A wrench has been thrown into Chick-fil-A’s plans to open its first Kokomo location.
The Kokomo Plan Commission on Tuesday voted 5-4 against the primary and final plat of Chick-fil-A’s proposed restaurant for the parking lot in front of Hobby Lobby near the intersection of Indiana 931 and Markland Avenue, voicing concerns over increased vehicular traffic at an already busy part of the city.
The board members voting against were Cathy Stover, Kelly Barker, Mike Besser, Stephanie Ruhl and Tina Durham.
Because the plat was voted down, a scheduled consideration and vote on the fast food chain’s proposed development plan also scheduled for Tuesday was continued.
The rejection, at the very least, delays the fast food chain from coming to Kokomo. Whether or not it completely derails the company’s plans for its first Kokomo location remains to be seen.
A request for comment made by the Tribune to Chick-fil-A regarding the company’s next steps and if it is considering a new location following Tuesday’s vote was not returned.
According to city zoning ordinance, any petition voted down by a board must wait 180 days before petitioning for approval unless there’s a “substantial change” to the proposal.
Whether or not any change is “substantial” enough to be heard before the waiting period is up is at the mercy of Greg Sheline, executive director of the Kokomo-Howard County Plan Commission.
It’s not clear, though, if any changes would appease one or any of those who voted “no” Tuesday.
After the meeting, the Tribune talked to two out of five people who voted “no,” and both said it was the location of the proposed restaurant — not the planned connection made with Imperial Drive that drew ire from some Cedar Crest residents Tuesday — that was the main sticking point for them.
“It’s the worst possible place for traffic,” Stover said. “In my personal opinion, I don’t think we need to put anything (more) between Markland and Hoffer.”
Besser, the board president, made the tie-breaking vote.
He told the Tribune the expected increase in traffic in the area if Chick-fil-A builds where it wants to was his “number one concern” and that he didn’t think the proposed plans, even with a connection to Imperial Drive, was sufficient to abate those concerns.
“On numerous occasions, I asked everybody, (Kokomo director of the city engineering department) Jon Pyke, and everybody else, if you’re going to open up Imperial Drive, are you going to do anything to change Markland? I couldn’t get an answer,” he said.
The intersection of Markland and Indiana 931 is one of, if not, the busiest intersection in Kokomo.
Ever since Chick-fil-A announced its plans, the location it chose has received a fair amount of criticism on social media and at public meetings. Most who chime in on the debate have their own idea about where the restaurant should be located.
But the reason for many people disliking the location — high traffic volume — is exactly the reason why Chick-fil-A wants to be there.
The company’s hired civil engineer, Brian Kaiser of Kimley-Horn, said it was his understanding that Chick-fil-A did consider other locations but ended on this one because it was in a high-traffic area.
Other restaurants, such as Raising Cane’s, Popeye’s and Qdoba, have all opened new locations in the same area in recent years that has seen an uptick in traffic, in large part, because of out-of-town visitors for Championship Park.
Notably, Kaiser said this proposed location could possibly be one of multiple locations within the city.
“The intention would be that this would be the first Chick-fil-A opened in Kokomo, but certainly, with Chick-fil-A’s expansion program, they would like to have more than one, if at all possible, with this being the first and Championship Park potentially being a good second location,” he said.
The rejection by the Plan Commission is yet another hurdle for the fast food chain’s attempts to open its first location in the City of Firsts.
Last February, Chick-fil-A continued its first proposed plans after the city requested it open up Imperial Drive as part of its plans, something the company did not want to do.
Opening up Imperial Drive, in the city’s eyes, would give customers of Chick-fil-A and other businesses in the strip mall another way to enter and exit, especially if drivers want to go south on Indiana 931.
It would also, the city hopes, help the already heavily congested entrance and exit into the strip mall at East Markland Avenue from becoming even worse, though asking those traveling along Markland east to west to turn left on Indiana 931, then turn left on Savoy to enter via Imperial Drive would likely be a tough sell.
The idea of connecting Imperial Drive to the parking lot and businesses in the strip mall has faced opposition from those living on Imperial and Belvedere drives from the beginning. It was no different Tuesday.
Jeffrey Cowell, who lives directly south of the parking lot on Imperial Drive, characterized himself and his house as being in “ground zero.”
“My property values will be destroyed, my yard’s going to be trashed,” he said to the Plan Commission. “It’s going to destroy my house … you guys are going to end up chasing me out of my home.”
With or without Chick-fil–A, the city is considering opening up Imperial Drive.
Pyke told the Tribune after the meeting his office plans on submitting a proposal connecting Imperial Drive to the parking lot. Such a proposal would still need approval from city administration and the Kokomo Board of Public Works and Safety to move forward.