New restaurant in the works for Monroe

Credit: Arby's

Credit: Arby's

A new restaurant is being planned for the northwest corner of Ohio 63/Hamilton-Lebanon Road and American Way.

The Monroe Planning Commission approved a preliminary site plan in June for a new Arby’s restaurant for that location. The 2,445-square-foot restaurant will feature a drive-through on the 0.83-acre lot. It will be accessed via a private drive cul-de-sac off American Way, where additional lots are being planned for other business possibilities.

According to city records, Jack K. Jones of Restaurant Management Inc. of Cincinnati submitted the site plan review application on Dec. 17, 2019. In the application, Jones planned to start the $850,000 construction project on April 1 but the project was delayed.

Jones could not be reached for comment.

Kevin Chesar, city development director, said Arby’s is working through road design issues and is delayed until all final engineering is resolved. He said the original start date indicated was April 2020.

He said the city has worked with Arby’s representatives for a number of months. In addition, Chesar said as of Friday, their engineer was working on the design plan.

“Overall, from an approval standpoint, they have one year from the time Planning Commission approval to have started construction or the plans expire,” he said.

Chesar said the property owner/developer typically will have a preliminary plan for site development on how prospective lots with be sold/developed and served by public infrastructure and then potentially build the infrastructure in anticipation of an end user such as Arby’s to further develop onsite.

He said Arby’s representatives are working with the current property owner to design/construct the first phase of the roadway (and associated infrastructure such as sidewalks/water/sewer/storm water/retention) to city standards in combination with trying to construct their site.

Chesar said there is a substantial amount of additional engineering that needs to be completed beyond a typical single site development to make sure that all possible future parcels have safe and suitable access.

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