Islip City Zoning Code
ARTICLE XXXVI
Fast Food Restaurants
§ 68-423 Legislative intent.
The Town Board finds that restaurants with drive-throughs provide a service to senior citizens and people with disabilities and helps to promote complimentary economic development for under-utilized shopping centers. These regulations are intended to permit drive-through facilities in appropriate locations while reducing the negative impacts they may create. The specific purposes of this section are to:
A.
Reduce noise, lighting, and visual impacts on abutting uses, particularly residential uses;
B.
Promote safer and more efficient on-site vehicular and pedestrian circulation;
C.
Reduce conflicts between queued vehicles and traffic on adjacent streets;
D.
Reduce negative impacts tied to idling of cars, such as fumes and noise.
E.
Minimize impervious pavement and excessive heat emitted.
§ 68-423.1 Use permitted only by special permit from Planning Board after public hearing.
A.
A fast-food restaurant shall be permitted only when specifically authorized by special permit in eligible zoning districts from the Planning Board after a due public hearing.
B.
The Planning Board shall be authorized to waive any requirements for the approval of a special permit for a fast-food restaurant contained in this article subject to compliance with all applicable provisions of Town Law, including, but not limited to, § 274-b.
C.
Nothing herein contained shall be construed to restrict the Board of Appeals from exercising its authority pursuant to all applicable provisions of Town Law in connection with all other applications before it.
D.
Any such waiver of requirements may only be made in the event that the requirements are found not to be requisite in the interests of public safety or general welfare or inappropriate to a particular special use.
§ 68-423.2 Location restrictions; exceptions.
A.
Location.
(1)
No fast-food restaurant shall be permitted to locate within 500 feet of a school.
(2)
No fast-food restaurant shall be permitted to locate within 500 feet of a property zoned Business District that is located on the same side of the public road or right-of-way it is situated on.
(3)
A fast-food restaurant shall be required to locate at a signalized intersection, on a one-way street, or a street with a dedicated left-turn lane into the site, and limited access highway service roads.
§ 68-423.3 Application requirements.
[Amended 4-8-2025]
A.
In addition to the requirements listed in § 68-32, applications for a special permit for a fast-food restaurant shall also include the following:
(1)
A traffic and roadway analysis prepared by a professional engineer specializing in transportation shall be submitted with the application for review by the Town. Said analysis shall describe, at a minimum, the peak hours of operations, volume of customers per hour, stacking space for anticipated volume of drive-through vehicles, turning movements, roadway capacity, and the level of service of nearby streets.
(2)
A traffic management plan detailing measures the restaurant operator will implement in the event the drive-through queue cannot accommodate the number of cars attempting to use the drive-through and materially interfere with on-site vehicular and pedestrian circulation. Said management plan shall include, but not be limited to, the provision of an additional temporary lane for the drive-through, the hiring of private security to direct traffic away from the drive-through and the provision for a designated curbside pickup area.
§ 68-423.4 Architecture.
A.
Building facades that face the street or have a prominent exposure to other public areas shall include design measures that increase the building's aesthetic appeal to enhance and reinforce existing design qualities found in the neighborhood.
B.
All fast-food restaurants shall be designed to comply with "superior architecture," as defined in § 68-3, Word usage and definitions, on any building facade that is visible from streets and residential uses except as provided herein.
C.
Buildings shall have a first level facade on any street frontage that is transparent (glass) between three feet and eight feet above the ground for at least 50% of the horizontal length of the building facade.
D.
The drive-through service window shall not be located within any front yard(s), second front yard or through-lot front yard.
§ 68-423.5 Percentage of lot occupancy.
A fast-food restaurant shall not occupy more than 25% of the total lot area, excluding permanent canopies for order windows.
§ 68-423.6 Area.
The minimum required lot area for a fast-food restaurant shall be 45,000 square feet.
§ 68-423.7 Width of lot.
The minimum width of lot for a fast-food restaurant shall be 100 feet throughout.
§ 68-423.8 Buffer area.
A thirty-five-foot vegetative buffer planted in accordance with Town standards shall be required wherever the location of the drive-through (inclusive of bypass lane) abuts a residential use or zone.
§ 68-423.9 Permitted encroachments.
No encroachments are permitted except cornices, eaves, gutters and chimneys projecting not more than 24 inches.
§ 68-423.10 On-site queuing.
The operator of any fast-food restaurant shall be obligated to provide adequate queuing for the orderly operation of the drive-through. Any stacking shortfall which extends off of the subject property into a public right-of-way and/or prevents vehicles from entering or exiting the subject property shall be deemed a violation of this article. Each violation of § 68-423.10 shall be punishable by a minimum fine of $2,000. The Planning Board is authorized to hold a public hearing to revoke a special permit for a drive-through and direct the removal of the drive-through if five substantiated violations are issued within a consecutive seven-day period after the implementation of a traffic management plan and queuing vehicles have materially impacted the flow of traffic on a public right-of-way.
§ 68-423.11 Exterior site improvements.
A.
A minimum queue of 15 cars shall be provided for the drive-through based on a minimum vehicle length of 20 feet with one foot of clearance between vehicles. The Planning Board is authorized to increase or decrease this minimum requirement based on review of the accompanying traffic analysis. The queue lane shall not be located in any front yard, second front yard or through-lot front yard.
B.
A bypass lane shall be provided to allow the rear five cars to exit the drive-through lane.
C.
When located as a pad site of a shopping center, a pedestrian connection shall be provided that is separate from vehicular access between the existing retail use and the fast-food restaurant use.
D.
Sidewalks. Sidewalks shall be installed along all street frontages in accordance with Article XXXI.
E.
Screen planting for drive-through. A vegetation screen shall be required along the entire perimeter of the drive-through between the drive-through and any adjacent public or internal roadway as directed by the Town Engineer to screen view of headlights of cars in drive-through from those cars traveling on adjacent roadway or within a shopping center.
F.
Outdoor dining areas shall be provided and feature shade trees and other structures that incorporate shade such as trellises, pergolas, and/or arbors.