased seating is likely to increase traffic to the restaurant by 63 percent during its peak hour, according to a determination approved by the town board Tuesday. That determination declared that no further environmental review was necessary.