QUIZNOS QUANDARY

Couple plans to open sub shop in restricted zone

With a sister and two cousins running Quiznos Sub restaurants, Minal Naik decided to join what was becoming a family business.

“There is no other kind of toasted sandwich shop here,” she said. “People love it.”

Naik plans to open Havelock’s first Quiznos this summer in the fourth unit of a Roosevelt Boulevard building her husband owns. But the property — which sits directly across from the Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point main gate — is in a zone that requires city commissioners’ approval for new developments.

Though it is zoned Highway Commercial, the Quiznos site falls within the Air Installation Compatible Use Zone overlay district, according to the Havelock Department of Planning and Inspections. All AICUZ developments require a special exception use permit.

The 1250 square-foot Quiznos site shares a mini-plaza with Select Auto Sales — owned by Naik’s husband Sujit — and a real estate management office.

After passing a franchisee entrance examination, Minal Naik purchased a Quiznos Sub franchise and is scheduled to attend Quiznos University training later this month in Denver, Colo., she said.

A simple banner beneath the Select Auto Sales sign in the plaza parking lot announces the sub shop’s arrival, and Naik said response has been swift, with several prospective employees submitting their resumes.

“A lot of people are looking forward to it,” she said. “Actually, a lot of people have already come by.”

The restaurant — expected to open for business July 1 — will likely hire eight to 12 employees, the Naiks said.

Minal Naik, who will manage the Quiznos Sub store, said she’s quickly become a devotee of the chain’s trademark toasted submarine sandwiches after sampling the New Bern and Greenville locations’ fare.

“I eat over there pretty much every other day,” she said.

Sujit Naik said the couple will hire a local general contractor to complete work on the Quiznos site, which now is a hollow rectangle of concrete and plaster. April 13 is the deadline for bids on the project, he said.

A zoning permit is required to open a restaurant in Havelock. Scott Chase, the city director of planning and inspections, said the Naiks have not completed a permit application, which he characterized as the one of the first steps to opening a new business.

“We felt it was necessary to contact them because of the banners,” he said. “We still haven’t seen the first piece of paperwork come into our office.”

The Roosevelt Boulevard property is zoned Highway Commercial, Chase confirmed, but he said applicants would need a special exception use permit to open a restaurant in the AICUZ.

“It would require a special exception use,” he said Thursday. “They have not applied for anything.”

Obtaining a special exception use permit requires approval from the Havelock Board of Commissioners after a preliminary hearing with the city Planning Board.

A group of developers’ recent request to build a Walgreens pharmacy in the AICUZ overlay district was denied Feb. 26 when city commissioners voted 4-1 to prohibit the project, which faced MCAS Cherry Point opposition. The Planning Board also had recommended denial.