Raising Cane's eyes Enfield for its first Connecticut location

Susan Danseyar, Journal Inquirer, Manchester, Conn.
·3 min read

Oct. 25—ENFIELD — Raising Cane's Chicken Fingers has completed the first phase of permission to open a drive-thru restaurant in town, which would be the first location for the chicken-finger food chain in the state.

AT A GLANCE

A FIRST: Raising Cane's, a fast-food chicken finger chain, is hoping to build its first Connecticut location in Enfield.

REACTION: Many residents have expressed enthusiasm over having the drive-thru restaurant in town, saying the location in the Enfield Square mall area would bring more people to the nearly empty shopping center.

Last week, the Inland Wetlands and Watercourses Agency said the restaurant does not need a wetlands permit for its proposed development at 90 East Elm St.

The project next needs to go before the Planning and Zoning Commission. Should a site plan be approved, construction is expected to begin in the spring.

Civil engineer Jeff Bord, a senior project manager with Bohler in West Hartford, appeared before the agency Oct. 18 on behalf of applicant Adam Caracci, Enfield Square Realty LLC, and Enfield Nassim LLC.

Bord said the applicant was appearing before the agency because of a historical geographic information system map that shows wetland soils on the property, which is located on an outer parcel at the Enfield Square Mall in an empty space next to Hannoush Jewelers. Bord said the applicant hired a soil scientist to walk though the 1.47-acre site and conduct several pit tests that did not indicate wetlands on the property.

The site is zoned a business regional shopping district where special permits are required for drive-thru restaurants with outdoor dining.

Bord said the site flows from the north to the south. When the mall parking lot was developed, he said, water running across the land flows to a series of catchbasins to the west and down to catchbasins to the south in the Target lot.

Everything from that lot comes over to a stormwater detention basin to the east, Bord said. Instead of taking water that way, he said the applicant would treat everything on site in accordance with the 2004 state stormwater quality manual to reduce peak flows and provide a much cleaner piped connection to the existing storm water basin.

"We would have a series of underground detention systems that have isolated rows to treat water quality," he said.

The applicant is proposing that there be no access onto Elm Street and only access onto the ring road of the mall perimeter lot in order to maintain vegetation around the site.

"We are not requesting variances," he said. "There will be a silt fence, hay bales, inlet filters at the catchbasins and then a temporary construction entrance and stockpile that has a silt fence around it as well."

Members of the agency said they are pleased that the applicant is keeping all the water runoff onsite and there won't be a curb cut to the main road.

Raising Cane's was founded in Louisiana in 1996 by Todd Graves and Craig Silver. The chain, which was named after Graves' yellow Labrador retriever, has since expanded to more than 600 locations in the United States and the Middle East. The menu features fried chicken fingers, french fries, coleslaw, and Texas toast.

Since the meeting, residents have posted comments on social media voicing both enthusiasm and dismay over a Raising Cane's coming to Enfield. Several said the town has enough fast-food chicken restaurants and what the commercial area needs is healthier choices such as a Whole Foods or Trader Joe's. Many others, however, said they hear the chain offers good food and are excited the drive-thru restaurant might bring more visitors to the nearly vacant mall.

For more coverage of Somers and Enfield, follow Susan Danseyar on Twitter: @susandanseyar, Facebook: Susan Danseyar, reporter.