After the neighborhood problems caused by Raising Cane’s this past year when it came to how they came about their drive-through and the impact to the adjoining neighborhood, the City Council tonight will hold a public hearing on “Establishing a moratorium on new and replacement restaurants with drive-throughs and the conversion of businesses with drive-throughs into drive-through restaurants citywide.”
Back on October 4, the Council established an emergency ordinance on the drive-throughs and will now hold the public hearing before the emergency ordinance expires on November 18. The moratorium will last ten months.
According to a staff report, there are currently 12 potential conversion sites for new or replacement restaurant drive-through locations. In the past, the Council denied Chick-fil-A the ability to add a drive-through, and years earlier, they disapproved a drive-through for the Taco Bell at Magnolia and Buena Vista, which wanted to move to Burbank and Buena Vista.
Raising Cane’s came into the property at Orchard and Olive, which was a former bank with a drive-through, and used that as the pretext to keep the drive-through for their business since it existed. Neighbors got together and sued the City over decision, which has yet to come to a resolution.
During the moratorium, the Council will be able to decide about the impact that restaurants with drive-throughs have on the surrounding neighborhoods, as well as research what other cities have done to address any potential negative aspects. They would also be able to research and come up with and zone text amendment addressing not only where drive-throughs could locate, but the hours they would be allowed to operate.
It will take four votes to pass the moratorium.
