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Discount Tire asks to keep drive-through configuration at Peachtree Road site amid council safety questions
Summary
Discount Tire requested council approval to retain a drive-through layout at 4900 Peachtree Road and to remove a proposed island intended to prevent traffic backup; staff recommended approval of variances but council sought clearer mitigation for pedestrian and vehicle conflicts before voting.
Discount Tire asked the council to approve modifications to a 2023 rezoning approval and several variances at the company’s 4900 Peachtree Road site, and planning staff recommended approval during the Dec. 11 work session.
Rodney Clark, regional facility manager for Discount Tire, told council the company omitted a previously-planned island because it created safety and operational problems for staging and backing vehicles into service bays; Clark said the store conducts more than 100 air checks a day and leases 29 spaces from adjacent Lowe’s to meet customer demand. He urged that retaining the drive-through configuration prevents customer backups onto Peachtree Road, which would pose safety problems.
Planning staff told the council that site constraints — the lack of space behind the building and an existing auto‑oriented context — make a bypass lane or island infeasible without major reconstruction, and recommended approval of variances while retaining the condition that the project remain in substantial conformity with the 2023 approved site plan.
Council members pressed the applicant for clearer mitigation plans that could include upgraded striping, single‑direction lane markings, crosswalks or a defined walkway to discourage people from walking through active drive aisles. The applicant said it will propose alternatives (striping, lane markings, pedestrian walkways and possible remote parking handling) and noted a full parking-lot repave is planned next year.
No council vote occurred at the work session; council asked the applicant to return with refined operational and pedestrian-safety proposals before the scheduled vote.
