WHITE TOWNSHIP: Chipotle gets OK for local restaurant

Local regulators have cleared the way for construction of another nationally known franchise restaurant between the two shopping malls along Oakland Avenue.

A final site plan for Chipotle Mexican Grill gained approval Tuesday from the White Township planning commission.

The restaurant will be one of a national chain with dozens of locations in Pennsylvania, where food orders are prepared in assembly-line fashion as diners give their custom orders for burritos, tacos and salads.

The restaurant will be built by Oak Ave Ind LLC, a development group set up by Joe Smiley and several partners.

Smiley, of the Columbus, Ohio, area, said he has built three other restaurants for Chipotle in Ohio and Kentucky, and decided Indiana is suitable for introduction of a Chipotle Mexican Grill after spending time in the community while visiting his daughter, a student at Indiana University of Pennsylvania.

Under ideal circumstances, Smiley said, the tentative plan calls for starting construction in September and finishing the building in 90 to 120 days. But the schedule can easily change with the weather, further permitting issues and the Chipotle corporations detailed plans for interior design.

The Chipotle restaurant has been granted exceptions from White Township land regulations to make it a practical project, township officials said.

The planning panel will allow the face of the new building to extend 11 feet closer to Oakland Avenue than rules allow, but keeping it in line with the fronts of other neighboring businesses that were granted the same exceptions.

The plan shows a similar extension beyond the setback requirement at the back of the building along Willis Drive and on the side along Laurel Street.

Assistant Township Manager Chris Anderson said the design provides 26 parking spaces, which is five fewer than required because of the odd shape and size of the lot.

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WHITE TOWNSHIP: Chipotle gets OK for local restaurant