Council adopts new rules for drive‑through restaurants, including tiered review and buffer from freeway ramps

The Glendale City Council approved a package of zoning changes to limit the neighborhood impacts of new drive‑through restaurants and to standardize how the city reviews them. The rules establish a four‑tier system for drive‑through restaurants, require conditional use permits for higher‑impact tiers, set minimum lot and queuing standards, and prohibit using public streets or alleys for drive‑through queueing.

Staff said the changes respond to a city‑wide moratorium on drive‑throughs (in place 2022–2024) and build on a study by traffic consultant JBA & Associates. Principal Planner Vista, who led the presentation, said the city will classify new drive‑through restaurants into tiers using a queuing and trip‑generation analysis tied to Institute of Transportation Engineers (ITE) standards. “Tiers 1 and 2 are lower‑intensity and would be subject only to development standards; tiers 3 and 4 would require both development standards and a conditional use permit,” Vista said.

Key standards the council approved or directed staff to finalize include: - Tiered minimum queuing lengths (staff recommended minimums such as 10 vehicles/220 feet for lower tiers and higher minimums for tier 3 and coffee/donut‑style tier 4). Minimums can be raised through conditional‑use review. - A proposed minimum lot size (staff presented 20,000–25,000 square feet as options and will return with a recommendation). Larger minimums reduce the number of eligible lots. - Restrictions on using public rights‑of‑way (streets and alleys) for drive‑through queueing or as drive‑through entrances. - Standards for site layout to place buildings close to the street, encourage active frontages, and require landscaping buffers and pedestrian circulation treatments. - A council direction that applicants must use traffic consultants selected from an approved list (staff will run an RFQ to build that list rather than requiring every applicant to run its own RFP).

The council also instructed staff to codify an approximately 200‑foot buffer from freeway on/off ramps for new drive‑through facilities (to avoid spilling queued cars into ramp areas) and to consider signage, late‑night noise limits, delivery restrictions and mobile pickup spaces as part of the implementing ordinance. Several residents urged the council to protect neighborhoods in busy corridors such as North Pacific Avenue and Glen Oaks.

Public commenters and council members who represent neighborhoods with existing congestion emphasized potential traffic and safety impacts. Resident Martie Graves said the Pacific corridor already ranks high for collisions and asked the council to “stop any new drive‑throughs that create unnecessary traffic congestion and parking issues in our residential neighborhoods.”

Councilmembers praised the tier structure as a balanced approach that allows lower‑impact outlets to operate with clear standards while subjecting higher‑impact operations to public review. The motion to adopt the ordinance package and direct staff to finalize implementing language passed with the council present (four votes in favor, one absence). Staff will prepare the final ordinance language, including quantified trip thresholds tied to ITE numbers, and return for formal adoption of the specific code text.

Ending: The council framed the changes as a tool to limit drive‑through impacts while allowing economically compatible uses where appropriate. Staff will return with precise lot‑size thresholds, the RFQ list of traffic consultants and detailed code language for final adoption.