CHARLOTTE, N.C. — The Charlotte Zoning Committee voted Wednesday to recommend approval of the Cotswold Chick-fil-A’s plans to expand its drive-thru. The vote brings the proposal a step closer to becoming reality.
The petition for a larger drive-thru has gotten a lot of attention from the community – some hoping it’ll help with traffic backups around the restaurant, while others worry it'll only attract more cars.
After hearing concerns from residents, the Cotswold Chick-fil-A has adjusted its plans to include a walk-up order window and outdoor patio. City staff are calling the new plans more pedestrian and driver friendly.
Currently, cars pile onto both sides of Randolph Road hoping to squeeze into the fast food restaurant's line. The traffic often causes backups and near accidents.
The chicken sandwich spot is hoping to tear down and rebuild to create a more efficient drive-thru with two lanes and a bypass lane. There would be no indoor dining.
The plans got unanimous approval from the city’s zoning committee Wednesday night.
Many residents have spoken out against the plans. Some attended the City Council's November public hearing and asked the city to make decisions that promote walkability instead of drivability.
City staff argued that the newly adjusted plans are better geared toward pedestrians by making sidewalk improvements on Randolph Road and around the property.
“An 8 foot sidewalk, which improves pedestrian safety along Randolph Road, and the proposed site design increases drive-thru capacity and functionality to improve issues with traffic blocking the sidewalk and backing up onto Randolph Road,” rezoning staff member John Kinley explained.
Chick-fil-A has also pledged $70,000 to help with intersection improvements on the road it shares with Publix. It also wants to extend the concrete median on Randolph Road to prevent left turns into the drive-thru, making it a right-in, right-out only system.
While the goal is to improve backups, CDOT engineer Jacob Carpenter admitted the city doesn’t know what the outcome will be.
“The volume of traffic-- we don’t have any way of estimating that it’s going to be less or more," Carpenter said.
The next step is for the Charlotte City Council to vote on whether to approve these plans, which could happen as early as Jan. 17.
The owner of the Cotswold Chick-fil-A was present at the zoning meeting but couldn’t comment on the vote.
Contact Julia Kauffman at jkauffman@wcnc.com and follow her on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.