generic Has Visalia found a fix for its drive-thru dilemma?
Visalia City Council and planning commission members joined together to tackle what seems to be an ever-growing issue all throughout town – fast food drive-thrus.
There are a handful of “problem areas” in Visalia, many located right off South Mooney Boulevard including Starbucks Coffee Company, Dutch Bros. Coffee, In-N-Out Burger, Dunkin Donuts and Raising Canes.
The pandemic only exacerbated the preexisting issues as fast-food restaurants closed their indoor areas and only allowed for drive-thru and pick-up orders.
“I think we are still in that learning phase of the 'new normal,'” Mayor Steve Nelsen said. “A lot of people thought after the pandemic, we go back to normal, well, there's a new normal. The new normal is a drive-thru, pick up and go home.”
When the city approved a three-unit commercial building off of a major street in 2020, backed up against a residential area, community members voiced their concerns.
At the time of the city’s approval of the new building, including a single-lane drive-thru, no tenants were identified. It wasn’t until the building permit review phase that the city learned the new site would be home to a popular coffee chain.
Soon after Dutch Bros.' grand opening, cars piled down South Mooney trying to get into the narrow drive-thru.
“Had the original applicant divulged the name of the eventual drive-thru tenant,” the joint meeting agenda reads, “the city may have been better equipped to address issues resulting from the popularity of the Dutch Bros. use prior to processing of the project.”
Not only does the site have traffic control issues, but Councilman Brian Poochigian also pointed out coffee consumers are able to see into nearby homes and backyards.
"I want to make sure that the residence is going to be protected," he said, suggesting the city look into increasing its wall and fence height parameters.
Dutch Bros. isn't the only drive-thru causing issues in town. Raising Canes and In-and-Out, located off South Mooney, have also proven to be troublesome.
Although the Raising Cane’s drive-thru has two lanes, excess cars are forced into the mall’s parking lot – or worse, onto Caldwell and into street traffic.
Similarly, In-and-Out's drive-thru uses the back ally of several auto shop businesses as an extension of its drive-thru. The opening of the Northwest Visalia location and one in Tulare doesn't seem to have helped the issue.
Currently, drive-thrus must meet the city’s minimum performance standards:
Drive-thru lanes must be further than 250 feet than the nearest residence or residentially zoned property
Drive-thru lanes must be able to accommodate 10 vehicles (measured from the pick-up window to the entrance of the drive-thru lane)
Drive-thru lanes cannot obstruct any drive aisles or required on-site parking. The drive-thru cannot take ingress or egress from a local residential road
Drive-thru lanes cannot generate noise levels in excess of 60 dB between the hours of 7 p.m. and 6 a.m.
Drive-thru lanes must be screened from adjacent street and residential views (at least 3 feet in height)
Menu boards and signage should be oriented or screened to avoid direct visibility from adjacent public streets
While some city council members point toward poor street planning over the years, leaders are now forced to find ways around bottlenecks.
On Monday, city council members looked at strengthening some of the already existing standards, like increasing the distance between the drive-thru lanes and the nearest residence.
Where the 250 feet measurement starts – the entry of the drive-thru, the menu board, pay/pick-up window – is unknown.
"There's a lot of uncertainty," said Matt Ainley, a civil engineer in Visalia. "Sometimes it's 250 from the ordering box... sometimes it's from the building."
He asked board members to consider cleaning up the performance criteria and make it clear how the city wants issues to be mitigated.
Another option is increasing impact fees on businesses.
“If it's designed properly, follows the guidelines of the design/layout,” Nelsen said, "I don't see why you have to put a fee on it... I think you're saying 'We don't really want you,' and that's not what we want to do."
The city council listened to 10 potential actions it could take to address the issue:
Require applicants to provide a vehicle queuing analysis and traffic action plan
Require applicants to provide additional drive-thru lane depth to facilitate on-site vehicle stacking
Limit the number of drive-thrus permitted within a unified shopping center
Prohibit the establishment of drive-thrus within a minimum distance from residential areas
Limit the hours of operations and/or prohibit 24-hour drive-thru windows
Consider the assessment of additional fees to fund traffic improvements
Draft guidelines for drive-thru use(s)
Revoke conditional use permit approvals for drive-thru facilities with ongoing queuing issues
Keep performance standards as originally written
Reduce the scope of existing performance standards
Ultimately, board members asked the planning commission to look into prohibiting the establishment of drive-thrus within a minimum distance (100, 200, 300, 400 and 500 feet) from residential areas.
Visalia City Council also asked staff to look into potential guidelines for drive-thrus to help streamline the application process as well as revoking conditional use permit approvals for drive-thru facilities with ongoing queuing issues.
The planning commission will work on board members’ suggestions for potential action at a future meeting.
Lauren Jennings covers education and news for the Visalia Times-Delta/Tulare Advance-Register. Follow her on Twitter @lolojennings. Get alerts and keep up on all things Tulare County for as little as $1 a month. Subscribe today.
This article originally appeared on Visalia Times-Delta: Fast food drive thru dilemma
