McDonald's Drive-thru On City Council Menu

A proposal to add a drive-thru at the McDonald's on 41st Avenue was digested by the Capitola City Council Thursday night. Only two restaurants in Capitola have these windows — Burger King and Dairy Queen. Community commercial zoning laws currently prohibit drive-thrus at restaurants on 41st Avenue, but McDonald's owner Steve Peat wants an exception.

These windows are currently allowed at banks and pharmacies. Burger King's drive-thru was grandfathered in because it was built while the property was on county land.

Councilmember Sam Storey said he was concerned that allowing the modification could lead to an overload of drive-thrus on 41st Avenue.

“You could determine a carrying capacity for them on the corridor and limit the numbers,” said Capitola City Attorney John Barisone.

The drive-thru would be installed during a proposed remodel intended to modernize the restaurant's look and suit trends such as hanging out to use wi-fi.

The city staff report recommended changing current zoning ordinances to allow drive-thrus at restaurants on 41st Avenue north of Capitola road because they say the character of the neighborhood has a more commercial feel than the area south towards Pleasure Point.

No action was taken Thursday, but Mayor Mike Termini grilled McDonald's representatives at length on the specifics of their blueprints, in the interest of accommodating neighboring businesses and residences.

“Based on the questions you are hearing, this may be a highly conditioned use if it is allowed at all,” said Termini.

"We continue to design things to suit automobiles," Councilmember Dennis Norton said. "We need to start designing businesses to suit people. I will never support this."

Here are the five other key moments of Thursday's session:

• Local resident Brian Peoples proposed that the city remove train tracks between Manresa State Beach and Capitola to make that portion of the Santa Cruz Coastal Rail Trail for pedestrian and bicycle traffic only. He said his plan could lower costs to about $100 million from current estimates of $300 million.

• Police Chief Rudy Escalante proposed imposing an unspecified permit fee on the 14 tobacco retailers in the city to fund sting operations aimed at preventing sales to minors. Oakland charges tobacco retailers $1,550 per year which is the highest in the state — Concord's fee of $160 is the lowest on the books.

• 18 percent of Capitola's retailers were caught selling to minors between 2008 and 2010, while the state average was 5.6 percent.

• The council unanimously passed a law banning tobacco retailers to open within 1,000 ft. of any school.