A proposal to build a new McDonald's in a Long Island community is drawing concern over traffic and safety, even as residents acknowledge that the site it would replace has long been an eyesore, News 12 reported. The plan is set to go before local officials at a public hearing, where supporters and opponents alike are expected to turn out and make their case over what should happen to the property.
The location at the centre of the debate is a former bank that has sat empty for about six years in Greenlawn, in the town of Huntington in Suffolk County. The building is now fenced in and overgrown, with its windows and doors completely boarded up, leaving a rundown corner that many in the surrounding community have said they would like to see put to better use after years of neglect.
Under the proposal, the former bank at the corner of East Pulaski Road and Park Avenue would be demolished and replaced by a 3,700 square foot restaurant, positioned a little more toward the centre of the parking lot. The plan would bring the fast food chain to a spot that residents broadly agree needs attention, even if they remain divided over whether a drive-thru is the right thing to put there.
Opponents of the project have been outspoken, focusing much of their concern on traffic. They have questioned how much additional congestion a drive-thru could create at what is already a busy intersection, and whether that extra flow of vehicles could end up interfering with emergency response in the area, turning a routine fast food plan into a wider safety debate.
Those worries are sharpened by the proximity of Huntington Hospital, which sits just about two miles away from the proposed site. For critics of the plan, the prospect of a steady stream of drive-thru traffic close to routes used by emergency vehicles serving the hospital is among the strongest arguments they have raised against approving the development as it currently stands.
Supporters of the application, however, point out that the former bank previously operated a drive-thru of its own, and they highlight a traffic study submitted with the proposal that found the development would not significantly impact traffic conditions. The public hearing before the Huntington Zoning Board of Appeals is set for tonight at six o'clock at Huntington Town Hall, where the proposal's fate will begin to take shape.