Chris Bednar, director of civil engineering for Karpinski Engineering, makes a presentation for the incoming Taco Bell restaurant during a public hearing at Tuesday's Lakewood Board of Trustees meeting. P-J photo by Eric Zavinski

LAKEWOOD — Taco Bell is here to stay on Fairmount Avenue. Again.

The Lakewood Village Board of Trustees unanimously approved the development of a stand-alone Taco Bell restaurant at 310 E. Fairmount Ave. between Olive Garden and Ruby Tuesday. As a Chautauqua Mall out-parcel property, the incoming restaurant is intended to improve stormwater management as well as attract hungry customers.

Chris Bednar, director of civil engineering for Karpinski Engineering, returned following a village planning board meeting two weeks ago and made his case for the restaurant as part of the final step of the site review during a public hearing Tuesday. He shared with the Board of Trustees and local residents some revisions made to the layout of the restaurant, which Bednar said addresses points brought up by the planning board.

“Water will tend to soak in when before it never did,” said Bednar, who showed how the property will exceed the standard of reducing impervious surfaces by more than 25%.

Karpinski Engineering also decided to take the advice of the planning board and install a sidewalk from Fairmount Avenue to the new restaurant. That removes four parking spaces from the original site plan, leaving 32 spaces in total once construction is completed.

Planning board members had voiced stormwater management concerns, and Tuesday, Bednar reported that a dumpster enclosure for Taco Bell will feature a catch basin that will reduce runoff and temporarily store larger trash that seeps through the dumpster.

Flowers and cranberry bushes will be planted around the restaurant, but Karpinski Engineering officials decided to forego the planning board’s recommendation to plant any trees around the new Taco Bell. Bednar cited a fear of reduced visibility as reasoning for not wanting to plant any.

Deputy Mayor Ted McCague encouraged Bednar to ask engineers to reconsider the suggestion of planting trees around the restaurant. He and his fellow trustees noted and accepted that the idea of planting trees was not mandatory. McCague complimented Karpinski Engineering for having a detailed site plan.

“Welcome to Lakewood,” McCague said.

In other news, the village awarded lake nonprofits with donations: $1,000 for the Chautauqua Watershed Conservancy for water conservation and pollution prevention, $1,000 for the Chautauqua Lake Partnership for lake management, and $4,000 for the Chautauqua Lake Association to implement a lake maintenance program.

The 2019 Chautauqua Lake Maintenance Agreement will ensure lake and shoreline cleanup for the village. While the trustees unanimously awarded the funds and signed a contract with the CLA, two trustees expressed concerns.

“I just want it on the record that I’m reluctant,” Trustee Ellen Barnes said.

Barnes brought up the water test controversy from last summer that featured the CLA billing the village for emergency water sampling that had been requested due to suspicions that herbicides were used in village waters last year when they weren’t permitted. Former mayor Cara Birrittieri was thought to have originally ordered the water test. Along with Trustee Randy Holcomb, Barnes said she wants the CLA to officially state who ordered the test.

“It’s just common business practice,” said Holcomb, who suggested the CLA could alert the village of tests before billing. “They’re a 501(c)(3). They should open their books to anybody who wants to see what’s going on, not string us along for over a year on who ordered the test.”

The new contract was revealed to have a tenet that states the village will have access to the nonprofit’s financial records for the purpose of an audit.

Follow Eric Zavinski at twitter.com/EZavinski