Delta council has given conditional approval to a proposed A&W drive-thru and adjacent storage facility in East Delta.
It was not a unanimous decision as councillors Jeannie Kanakos and Lois Jackson voted against the application, saying it was a bad location after the farming community expressed concerns with traffic in the area.
Both councillors also took issue with the storage facility, saying it was out of character for the area. Both, however, did not have any issues with the A&W drive-thru restaurant.
A motion to deny the application was defeated on a 4-2 vote, while a motion to give the application third reading and a referral to Metro Vancouver was approved by a 4-2 vote.
The application was put on hold following a public hearing in December after council requested further clarification on traffic impacts and current enforcement of on-street parking in the vicinity of the site on Burns Drive.
Delta staff conducted a number of site visits to review the traffic and parking issues.
“Short-term parking in the vicinity of the existing commercial businesses is reducing the ability for large farm vehicles to travel along Burns Drive for access to and from 96th Street,” wrote director of planning Marcy Sangret in a council report. “As a measure to increase enforceability, the existing no parking signs are being replaced with no stopping signs.”
The application will now be referred to Metro Vancouver where the board will have to approve a bylaw amendment to change the land use designation from agricultural to rural. Once that is completed, the application would come back to Delta for final approval.
The Burns Drive site, adjacent to the Tim Hortons/Esso gas station complex near the junction of Highway 99 and Ladner Trunk Road, had previously been used as nursery but is now vacant.
The application has been in the works for the past year. The proposal includes a one-storey restaurant and three-storey storage facility with office use.
