Spencer Hart, the franchisee who owns the Sonic Drive-in in North Babylon and has also to bring the popular business to East Meadow, has not decided his next course of action after the Hempstead Town Board of Zoning Appeals his proposal Wednesday.
Hart approval for eight variance applications for the East Meadow location at 1900 Hempstead Tpke. These included special exceptions to install a drive-thru window and use a portion of the premise for outdoor dining, as well as variances for off-street parking. Additionally, they were asking for permission to install 24 menu board signs under two proposed canopies, install a drive-thru preview menu and regular menu board and install a speaker and confirmation screen system for the drive-thru.
From Newsday:
The appeals board Wednesday voted 5-0 to deny Sonic's eight variance applications after holding a public hearing last week. The board's legal counsel is drafting the findings for the decision, board secretary Richard Regina said Friday. The board will probably send out copies of the decision and the findings within the next week to all interested parties, he said.
Sonic could still potentially submit a modified proposal to the BZA for the property or they can appeal the BZA’s ruling.
"It's kind of hard to say what we would do because we have not been notified of the decision yet," Hart told Newsday Friday, adding they will review the findings before deciding what step to take next.
Many East Meadow residents to the BZA's decision to decline Hart's application.
"That's too bad," Kristina Hollywood said. "All I can say is, something great better be put there in its place because right now it's just an eyesore and to date nothing of value has come to East Meadow in a long while. I think Sonic would have been a welcomed addition."
"It's better to build more storefronts on East Meadow Avenue like the traffic isn't bad enough," added Dean Dinolfo.
What do you think Hart's next move should be? Tell us in the comments.
