McKinney planning commission recommends new drive-thru distance requirements

“The goals for this amendment are to introduce those distance requirements for drive-thru restaurants,” Christie said.

The recommendation also includes a modification to allow reducing the minimum residential adjacency buffer for nonresidential parking to 10 feet by request, according to a staff presentation.

Commission members heard a presentation from Christie and Chief Planner Kaitlin Sheffield before voting. Council members are expected to vote on the proposed amendments during a May 6 meeting.

The details

If approved by council members in May, the city’s development code will be amended to require restaurant drive-thru buildings and speaker boxes be located at least 200 feet away from single-family residential uses or zones, according to city documents.

That distance minimum can be reduced to 150 feet if the restaurant is separated by a public right-of-way such as a road or by obtaining a specific use permit. Specific use permits are issued by receiving approval from the Planning and Zoning Commission and City Council.

The new distance regulations would apply to drive-thru restaurants in four different city zones:

• Local commercial
• Regional commercial
• Light industrial
• Heavy industrial

Measuring the impact

Christie said the new regulations are expected to impact 15 drive-thru restaurants in McKinney. If approved by council, those restaurants would be in legal nonconforming status.

“These restaurants would be allowed to continue their use,” he said. “The entitlement runs with the land so even if they were, to say, sell the business, the new operator would still be covered under the previous entitlement.”

The entitlement would expire if the restaurant stopped operating for more than 12 months, according to the staff presentation.

Additionally, if a restaurant in legal nonconforming status wanted to expand its scope, it would need to pursue a specific use permit.

Notices were sent to restaurants that will be impacted by the proposed amendment, according to city staff. Another notice will be sent before the May 6 City Council meeting.

Also of note

The recommendation headed to council also includes a modification that would allow minimum distance requirements for nonresidential parking areas to be lowered to 10 feet by request. Currently, the city’s development code requires nonresidential parking to have a 20-foot minimum distance from residential zones and uses.

If approved by council, design exceptions can be requested by project applicants for nonresidential parking buffers to be lowered as long as it is consistent with adjacent developed properties and has a unified landscaping design, Sheffield said.