A Dunkin’ franchise has sued Harrison for disallowing its plans to replace a store and add a drive-through window.
BKP Harrison LLC, an affiliate of The Beekman Group private equity firm, petitioned Westchester Supreme Court last month to annul a Jan. 25 planning board decision, denying a new store on Halstead Avenue, “as irrational, arbitrary and capricious.”
The Harrison legal department and planning board did not respond to emails asking for the village’s side of the story. The board’s decision cites concerns about car and pedestrian traffic.
“A drive-through as proposed cannot be accommodated in a safe and efficient manner,” according to the planning board resolution, or “in such a way that will not adversely impact downtown Harrison.”
The store, at 260 Halstead Ave., is between a U.S. Post Office and a CVS pharmacy that has a drive-through window.
Dunkin’ wants to tear down the 1,240-square-foot store; replace it with a slightly larger store with a drive-through window; and reconfigure the parking lot, driveways and sidewalk.
The new layout, Dunkin’ says, would improve pedestrian and vehicle circulation and relieve parking congestion. The drive-through lane, for instance, would handle up to 11 cars, and the company would restrict truck deliveries to six hours a day from 10 p.m. to 4 a.m.
Under the current zoning, Dunkin’ argues, the drive-through is a permitted “as of right use.”
It says the planning board denial, in effect, requires the company to prove that there would never be any traffic issues.
“Moreover, the planning board based its denial upon alleged data that was not included in the record,” the petition states, “whilst simultaneously ignoring or discrediting the materials BKP submitted into the record.”
The planning board resolution says the site is among the most intensely used locations in a downtown that is adding hundreds of new apartments that will generate even more pedestrian and car traffic.
Halstead Avenue at that point has a single lane in each direction, so additional traffic, as well as cars making illegal left turns out of driveways, creates more congestion.
Dunkin wants the court to set aside the planning board’s decision.
The franchise is represented by White Plains attorneys Taylor M. Palmer, William S. Null, Brendon Goodhouse and Allison Fausner. The planning board is represented by Hawthorne attorney Phillip A. Grimaldi Jr.
