By Noreen Coolidge,Special to the Sun Journal

WILTON - Planners on Thursday approved a permit for the Hawks Nest Diner on Route 2. It is expected to open within a month in the same building as a card shop. The business is owned by Barry Hawkins.

The diner will be open seven days a week. Hawkins is required to have at least 20 parking spaces for patrons, plus five for employees.

Planner Keith Swett said a total of 45 parking spaces will be available. The application was approved pending all applicable state permits.

Hawkins will also put up signs prohibiting parking next to the road. Planners also approved a use permit for office space in the Bass-Nichols Building on Weld Road. Atlantic Hard Chrome is a precision machine and manufacturing sales business. The office space will be rarely used, Swett said.

In other business, Swett, who has been taking on some of the duties of code enforcement officer until the town finds a new one, said he received a call from C.N. Brown that a Dunkin' Donuts is expected to open at the new Big Apple Store on Route 2 by spring.

The company will hire a contractor and pay for work to widen Route 2 so a drive-through window can be used. The work will be done as soon as the state allows.

Swett also told planners there is a new state definition of automobile graveyards, which states that vehicles are considered junk unless they are both registered and inspected.

Swett said the search for a new code enforcement officer to replace Katharine Shoaps continues because none of those who recently applied for the position were qualified. Swett said the town is re-advertising the 20-hour-per-week position.