The Farmington McDonald’s will be razed and rebuilt after the project received approval from the town Planning Board.
The seven-member board voted to approve the project Monday night with Tom Eastler voting against it. The board added the condition that the McDonald’s make facade changes such as more brick, though a request that the large sign be replaced didn’t go anywhere.
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The facade conditions were added after some of the 20 residents in attendance and members of the board asked whether the fast-food restaurant could adopt architecture that matches the downtown village appearance like its neighbor Rite Aid did.
“It’s not a fault,” said Craig Jordan of the initially proposed appearance of the building. “It just doesn’t look like Farmington.”
John Cusack of Bohler Engineer, which is contracted for the project, said the franchise is limited as to what kinds of changes they can make at the request of the planning board, but said the facade changes could be accommodated.
Town Manager Richard Davis asked Cusack if the large sign at the front of the building could be changed or if a smaller sign that would be “not quite as garish” could be adopted during the construction process.
Cusack said the owners would not be interested in a smaller street sign, particularly because it is an “impulse type of business.”
Resident Taffy Davis said after looking at the proposal that she would have liked to see a building that looked more appropriate for a historic area.
“I think this is a golden opportunity to create the perfect entrance into our downtown,” she said.
Eastler said that stretch of Main Street has changed over the years to include businesses like Irving and Rite Aid and said insisting on a historical matching building might no longer be the right conversation to have.
“Now what are we going to match? All those things are a-historical,” Eastler said.
The new building at the corner of Main and Front streets will be on the same site it’s on now, but pushed farther back, allowing for a lane of traffic that will loop around the store front. There will be two drive-thru ordering lines as part of the new traffic pattern.
The application filed with the town estimates the new 4,892-square-foot restaurant will increase the property value from around $800,000 to $900,000.
The McDonald’s is in village commercial zoning and abuts other commercial and public properties, including Hippach Field and Gifford’s Ice Cream.
A site plan for the proposed building shows the property with exits and entrances in the same location.
Kaitlin Schroeder — 861-9252
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