Straw poll shows no grandfather exemption for Dunkin’
The Beacon City Council is expected to vote soon on a proposal to ban new self-storage facilities and drive-thrus citywide.
The proposal grew out of the city’s ongoing study of the Fishkill Avenue corridor. A citizen committee studying the corridor recommended last year that, to encourage more pedestrian-friendly growth, the council ban self-storage facilities, drive-thrus, gas stations, car washes, auto lots and repair shops. Those that already exist would be allowed.
In December the council began to review a draft law restricting self-storage and drive-thrus. At the same time, the Planning Board was amid its own review of Fishkill Avenue committee member Jay Healey’s application to transform 420 Fishkill Ave., the site of his family’s former Ford dealership, into to a Dunkin’ coffeehouse with a drive-thru and apartments.
The Planning Board approved the application but, in a memo to the council on March 17, expressed concern with “categorical prohibition” of self-storage or drive-thrus. Board members suggested either a district-by-district approach or identifying areas within zoning districts where the uses should be prohibited.
During a workshop on April 14, council members discussed whether to exempt the Dunkin’ site. Mayor Lee Kyriacou supported that approach, saying the council should gradually implement zoning changes to create a walkable Fishkill Avenue with increased residential development.
“If you do the zoning of what you think it should be 20 years from now today, you’re not going to get what you want,” he said. “If you do the zoning now and the market isn’t there, it’s just going to do auto dealerships and it’s going to sit there for longer than if we tried to make it transition over time.”
George Mansfield, the Ward 4 member, suggested allowing Dunkin’ as the “one and only” drive-thru on Fishkill Avenue. “What we don’t want,” he said, are “those types of businesses that we see in every strip mall, entering into every city and town. And they’re quickly built, and once they’re built, they remain forever.”
“I see this as a corridor into the rest of the city,” said Jeff Domanski, the Ward 2 representative. “I find the drive-thru incompatible with encouraging the type of transportation we want to have in that area.” He said the reimagining of Fishkill Avenue represents a “unique opportunity to set a tone that will have influence within the rest of the city.”
Natalie Quinn, the city planning consultant, weighed in: “You do often have to build the environment first that you want to create,” she said. “People tend to avoid areas that are not set up for pedestrians.”
The discussion ended with a straw poll showing four of the six council members (Domanski, Paloma Wake, Amber Grant and Molly Rhodes) against grandfathering. Pam Wetherbee, who represents Ward 3, which includes the Fishkill Avenue corridor, was not at the meeting, although she has spoken out against drive-thrus previously.
I appreciate the City Council considering a prohibition of dangerous drive-thrus on Fishkill Avenue. Transportation engineers know that every driveway creates additional opportunities for a crash. And as the Florida Department of Transportation concluded in a report, “drive-thru driveways had [the] largest impact on roadway safety” of any kind of driveway. (Note: It’s on page 5, Table 1, summarizing other research.)
As news reports have pointed out, traffic injuries near drive-thrus are so common that personal injury lawyers around the country specifically advertise to people injured at drive-thrus.
I drop my son off at a preschool in Newburgh every morning. It’s a busy area, but by far, the worst contributor to traffic backups and dangerous driving on my commute is people trying to turn into and out of the drive-thru Dunkin’ at North and 9W.
We have the chance to avoid adding more traffic and putting more people in danger. I hope we take it.
Higashide, who lives in Beacon, is an urban planner, writer and transportation researcher.
Here’s hoping Jay Healey abandons his plans for a Dunkin’ with a drive-thru and maintains an automotive center with its fumes, odors, solvents, oils, light pollution, noise and traffic. How dare a select group deny him the right to have a profitable feature for his business? This administration seems to be intent on making automobile travel as difficult as possible. So much for caring about the senior population.