The existing McDonald's on Center Street will be razed and a new one built.
LUDLOW – The Planning Board on Thursday approved a special permit for McDonald’s USA to raze the existing McDonald’s restaurant at 420 Center Street and replace it with a modernized building.
The special permit also allows for the installation of a new two-lane drive through which will help to keep traffic moving if one customer is placing a large order.
The vote by the Planning Board to approve the special permit was 5 to 0. Planning Board member Carlos Chaves said the applicant “met all expectations” of the Planning Board and addressed concerns by doing a traffic study.
At a prior Planning Board meeting, McDonald’s was asked to show that traffic flow within the site will be safe and to show the proposed landscaping and area for deliveries on the site plan.
Planning Board Chairman Christopher Coelho said McDonald’s presented an improved site plan and has “dotted its i’s and crossed its t’s.”
Edgar Minnie, who owns commercial property adjacent to McDonald’s, had asked for a curb cut between his property and McDonald’s to help his customers negotiate a traffic light on Center Street. Planning Board member Raymond Phoenix said the town’s Safety Committee expressed a concern that a curb cut midway between the two properties would create a traffic hazard on the McDonald’s property.
Planning Board members said an internal parking lot with a drive-through is not appropriate for a shared access.
John Kusek of Bohler Engineering, who represented McDonald’s, said the new building will be more state of the art and will take up less space on the existing lot.
Seventy percent of McDonald’s business is drive-through business, Kusek told the Planning Board.
The new building is expected to open in 2012, town planner Douglas Stefancik said.