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Planning commission approves Panda Express site, drive‑through and variances with conditions
Summary
On June 3, 2024 the planning commission approved a 2,600‑square‑foot Panda Express with two drive‑through lanes, granting a variance for the Woodcrest Way elevation and placing the Johnstown Road/frontage treatment under staff approval; approvals carried conditions to modify the US‑62 drive aisle, meet landscape standards and incorporate nine engineering comments.
The planning commission on June 3 approved a final development plan, conditional use and related variances for a proposed 2,600‑square‑foot Panda Express at the northeast corner near US 62 and Smiths Mill Road.
Staff (Chris) told commissioners the project will include two drive‑through lanes in a 1‑2 ordering configuration, two ground monument signs and two digital drive‑through menu boards and will be accessed via two curb cuts on US 62 and Smiths Mill Road with an extended private access road to serve future sites. Staff recommended conditions that include straightening the US‑62 drive aisle, relocating some parking spaces, extending landscape islands to reduce pavement and requiring signage to comply with recently adopted digital‑sign standards.
"We do recommend a condition of approval that this drive aisle along US 62 be modified," staff said, recommending alignment and parking adjustments and noting the city landscape consultant believed the driveway can be straightened while preserving parking counts.
Applicant representative Mike McPherson of Atwell Civil Engineering Consultants said the drive‑through will operate in a flexible 1‑2 configuration that merges to a single pickup window during light hours and that staff will use movable traffic control and on‑site attendants during peak periods. McPherson asked the commission for some flexibility on curb geometry and the front elevation door requirement, and said his team had coordinated with the adjacent credit union about driveway alignment.
Commissioners raised the need to reconcile an independent city engineering memo with the staff report. One commissioner asked that condition six be expanded to include all nine engineer comments listed on page eight of the engineering memo; the motion that passed incorporated that expansion.
The commission voted 4‑0 to admit the final development documents and to approve Final Development Plan 22‑2024 "subject to conditions in the staff report," with specific direction that condition 1C be worked with staff and condition six be expanded to include the engineering comments. The same 4‑0 margin approved the conditional use (CU24‑2024) and the requested variance for the Woodcrest Way elevation; the Johnstown Road/front elevation was left subject to staff approval and sensitivity to the intent of an "active, operable" front door or an alternate architectural treatment.
The approvals require the applicant to comply with the staff conditions during final permitting and to resolve the listed engineering items. No public opposition to the application was presented at the hearing.
The commission’s actions mean the applicant may proceed to the permitting stage, subject to the conditions the commission and staff attached at the hearing.
