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OLD SAYBROOK — The Town of Old Saybrook Architectural Review Board approved the design proposal for a new restaurant, “Maple & Main” on Boston Post Road.
Alex Foulkes, owner of the Penny Lane Pub on Main Street, has proposed converting an existing one-story commercial office building, located at 813 Boston Post Road, into a restaurant serving breakfast and lunch with occasional banquet services after normal business hours, according to the application materials.
Foulkes requested approval for 75 seats, including 63 seats in the main interior dining room, seven seats under the front covered porch and five additional outdoor seats.
The footprint of the building will remain the same, with the addition of an entry vestibule onto the front of the existing building, the modification of the existing driveway, installation of site lighting and landscaping and the installation of a new compliant septic system.
“There is essentially no landscaping, no green space at all,” said site engineer Joe Wren. “It’s all pavement and building right now.”
The suggested site plan significantly reduces the amount of pavement.
“We’re bringing [the property line] way in to create a landscape screen buffer on both sides to King Street and the private property on the West,” said Wren. “Then we’ve added some hydrangeas and grasses along the front of the building to add some foundation plantings.”
The reconstruction of the driveway will provide 15 available parking spaces and the width of the parking lot entrance will be reduced to half.
In addition to the driveway and landscaping, the next major focus is the front elevation. “We’ve added a vestibule, not only to keep people out of the weather before the enter the restaurant, as well as, we’ve added a handicap accessible ramp,” said Greg Nucci of Point One Architects, who was hired by Foulkes to develop the architectural plans for ‘Maple & Main.’
The restaurant will feature a free-standing double-sided acrylic sign with an aluminum frame painted gray, dark gray letters and a decorative red ampersand. The lower hanging sign will be able to advertise events at the restaurant with magnetic letters, according to Nucci.
The Architectural Review Board recommended that Foulkes and his team reverse the colors of the sign, so the lettering is the white and the background is the darker color.
“It usually punches better if you have the letters the light color and the sign the dark,” said Emily Grochowski, chair of the Architectural Review Board. “I also thought it’s be kind of neat because it would tie in with the way it is on the building where the background is dark.”
The Board also proposed two sconce lights for the two back doors of the buildings. There will be two post lights in the parking lot and recess lighting under the porch.
A motion passed unanimously for ‘Maple & Main’ to commence its next steps in its process to open.
“It’s exactly what we need down there [on] Route One to kind of spruce it up,” said alternate board member Katie Toolan.
“I love the design,” said Edward Armstrong, vice chair of the board. “It’s going to beautify Main Street.”
Annemarie LePard is a summer intern for CT Examiner