The 43-year-old McDonald’s restaurant at 505 S. Van Dorn Street is requesting a second drive-through lane to make orders faster.
In a proposal that will go to the Planning Commission in June, the restaurant’s owner asks the city for the change “to better serve our customers, improve the efficiency of the ordering process, and allow for better vehicular circulation on the property.”
The project won’t involve construction on the building, unlike the McDonald’s on Duke Street, which solved its line issue by adding a third window.
However, it will reduce the number of available parking spaces from 35 to 32. According to the special use permit application, the loading spaces for deliveries will be converted into the new lanes and will still be used for deliveries during off-peak hours.
According to the SUP:
This will allow for two orders to be placed simultaneously before the lanes merge back together to proceed to the pickup window. Since the ordering process is often the most time-consuming part of the drive-through process, the side-by-side system greatly improves efficiency and stacking capacity and greatly reduces backups during peak periods.
The second lane will be installed in an area currently used as a loading space for deliveries. However, deliveries occur during off-hours and delivery vehicles delivery vehicles typically park adjacent to the building rather than back into the loading space. Removal of the loading space is therefore anticipated to have no significant impact on McDonald’s operations. The changes will also result in a reduction in the number of parking spaces from 35 to 32 spaces, still well above the minimum requirement of 5 and closer to the maximum permitted of 17. No other changes are proposed to the site or restaurant building itself.
