A Taco Bell for Wantagh?

A new fast food eatery could soon be coming to Wantagh if the Town of Hempstead Board of Appeals approves a proposal to construct a Taco Bell, which would replace a vacant building at 1260 Wantagh Ave., just south of the post office.

The proposal is on the Board of Appeals’ calendar for Dec. 17 at 2 p.m. Taco Bell is seeking to build a 2,148-square-foot restaurant with 40 seats and a drive-through on the west side on Wantagh Avenue. The eatery would be near two other Yum! Brands franchises, KFC, which is just up the street, and Pizza Hut, which is around the corner on Jerusalem Avenue.

The restaurant would have 23 parking spaces, one short of the number required based on a formula that takes into account both the number of seats and the number of employees that would be working at a given time. Taco Bell is seeking a parking variance.

The Board of Appeals will also consider special exceptions for a menu board and speaker that would be part of the drive-through, and a double-sided ground-level sign. The nearest Taco Bells are in Seaford, on Sunrise Highway, and in Levittown, on Hempstead Turnpike.

As part of the process, Taco Bell was required to notify all residents within 300 feet of the site of the proposed restaurant. The Board of Appeals has already received several written comments, with most people opposed to the plan. Their common concerns are traffic, the restaurant’s late-night hours, the potential for loitering and a buildup of litter, and the number of fast food franchises already in the area.

Those in favor of a new Taco Bell stated that it would replace an abandoned building, create jobs and fit in with the commercial nature of the street. It would be bordered on the south by Wantagh Lanes and on the west by the bowling alley’s parking lot. There are homes across the street.

Donna Porcelli, who lives on Hawthorne Drive West in the neighborhood across the street, is opposed to the plan. To leave her neighborhood and head south, she said, she must make a left from Flower Avenue. “It’s almost literally impossible,” she said. “Now add in a Taco Bell. As it stands now, the whole pattern of traffic is very, very unsafe.”

Porcelli said that her concern is not so much with traffic volume, but with its patterns, with cars entering and exiting several residential streets, shopping centers and the post office within a short distance. A Taco Bell, she said, would add to the potential danger, and she feels that an office building would be more suitable for the location, as it would not have the constant in-and-out flow of traffic.

Porcelli’s neighbor, John Murray, said he had similar concerns. “It would take a current traffic nightmare and make it even worse,” he said. “I personally love Taco Bell, but of any place on Wantagh Avenue to put a Taco Bell, you couldn’t have picked a more congested strip.”

Cathy Powell lives about a mile away, but visits Wantagh’s commercial hub frequently. She said traffic there is already bad enough. “I just feel it’s dangerous to have a drive-through,” she said. “It’s just going to create havoc.”

Powell added that Taco Bell would attract students from both Wantagh and MacArthur high schools, which both have open-campus policies, so it would add more inexperienced drivers to the already heavy traffic.

“I have nothing against Taco Bell personally,” Powell said. “I eat it, my kids eat it.”

Linda Herman said that Wantagh already has enough fast food restaurants, and that she would like to see more healthy choices in the area. She is also concerned about traffic, she said, and the fact that the restaurant would be directly across the street from homes.

Residents will be able to weigh in on the proposal at next week’s public hearing, which will be held at Hempstead Town Hall. Representatives of Taco Bell did not respond to requests for comment.