Planning Board rejects proposed Chipotle
SPARTA. During public comments, residents expressed concerns about an increase in traffic.
Sparta /
| 08 Oct 2023 | 01:31
The proposed Chipotle would have looked like this.
The Sparta Planning Board voted, 4-3, against a proposed Chipotle restaurant at its meeting Oct. 4.
Voting no were Councilman Dean Blumetti, who is also is a Planning Board member; board vice chairman Ron Day; Christine Dunbar; and Angela Kasse, the mayor’s designee to the board. Jeannette Burke, Ernest Reigstad and Mike Sylvester voted yes. Bill Enright and Justin Kanellis abstained.
The restaurant, along with two other retail spaces, was proposed on 1.25 acres at 1 North Village Blvd., between ShopRite and the Chelsea at Sparta, an assisted-living facility. It would have had a drive-thru window for pickup of orders made through an app as well as an outdoor dining area.
The tenants of the other two retail spaces were not specified.
During public comments, residents expressed concerns about an increase in traffic.
“I think it’s an extremely hazardous situation,” said Mike Devine, noting that several streams of traffic converge at that intersection in addition to pedestrians on the sidewalk.
Owen Dykstra, project manager for the proposed Chipotle, disagreed, saying, “It’s not a major traffic producer.”