November 19, 2008
JOHNS CREEK - Last June when the city of Johns Creek approved a zoning request to allow for a Sonic Drive-In restaurant to be built along Holcomb Bridge Road in the Rivermont Georgia Marketplace shopping center, they approved it with a few conditions.
Now, one of those conditions is causing a problem for Sonic, according to a letter from restaurant officials.
The city placed an 11 p.m. closing time condition on the zoning application approval. Sonic had requested a closing time of midnight.
In the letter, Sonic's director of real estate Richard Russell, said there seemed to be some "confusion" which impacts the company's success in the city.
"Of our 2,500+ stores nationwide, this is the first time we have been approved subject to severely restricted operation hours," the letter stated. "We continue to work through the impact on our corporate program/model for this location but, upon further investigation, have become increasingly concerned that the hours of operation restriction placed on this location is more stringent than the other restaurants in the immediate area." The letter stated McDonald's, KFC, Taco Mac, Waffle House and TJ Sports Bar & Grill as restaurants in the immediate area.
"The condition was intended to match the hours of McDonald's, which is located approximately 500 feet from the proposed Sonic site," the letter continued. "We would ask, as a minimum, to have the same hours of operation as McDonald's." McDonald's dining area closes at 10 p.m. and the drive-through is open until midnight.
If City Council agreed with Sonic, it would seem changing the closing time would be a simple process. But according to city Manager John Kachmar, council has two options:
One option is to tell Sonic to wait until June 2009, since the city has a one-year restriction on applications coming back and asking for condition changes.
The other option is that City Council can take the application back through the entire zoning process and the city would become the applicant. According to Justin Kirouac, zoning and planning administrator, if council opted for the second option it would take until February to complete.
Councilman Randall Johnson said he disagreed on Sonic's comments that the condition was placed based on McDonald's hours of operation.
"My understanding of our conversation is that we placed the hours of operations based on other restaurants in that shopping center," said Johnson. He added that a pizza restaurant and Chick-Fil-A in the shopping center both close at 11 p.m.
Councilwoman Bev Miller said council should look to see if they're setting a bad precedent by opening the case again.
"I'm hesitant to open a zoning case that we've already voted on," said Miller.
During a discussion of the matter during a Nov. 10 work session, City Council discussed the way they apply conditions to zoning cases.
Johns Creek Mayor Mike Bodker said the city has had some zoning cases come before them where council has approved exact square footage of a building in a project. He added that during construction, marginal differences in measurements can arise, leaving city staff no latitude to change the square footage in a project.
"We might be micromanaging these things to the point that we're doing ourselves a disservice because we're causing our applicants to go through an expensive process for minor changes," said Bodker.
Kirouac said if an applicant submits a 6,572 square-foot building, for example, council could condition the project to 7,000 square feet.
"Adding five square feet to a building probably doesn't arise to the level of public interest," said Kirouac. "However, five square feet above a condition is in violation."
Kachmar said zonings are conducted a little differently around the metro Atlanta area than around the U.S., mostly because of the rapid growth here. "Conditions became part of your zoning milieu," said Kachmar.
Council decided that they will offer Sonic the option to come back and apply for the change in condition in June, which is the one-year mark after their application was voted on.
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