Carlsbad is considering lifting its 25-year-old ban on new drive-thru restaurants, a prohibition prompted by concerns that the auto-centric convenience would proliferate with the opening of Legoland.
Residents at the time raised concerns that an abundance of drive-thru restaurants like those found around Disneyland could occur near the theme park in Carlsbad, and that poorly designed fast-food sites would bring traffic congestion, visual blight, noise, odors and air pollution.
Options for removing or relaxing the ban were presented Wednesday to the Carlsbad Planning Commission, where the idea drew mixed reactions from commissioners and the public.
“Adding more drive-thrus to the city is ill-advised,” said resident Paige DeCino, a representative of the local Sierra Club chapter. “We are in a climate crisis … and idling through drive-thrus is taking us in the wrong direction.”
The city does well with the drive-thru restaurants it has now, she said, and more of them would increase greenhouse gases and air pollution.
Carlsbad has a dozen fast-food drive-thrus that opened before the ban. Also, some other types of new businesses such as banks and pharmacies are exempt and have opened with or added drive-thrus since then.
Carlsbad Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Bret Schanzenbach spoke for lifting the ban.
“There are pads in our community that have been sitting undeveloped for decades,” Schanzenbach said, and a change in the regulations would create opportunities for them.
Also, he said, the increased use of electric vehicles reduces concerns about emissions in the drive-thru line. And some businesses, such as Starbucks coffee shops, have grown to depend more on drive-thru sales than they did in the 1990s.
The commission chose not to make any recommendation on the proposal. Instead, its members suggested city staffers collect more information about things such as where new drive-thrus might be added, the possible effects of any changes, and how other cities handle the issue.
“I think it is a real benefit to our city to have this prohibition,” said Commissioner Alicia Lafferty, adding that the absence of drive-thrus creates more walkable neighborhoods and improves the community.
Commissioner Joseph Stine said lifting the ban would be a good way to increase revenue, and that neighboring cities are less restrictive.
“It’s long overdue that we take a look at the prohibition,” Stine said.
Commission Chair William Kamenjarin said he would like to see the regulations “opened a bit,” but still prohibit drive-thrus in some areas.
The review of the ban was requested at a Carlsbad City Council meeting in May by Councilmember Melanie Burkholder. She suggested city staffers develop a set of options for new regulations and present them to the Planning Commission for its recommendation to the City Council, and the council agreed.
“While I understand the reasoning behind the original ban, the world has changed,” Burkholder said. “The time is right to re-evaluate our roles and discuss the options to allow drive-thrus, even if only on a limited basis.”
The ideas will be heard Nov. 19 by the City Council’s Economic Development Subcommittee, which also could make a recommendation. No date has been set yet for it to go to the City Council.
