WATERVILLE — Following a city zoning change and months of delay, a new Taco Bell fast-food restaurant has opened at 345 Main St. at the site of a former Bank of America branch.

The upper Main Street eatery opened Wednesday, according to Deputy City Clerk Sarah Cross. The Waterville City Council on Jan. 17 issued a food license to C2C East, LLC, doing business as Taco Bell at the site, which is just south of exit 130 on Interstate 95.

The 500-square-foot former bank building on the property was demolished to make way for the restaurant.

Waterville’s Planning Board voted 6-0 in March 2016 to approve a plan for Taco Bell with conditions including that no left turn be allowed from the property onto Main Street, which is also Route 104, and that a lighting system and traffic island be approved by the city.

The building, which appeared to be finished this past summer but didn’t start operation until Wednesday, is across from the Elm Plaza. The 0.6-acre property is 360 feet from the Main Street intersection with Armory Road.

Christi Holmes, of Gorrill Palmer, which previously represented Taco Bell during a city planning review, was unavailable for comment Thursday.

Advertisement

The City Council previously approved Taco Bell’s request to rezone the property from Commercial-C to a contract zone with a 12-foot setback for the building. That’s because the Commercial-C zone didn’t allow for those building setback requirements.

At the time, then-Council Chairman John O’Donnell, D-Ward 5, voted against the zoning change for Taco Bell, saying he wanted to show support for comments resident Brad Sherwood had made at a council meeting about out-of-state corporations putting fast-food eateries in small towns and doing little for communities economically.

O’Donnell said at the time that he did not want to be considered unfriendly to business, but he thought the city had reached its limit with fast-food restaurants.

Waterville already has a Taco Bell at its southern end, at 444 Kennedy Memorial Drive, in a building shared with KFC.


Only subscribers are eligible to post comments. Please subscribe or login first for digital access. Here’s why.

Use the form below to reset your password. When you've submitted your account email, we will send an email with a reset code.

filed under: