Chipotle Mexican Grill is coming to the former Hollywood Video location at the corner of Los Gatos Boulevard and Blossom Hill Road.
Now that town officials have approved its conditional-use permit, the restaurant could open as early as October at 640 Blossom Hill Rd., according to Chipotle spokesman Alex Pong.
The national burrito chain restaurant will be close to Una Mas, Baja Fresh and Taco Bell on Los Gatos Boulevard and High Tech Burrito on Blossom Hill Road. There's also Two Pesos Taqueria on Pollard Road.
Colorado-based Chipotle Mexican Grill spokesman Chris Arnold declined to discuss specifics about the Los Gatos location saying the company doesn't usually comment until a lease is signed and a construction schedule has been approved.
Pong said in January that the Los Gatos location is scheduled to open in early October 2012 and it will be around 3,000 square feet.
"We appreciate the opportunity to serve this great area and share the Chipotle experience with the community there," Pong said.
On April 11, the Los Gatos Planning Commission unanimously approved the restaurant's conditional-use permit.
The restaurant will open on the former Hollywood Video location. The applicant, Harlan Faust, is requesting to operate a 40-seat capacity eatery that will include the sale of beer and margaritas with meals. Its hours of operation would be from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. seven days a week, according to a staff report.
Chipotle would also offer outdoor seating between the restaurant and the parking lot. However, no alcohol services would be served in that area.
Town officials have not received any written comments opposing the opening of the business, whose property owner is Blossom Hill Pavilion LLC, which is headquartered in Los Altos.
"The proposed uses of the property are essential or desirable to the public convenience or welfare in that it contributes to a variety of commercial goods and services along Los Gatos Boulevard for town residents," according to findings included in the report.
The restaurant will be allowed to deliver food between 9 a.m. and 7 p.m. and Chipotle has offered to offset traffic impacts created by the project to grade a portion of the parking lot to allow cars to pull further into the parking spaces which could reduce the difficult traffic circulation in the parking lot as a community benefit.
The restaurant will still have to obtain a building permit to alter the existing Hollywood Video building, and obtain separate permits for electrical, mechanical and plumbing work.
Uniformed privately provided security guards may be required in or around the primises by Los Gatos-Monte Sereno police if alcohol-related problems recur that are not resolved by the owner, the report stated.
The restaurant operator shall also actively promote a designated driver program such as complimentary non-alcoholic beverages for designated drivers and the posting of Taxicab numbers in visible locations.
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