By John Lindt,Sierra2theSea
The San Luis Obispo Planning Commission voted 4 to1 to approve a permit for a McDonalds in Los Osos February 6 but denied their request to utilize the existing drive-thru at the site in the former Bank of America building on Los Osos Valley Rd.
Consultant for the project Carol Florence of Oasis Associates advised the commission as they were about to vote that without a drive-thru “there will be no project” to approve. Florence says the franchise owner has yet to decide if they will appeal the decision to the Board of Supervisors. They have 14 days, a deadline around February 20th to file.
Commissioners said they were concerned about the idling car emissions and/or traffic and parking issues in the shopping center although there was agreement the water issue could be overcome.
Critics of the fast food eatery spoke against allowing this type of restaurant in Los Osos citing water,traffic and the notion they “just don’t fit in” with a Los Osos ethic.
Typical of opponents reasoning was this from Madeline Palaszewski.
“I’m extremely concerned about what a 24 hour drive-thru restaurant will do to the air quality in Los Osos. There is a reason the city of San Luis Obispo has banned drive-thru’s and we don’t NEED a drive-thru in Los Osos! As I said, there are many more reasons McDonald’s is a bad fit for Los Osos (traffic, wastewater usage,safety) and there is a McDonald’s 5 minutes away in Morro Bay.”
Or another- “Please let the Planning Commission know that as a resident of Los Osos, I would like to keep fast food restaurants out of our town core. Having people drive through our town and see the shopping center dotted with any fast food restaurant is unacceptable to me. We are in a serious water problem, its not getting better and the use of water by this establishment is like throwing something in my face. The Board of Supervisors and the Planning Commission should listen to the majority of citizens who do not want McDonalds in our town. Let us finish our community plan and then let us decide how we want our town to look” wrote Tom Cantwell.
Those in favor included the President of Miners Hardware, Paul Felice who in a letter pointed to the jobs that would be coming to town and said that the new tenants “are good local community minded people.”He added he was not concerned about traffic at the site right across from his store. “The proposed plans that I have seen suggest there will be little or no change to current parking and the proposed drive-thru will make better use of the space and help mitigate traffic back into the center.”
A number of supporters point to the fact there are many empty storefronts in the two centers that share the site and the existing bank building has been”available” for 8 years. Two weeks ago the town’s only flower shop in back of the proposed McDonalds shut their doors.
Supporter David Freiria wrote “Please allow the McDonalds in Los Osos.We have very little here and there is a small group of people that oppose everything.I have yet to meet anyone that would not love to see the McDonalds built here.”
After the decision was announced John Zweemer in a note addressed concerns.
1.Traffic: “PLEASE drive out to the location to see this will NOT create a traffic situation, you can usually cross the 2 lanes of oncoming LOVR traffic at any given time within 30 seconds of waiting.
2. Pollution: FAR more pollution is being created now by the citizens of this town driving to SLO and MB for most every day shopping. If we had more here, then less driving and pollution. You all know that by taking away the drive thru, they won’t open. That’s where a lot of business comes from.
3. Quality of the town: Look at the surrounding buildings around the shopping center, NONE of them are new, or goin g for the “Los Osos look”, there isn’t a look. Most are old, and many rather tired. A new McDonalds might just spark a bit of interest to others to update their appearances If this idea fails, we sure hope the folks against it will open what they do want to see here. We are sick of all the empty retail for lease, THAT is what makes the town look and feel rather poor. Obviously the company knows there is demand here, or they wouldn’t be spending their time and money on all this. If people don’t want Mc D ‘s, they don’t have to go. We just don’t get why this is such a big deal, it’s really too bad.”
Others were pleased. Resident Liz Wilson said McDonalds food was not healthy and would draw the homeless. “I agree that an empty building is not financially encouraging for our town, but have other big retail chains been approached such as a Dollar Store, Michael’s, or Staples? This would minimize the bathroom issue but still provide jobs and revenue for the town.”
One commissioner suggested reducing the hours of the drive-thru from 24 hours and that got support but the resolution approved by the commission killed the drive-thru altogether.
With supporters and critics on both sides there were even dueling petitions for and against.
The Los Osos Communty Advisory Council supported the project 5 to 3 “with concerns” a few months back.
Florence said the company needed the drive-thru because Los Osos unlike SLO city “has a different demographic” and the franchisee needs a drive-thru to pencil out.
A recent NY Times story reported that “The drive-thru is an important revenue generator for fast-food chains. McDonald’s gets about 70 percent of its sales from the drive-thru, according Richard Adams, who now runs a consulting firm for franchisees.”