Santa Barbara City Council grants Chick-Fil-A’s State Street location 90 days to fix its traffic problem
SANTA BARBARA, Calif. – Chick-Fil-A has 90 days to fix its traffic issues at its State Street location.
Otherwise, the city council says the restaurant could be declared a public nuisance.
This has been an ongoing issue for years.
Santa Barbara City Council is giving Chick-Fil-A until June to fix its traffic problem or possibly declare it a public nuisance.
Chick-Fil-A did a presentation during Tuesday’'s city council meeting.
In the presentation, the fast food company talked about how it has been working with the city, measures it is taking to alleviate the problem right now, as well as a proposed long term plan.
“We ask that this council not declare this valuable community business a nuisance,” said Beth Collins who is a part of the Chick Fil-A team.
During the almost hour long public comment, there was mixed reaction, some wanted the restaurant to be declared a nuisance and others didn't.
“It had a one lane drive through and six to seven cars were cued on the street when it was a Burger King,” said resident Greg Malical. “And nobody, nobody gave a darn that there were cars on the street. What's the difference? The difference is now it is chick-fil-a and [the owner] is a Christian.”
“This operation has been a widely public nuisance for 4 years,” said resident Rick Clawson. “It now needs to be officially declared one.”chick-fil-a gets at least 2500 customers a day.
Council members say the community has been sending letters for years, about the traffic problem.
After hours of discussion, the council decided.
“The city attorney prepares a draft ordinance with nuisance findings based on council comments and evidence and returns on June 7th, 2022,” said the council. “To direct staff and Chick-Fil-A owners to help remedies and recommendations on June 7th, 2022. and by March 11, 2022 to receive a letter from Chick-Fil-A of the continued mitigation that they are producing. Plus, to receive monthly reports of the Chick-Fil-A traffic surveys.”
The discussion resumes on June 7.
