Plans to build a Chipotle restaurant on County Road in Barrington cleared an initial hurdle earlier this month, as members of the Barrington Technical Review Committee recommended the project to the Planning Board. 

Barrington Town Planner Teresa Crean said she expects the development plan will go before the Planning Board and Zoning Board in March.

The project is being proposed by the same team — led by Ken Caputo of Caputo Project Delivery Solutions — that pitched a Starbucks for the same location a little more than a year ago. That proposal, which included a drive-through window, struggled to win support — a drive-through is not an approved use for that site. 

The Chipotle plan does not include a drive-through window. It does, however, feature a walk-up window at the rear of the building. The walk-up window, officials said, would only be for picking up online orders, and would not be adaptable to a drive-through window in the future.

The plan calls for the restaurant — it would be nearly 3,000-square feet — to be located about 10 feet from the County Road sidewalk. A patio for outdoor dining would be built between the front of the restaurant and the sidewalk. The plan calls for 30 seats on the patio, and a bike rack nearby. The indoor dining area would include 42 seats. 

Chipotle’s parking lot would be located around the back of the building.

“The driveway will be along the TD Bank side of the property,” Crean said. 

There is a detailed landscape plan which features trees (Gingkos, cedars, Junipers, pines, and redbuds), shrubs (red twig dogwood, inkberry, sweet spire, spicebush, yew, and viburnum) ornamental grasses, and flowers (daylily, tickseed, and coneflower). 

Crean said two residents whose property abuts the Chipotle lot attended the TRC meeting. She said their only concern focused on the existing fence that surrounds the property — the fence is eight-feet tall, although regulations only require a six-foot fence. The residents asked if the existing variance allowing for the eight-foot fence would be carried forward with the Chipotle plan. Officials said it would. 

The development team also offered to have the landscape architects meet with the neighbors at the site to discuss the plantings. 

Crean said there seems to be a lot of excitement in the community about the development of the property, which used to host a gas station and auto repair garage. She added that Barrington does feature a few other restaurant franchises — Crean mentioned the Dunkin Donuts and Starbucks.