Board OKs off-site parking for Chick-fil-A, requires 5-foot pedestrian path to building

The Roanoke City Board of Zoning Appeals approved an application on June 10 to establish off-site parking that will serve an existing Chick-fil-A restaurant, adding a condition requiring a pedestrian pathway at least 5 feet wide from new parking to the principal building entrance.

Jacob Demick of CPH Consulting, representing the applicant, said the project includes dual-lane improvements to improve service and that the additional leased sites would provide off-site parking. "Chick-fil-A is looking to do some improvements to an existing restaurant site that they have to ultimately improve their customer service," Demick said, calling the off-site parking an efficiency measure that would not change access patterns.

Planning staff recommended approval, subject to conformance with the submitted development plan and a letter of intent. Board members raised questions about whether pedestrians would have to cross traffic to reach the restaurant; staff and the applicant discussed options including adding a path through a landscape island and a crosswalk connection. One board member proposed a condition requiring pedestrian access improvements; staff drafted standard language and the board adopted it as a third condition. The condition read into the record requires the applicant to "provide safe designated pedestrian pathways of a minimum unobstructed width of 5 ft from the newly created parking area to the public entrance of the principal building."

With no public speakers, the board amended the application to include the pedestrian-pathway condition, moved to approve the amended application and voted unanimously in favor.

The approval is conditional on the submitted plan's general conformance, enforcement of development standards at permitting, the letter of intent (Attachment A), and construction of the pedestrian pathways as described.