Chick-fil-A wants Cotswold location to be drive-thru only. Some city leaders skeptical
Chick-fil-A thinks it has a plan to help alleviate traffic congestion at its Cotswold restaurant but some Charlotte City Council members remain skeptical.
The dining room at the popular fast-food chicken restaurant’s Randolph Road location has been closed since the pandemic, the building’s manager told council members Monday night. But the drive-thru remains popular, accounting for most of the location’s business.
Now, Chick-fil-A is seeking City Council approval of a rezoning petition to make the location a drive-thru-only restaurant. The proposal calls for adding vehicle capacity in the drive-thru lanes.
Chick-fil-A would tear down the current building and replace it with a new restaurant. That would give the restaurant a larger kitchen, allowing it to fulfill orders more quickly, John Carmichael, an attorney representing Chick-fil-A in its rezoning petition, told council members.
But council members and others already have concerns about traffic at the location, which is less than an acre. Cars are known to back up on to Randolph Road as people drive up to order and then wait to pick up their food.
And the proposal for the site has raised questions about the direction Charlotte’s planners and leaders want to take the city as it strives to develop more walkable and less auto-centric neighborhoods over the next 20 years.
Mayor Pro Tem Braxton Winston spent several minutes questioning Carmichael and others who were present from Chick-fil-A about the proposal. He wondered whether a dine-in option would mean less cars and if a new proposed traffic light on Randolph Road would cause more backups, especially around rush hour and when schools let out.
“This is a place that is densifying,” Winston said of planned development in the area. “This is the last place I’d want to put a drive-thru only.”
Chick-fil-A’s petition was only up for a public hearing on Monday, meaning the earliest a City Council decision on approving the proposal could come is next month.
Councilwoman LaWana Mayfield said it would be hard for her to support the petition in its current form.
Chick-fil-A’s solution to traffic problem
According to the proposal, the new drive-thru only restaurant would have two lanes for cars to order, pick up food and exit. Currently, there are two lanes that merge into one at the pickup window.
There would be right-turn only lanes to get in and out of the drive-thru, according to site plans filed with the city of Charlotte.
The Chick-fil-A sits close to a Publix grocery store as well as a shopping center with another grocery store and more businesses.
“I can’t look you in the eye and guarantee you that there won’t be queueing of cars on Randolph Road,” Carmichael told council members, “because there likely will be.
“But we do sincerely believe this will help that situation, and we feel like it’s a practical solution,” he added.
Chick-fil-A recently won approval to rezone its restaurant on Woodlawn Road to drive-thru only, according to testimony given to council members. That has helped alleviate traffic, that restaurant’s manager told council members.
Petition gets opposition
Two people spoke in opposition to the petition, saying it doesn’t serve the needs of people who get around by foot or bicycle.
More drive-thru lanes will only mean more traffic, said one speaker who read a statement on behalf of John Holmes. Holmes, a former Chick-fil-A operations manager who was fired for speaking out about a separate rezoning petition, couldn’t attend the meeting in person.
Holmes became alarmed at the negative impact drive-thru only locations could have on cities the more he researched.
“When a city continues to allow for car-only businesses to be the norm, they often find themselves hurting financially due to lesser property taxes,” Holmes’ statement read. He spoke about studies showing how drive-thru only locations can contribute to global warming and can have negative health effects on employees.
Councilman Tariq Bokhari shared his support of the restaurant and the fact it employs a large number of people. “Maybe more people will want to come because they’re innovating, getting faster,” Bokhari said. “That’s great. We need people’s solutions.”
