The Bellevue Planning and Zoning Commission has approved a site plan and conditional use for a Taco Bell restaurant at 55 Donnermeyer Drive near the Bellevue Kroger.
The restaurant will seat about 20, with 80 percent of its business from drive-thru sales. While restaurants are a permitted use in Bellevue’s form-based Transect 5 or T5 zone, drive thru businesses are a conditional use.
A rocky start
The site has long been a point of concern for the city. Campbell County Planning Director Cindy Minter presented the staff report on the site, starting with some history. It first served as a garbage dump and then a fill site for debris from I-75 construction. In 1973, a shopping plaza, anchored by Kroger, went in nearby, and the location became a self-service car wash in 1989.
After the car wash went under leaving its stalls still standing, the site stood abandoned until 2017 when Waffle House purchased the property. The company demolished the old stalls but never moved forward with its planned restaurant. Their uninitiated permit expired in 2020, Minter said.
The approval did not come smoothly. Commissioners raised concerns about the small size of the site — just under a half acre — and the space needed for drive-thru traffic, deliveries and parking.
Parking and circulation concerns
Anthony Barchanowicz, with the GPD group, engineers for Taco Bell, presented an extensive circulation analysis and plan for the drive-thru traffic. He noted the restaurant has 10 designated parking spaces.
The site has two established entrances, one off Donnermeyer and the other coming from the Kroger parking lot. The parking lot entrance will be designated entry only, Barchanowicz said.
Rhonda Kuchar of Miller’s Fill Inn, across from the site, asked about plans for employee parking. She said she was concerned the restaurant only plans for 10 spaces for both patrons and employees, and space for about eight cars in the drive-thru line.
“The only reason I’m bringing this up is we’ve been approached to rent or lease spaces to Taco Bell as have the other places on our side of the street,” said Kuchar. “So I’m concerned if you are already asking to lease parking spaces, how are you going to take care of your crowds?… And, if you’ve ever been anywhere for fast food, you know you are going to have more than eight cars at lunch and dinner times. I just feel you’re going to have a parking and traffic nightmare.”
Barchanowicz admitted the site is small and that Kuchar brought up good points. He expects an average of about four employees but could have as many as eight in busy periods. He said the company is working on the problem and talking with Kroger about parking, deliveries and other concerns.
Handling traffic and deliveries
“I’m not against this, but I think you are going to have a problem,” Kuchar said. “And the Kroger-size semis, when they come in, they will be on your pavement. They come onto ours; we had to put pillars up. They come out, back up, come up, go over to the edge near our building, and sometimes there are three of them trying to get in there.”
Minter said the engineers have been working to ensure space for delivery trucks and for emergency vehicles.
Taco Bell will put in signs to indicate left turns only out of their lot and is planning to put up curbs to help keep delivery trucks from driving over their pavement, Barchanowicz said. He noted that most deliveries there happen at night.
Working with the city
Minter noted the city designated the surrounding area a “Special Development Area” and has been working on streetscape design and pedestrian-focused improvements along Donnermeyer Drive. Taco Bell engineers are working closely with city engineers to fit their site into the larger plans for the area, she said.
For example, said Minter, the company has provided a landscape plan with extended greenspace to align with the city’s plans. They are adding permeable pavers and pulling the sidewalk back into the site more in line with the pedestrian friendly plan.
Runoff reduction requirements set a 15 percent reduction rate, but Taco Bell engineers will create a 24.5 percent reduction thanks to the added plantings, pavers and overall green space, she said.
In keeping with form-based code requirements, the restaurant set back will align with the other fast food entities along Donnermeyer.
Minter said staff is satisfied with the plans and recommended Planning and Zoning approve the site plan and the conditional use request.
Commissioner James Dady expressed continued concern over the parking and circulation on the site, but voted in favor as did the other commissioners. The company plans to start construction as soon as possible this year.
