By jennifer dome
Staff Writer
SAYREVILLE — Major changes are on the way to the Dunkin’ Donuts shop at Raritan Street and Washington Road.
The location will be retrofitted to include a drive-thru window and a Baskin-Robbins ice cream shop as part of a renovations project approved by the borough’s Zoning Board of Adjustment March 26.
The applicant, Allied Domeca QSR, will demolish the existing Dunkin’ Donuts and rebuild the site in compliance with the company’s new image. Joseph Paparo, the applicant’s attorney, told board members that while the doughnut and ice cream shops are a permitted use on the site, a drive-thru window was not allowed and thus required the board’s approval.
The board granted a use variance for the drive-thru window, as well as a setback variance for a freestanding sign at the corner of Raritan Street and Washington Road and two variances for front-yard setbacks.
The existing building will expand from 1,780 to 2,300 square feet in order to accommodate the Baskin-Robbins addition, according to Allied Domeca QSR’s development manager, Charles DeFiglio. New equipment for the Dunkin’ Donuts section will also be included to bring the site up-to-date with more modern doughnut shops like the company’s two Route 9 locations.
A seating area, a baking and kitchen area, and rest rooms will be included, as well as a manager’s office and storage space, said Robert Grimaldi, the applicant’s architect.
Among the more noticeable changes will be the design of the exterior of the building. The entrance will face Raritan Street, while the drive-thru window faces the Garden State Parkway on the opposite side. A loading and garbage receptacle area will be located on the northern side of the building, opposite Main Street. The new cream-colored building will feature awnings and several windows, according to the architect.
"The previous building was of another era and another time," Grimaldi said.
The most important feature of the new store will be the increased convenience from the drive-thru window and the more navigable parking area. According to the applicant’s engineer, John Palus, the current building’s parking area is difficult to maneuver through since vehicles enter and exit the site from Raritan Street and then must turn around within the area between parking spaces.
The renovation of the site will allow vehicles to enter or exit from roughly the same location on Raritan Street, Palus said. Vehicles can then travel counter-clockwise around the building, either to get to the drive-thru window or to use the bypass lane to continue around the building and back out onto Raritan Street, according to the engineer.
"I think what we’re proposing is a vast improvement to vehicular circulation," said the applicant’s traffic engineer, Elizabeth Dolan.
All the parking spaces will be located in front of the building and will include a handicap space, which the current location does not have.
Doughnuts will be trucked to the site each day and the food preparation will be completed inside the store. A loading area was included on the northern side of the new building and a parking place for a small truck was designed for the area to the left of the entrance driveway.
The applicant said that while the new Dunkin’ Donuts and Baskin-Robbins will be open 24 hours a day, the shipments will arrive during off-peak hours.
Traffic is not expected to increase dramatically at the site since the only new feature will be the Baskin-Robbins section, Dolan told board members. She said the drive-thru lane can accommodate seven vehicles.
Included in the new site design is additional landscaping, including trees and bushes to provide more buffering. Palus told board members that an irrigation system will be installed on the site to maintain the new landscaping.