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Will Carlsbad re-open door to drive-thru eateries?
Chick-fil-A now compensates by using curbside mobil ordering
Currently, the city has 12 drive-thru restaurants.
Carlsbad's long standing ban on new drive-thru restaurants is back on the table as the city continues to receive requests to build them.
According to the Carlsbad Community Development Department, the number of commercial property owners who want to start a fast food restaurant has "increased significantly through the Covid-19 pandemic."
Wednesday, the planning commission will discuss options to regulate them – from keeping the ban to allowing new drive-thru restaurants citywide. Among the possibilities is permitting certain types of businesses “by right,” skipping the public hearing process as long as specific zoning standards are met.
Carl's Jr. in Carlsbad Village
One option would allow the fast-food businesses in one single zone such as the Local Shopping Center Zone, where the large parking lots "may lessen concerns about the impacts" of drive-thrus, a report says.
Comment letters from locals urging the city to keep the ban suggest that many still have the same worries.
The ban was passed in 1997 over concerns about traffic and community character amid a spate of development in the 1990s that included Legoland, Carlsbad Premium Outlets, and Costco, the city's first big box store.
A city council study of fast-food land uses in 1996 focused on preventing a boom of poorly designed fast-food sites; businesses seen as ruining walkability and traffic circulation, while adding signs, litter, noise, and fumes from idling engines.
Currently, the city has 12 drive-thru restaurants — the ones in place when the ban took effect. Nine are clustered in just two areas: five in Carlsbad Village and four near the Palomar Airport Road/Interstate 5 intersection. Another two are located within the Poinsettia Village.
In June, Chick-fil-A — which relies on drive-thru for about 60 percent of their stores — opened at 5848 Avenida Encinas. It lacks a drive-thru, but the company claims to make up for it with their 34 curbside mobile order spots.
Other California cities have been trying to rein in fast food by barring or restricting drive-thrus in certain areas, like a historic downtown; requiring a traffic study; through design standards such as where the drive-thru lane is located or requiring a minimum amount of space for cars to line up; and limiting hours.
San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, and several others ban them altogether. Los Angeles bans them in certain low-income neighborhoods. In San Diego, a proposed ban on drive-thrus near mass transit in 2021 was defeated by the restaurant industry.
If Carlsbad reverses their rules, they won't be the first. In August Loma Linda in San Bernardino County lifted their ban on new drive-thru restaurants.
After hearing from the planning commission and locals, the Carlsbad City Council will make the final decision.
Here's something you might be interested in.
Will Carlsbad re-open door to drive-thru eateries?
Chick-fil-A now compensates by using curbside mobil ordering
Will Carlsbad re-open door to drive-thru eateries?
Chick-fil-A now compensates by using curbside mobil ordering
Currently, the city has 12 drive-thru restaurants.
Carlsbad's long standing ban on new drive-thru restaurants is back on the table as the city continues to receive requests to build them.
According to the Carlsbad Community Development Department, the number of commercial property owners who want to start a fast food restaurant has "increased significantly through the Covid-19 pandemic."
Wednesday, the planning commission will discuss options to regulate them – from keeping the ban to allowing new drive-thru restaurants citywide. Among the possibilities is permitting certain types of businesses “by right,” skipping the public hearing process as long as specific zoning standards are met.
Carl's Jr. in Carlsbad Village
One option would allow the fast-food businesses in one single zone such as the Local Shopping Center Zone, where the large parking lots "may lessen concerns about the impacts" of drive-thrus, a report says.
Comment letters from locals urging the city to keep the ban suggest that many still have the same worries.
The ban was passed in 1997 over concerns about traffic and community character amid a spate of development in the 1990s that included Legoland, Carlsbad Premium Outlets, and Costco, the city's first big box store.
A city council study of fast-food land uses in 1996 focused on preventing a boom of poorly designed fast-food sites; businesses seen as ruining walkability and traffic circulation, while adding signs, litter, noise, and fumes from idling engines.
Currently, the city has 12 drive-thru restaurants — the ones in place when the ban took effect. Nine are clustered in just two areas: five in Carlsbad Village and four near the Palomar Airport Road/Interstate 5 intersection. Another two are located within the Poinsettia Village.
In June, Chick-fil-A — which relies on drive-thru for about 60 percent of their stores — opened at 5848 Avenida Encinas. It lacks a drive-thru, but the company claims to make up for it with their 34 curbside mobile order spots.
Other California cities have been trying to rein in fast food by barring or restricting drive-thrus in certain areas, like a historic downtown; requiring a traffic study; through design standards such as where the drive-thru lane is located or requiring a minimum amount of space for cars to line up; and limiting hours.
San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, and several others ban them altogether. Los Angeles bans them in certain low-income neighborhoods. In San Diego, a proposed ban on drive-thrus near mass transit in 2021 was defeated by the restaurant industry.
If Carlsbad reverses their rules, they won't be the first. In August Loma Linda in San Bernardino County lifted their ban on new drive-thru restaurants.
After hearing from the planning commission and locals, the Carlsbad City Council will make the final decision.
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