OBSERVER Photo by Gregory Bacon The former Vine City Restaurant in Westfield will be transformed into a Tim Hortons location.

WESTFIELD – A new Tim Hortons restaurant is looking to come to the western part of Chautauqua County.

The Westfield Planning Board has begun reviewing plans for a Tim Hortons to be constructed at 9 Holt St. That is the location of the former Vine City Restaurant.

Don McCord is the chairman of the village planning board. He said they had their first meeting this past week. “They are looking to take down the front portion of the (Vine City Restaurant) building and then build a completely new building,” he said.

McCord said the site plan review is underway. The next planning board meeting is set for April 12, although they may have a special meeting to move the project along quickly. Once the planning board is done reviewing the project and signs off on it, the proposal would move to the village board, where final approval would take place.

“They (developers) would like to start as soon as possible,” McCord said, ideally starting construction as soon as next month. The developers have not given a date on when they hope to be open.

The village planning board submitted documents to the Chautauqua County Planning Board, saying the project would require a special use permit and an area variance. Local planning boards generally submit projects to the county planning board to get their opinion on a proposed development. The county planning board’s response was that this was of local concern and not something the county should need to be involved in the final decision.

Vine City Restaurant originally opened in 1995 and has been closed for a while. In October, 2021, an on-line auction was held for items inside the building.

The Post-Journal and OBSERVER previously reported that the restaurant building was sold in July, 2022 for $145,000 to Three C’s Coffee, LLC.

According to McCord, Three C’s Coffee LLC is owned by David and Gina Kron. They own four other Tim Hortons – one in Fredonia, two in Dunkirk and one in Cassadaga. The Fredonia location was their first, which opened in 2002. They opened the Cassadaga site in 2019, which is the newest of the four.

Tim Hortons has many other locations in Chautauqua County, including one in Silver Creek, one in Lakewood and five in Jamestown. This proposed Westfield location would be the first one in that area of the county.

A message left for the Krons was not returned.