Hey neighbors. rumor has it the developer is getting folks from Rossmoor to come to tonight's 7 pm meeting to support the drive-thru on this site and we have several of our group who are on vacation and can't be there. So...
if you can...PLEASE try to show up TONIGHT.
The agenda and site plans are in the link below.
Here is one public comment that summarizes a lot of our positions on this proposal.
___________________________________________
July 12, 2019
Dear Walnut Creek staff, elected and appointed officials:
I can't believe we're doing this again, but here we are. I am again writing to strongly oppose the granting of a conditional use permit for a drive-thru restaurant at 2nd and N. Main.
If you take the time to read through the Larkey Park Neighbors United website, you'll discover that the 100+ neighbors who came together, and who live immediately adjacent to this development and use 2nd Ave as a main egress and ingress to our homes:
We do not oppose development in general - we support development and growth. We want this site developed.
We do not oppose commercial enterprises - we understand that N. Main is a commercial street and but want to keep businesses on N. Main and not spilling over into a neighborhood that is feet away from the drive-thru and 100% residential.
We do not oppose developers making money. We want the business or development to thrive on this site, but that doesn't mean it has to be a drive-thru business.
We do not oppose fast food be it double-double beef burgers or vegan burgers. If Amy's opened their restaurant here, we would support it, by walking up, taking out. or dining in. But we will not support a line of cars no matter how much they try to pretty-it up.
We do vehemently and strongly oppose a
DRIVE THRU
establishment in this location.
We do oppose granting a variance/conditional use permit for this site to build a drive-thru, regardless of how pretty the building is or how healthy the food sold.
We do oppose a developer that promised two years ago to work with the neighbors to develop the site in a manner consistent with the interests of the neighborhood and then signed an agreement with yet another drive-thru establishment.
We noticed today that many of the folks submitting public comment back in May were from Rossmoor.
Hall Equities reached out to a neighborhood that is nowhere near this proposed Amy's site and encouraged them to support it.
Please don't be fooled by this tactic to claim "outreach" to the community.
At the meeting they held at in the Larkey Park neighborhood, the response was not positive. So they went further out, because no one opposes Amy's....but no one would want a drive-thru traffic on the street where they walk their dogs, push their strollers, or have to drive on every day to get to their homes just 100s of feet away.
On our website we did a survey asking people in this neighborhood to say whether or not they supported an Amy's DRIVE-THRU on this proposed site, where they strongly opposed an In-n-Out.
This survey was posted on Nextdoor and was sent via email to the neighbors of this neighborhood.
Of the 74 people who took this poll. Only 9 (12%) said they were OK with a drive-thru on this site.
Attached is the spreadsheet with the comments. I've removed the names and emails but can provide them in a nonpublic document if requested.
Here are a sampling of the comments from those who support AMY's
but DO NOT SUPPORT a DRIVE-THRU on this site.
I don't particularly support Amy's or any restaurant on this site but would be more amenable to a restaurant with its own dedicated parking lot and NO drive through.
A restaurant would be great, especially with organic real food. But NO drive through. Traffic is already bad enough in this area.
Hall gives lip service, ask him directly if he will proceed with whatever he wants if given ok even if local residents are opposed. He’s preoccupied right now trying to lay a giant pile o shit in Concord. WARNING: Watch for him applying for state funds (tax dollars) to build his private held business. He is friends w/Grayson who helps his friend get our tax dollars.
The California Air Resources Board is very clear about the extreme health hazards of idling automobile exhaust to residential neighborhoods and developing children. Exposure to particulate and chemical pollution in car exhaust dramatically increases the risk of developing lymphoma, asthma, and respiratory disease, to name a few health issues. Furthermore, there is the direct risk of distracted drivers on a residential street mostly lacking in sidewalks. Accidental death is the number one cause of mortality in American children.
Not OK with the car exhaust and additional car hazards on 2nd Avenue. We DO NOT have existing sidewalks for pedestrians in this area, and increasing car traffic would pose a serious risk to children and families in the neighborhood.
While I like the idea of healthier foods, having a drive-thru is not suitable for this location due to the close proximity to residential areas, and the accompanying increase in traffic congestion and idling cars. Also, the amount of packaging waste (and accompanying litter) that drive thru food vendors create is bad for the environment. Some of the containers may be compostable but not all.
I've avoided the section of North Main street between Geary/Treat and San Luis Rd ever since the the 24 hour fitness and Chick-Fil-A businesses were built, due to the terribly backed up traffic they've created. Even if I want to head north, I first drive south on Main and turn left on Parkside Dr. I either get on the freeway there or I go to Civic Dr and turn left to reach Treat Blvd. I would prefer for apartments to be built there, but I understand that Hall properties would not find it financially worth it. Too bad, because housing is what is most needed.
I love Amy's food and the concepts, but the drive-thru is a deal breaker! With Door Dash and Uber Eats, do we really need a drive-thru?
The corner of N. Main and Second Avenue is NOT SUITED for any drive-thru business. Amy’s Drive Thru would be welcome in Walnut Creek, but this would not be the best location for them, and if they insist on opening there, they should be amendable to a non-drive thru variation of their restaurant, much like most Chipotle’s or Corner Bakery in Pleasant Hill. It would be irresponsible, disrespectful and in poor taste for Amy’s to force this on the community when the community have repeatedly strongly voiced their opposition to a drive thru venue opening there, and would likely result in them facing further opposition and a community boycott. I really hope that they can find an alternate location or change their model....to suit the needs of the community they wish to join and the limitations of the space they wish to occupy.
I already avoid the North Main/Geary intersection particularly turning from N Main onto Geary now due to the chaotic traffic created by 24 Hour and Chick Filet. Drivers are impatient and take dangerous chances. It used to be a wide thoroughfare but it is now a clogged mess. A drive thru will just be grid lock. It is an absolutely stupid idea.
"Over and over the city has discarded their own requirements because the developer requested. And you have to love the traffic studies. Each of the developments on North Main and on Geary said there would be minimal traffic increases. Too bad we can't hold these consultants to the fire and make them pay to get the traffic flowing again. Some sort of 'good faith bond'.
Leary of Hall going for approval for part of their property and not the whole thing at once. What design are they preventing from being implemented by doing the development in two stages?"
The City needs to engage in responsible planning. Hall Equities is proposing another bad project for our neighborhood. We need our voices heard and the drive through aspect of this proposal needs to be rejected!
"I definitely do NOT support a drive-through. The traffic along the North Main St//Treat Blvd./Geary Road corridor has dramatically worsened since the arrival of the Sprouts Center, 24-Hour Fitness and Chick-Fil-A. A drive-through would only exacerbate the situation and also contribute to noise pollution. All that pavement and all those idling engines will most definitely compound North Main's ""heat sink"" effect in mid-summer.
Second Avenue is just not a suitable location - it is too narrow of a street - to support a drive-through. The noise that would be created in the area as a result would negatively impact what is primarily a quiet residential area. Take a lesson from In-N-Out's experience in 2017 and look elsewhere. I implore you to spend some time doing in-situ site selection/market research, and I'm sure you will come to the same conclusion.
Restaurant fine. Line of idling cars TOTALLY UNACCEPTABLE!
Traffic is already crazy because of the inadequate parking for chick-fil-a and 24Hr Fitness. Almost all of the trash along N. Main in the area is from the nearby fast food restaurants. Idling cars waiting in the drive thru degrades our air quality. I will unite with neighbors to oppose any development seeking a variance to existing zoning, parking, or land use laws/regulations
As far as I'm concerned, a drive-thru is a deal breaker. I am vehemently opposed to this idea and am frustrated that we are having to go through this again. Of all the businesses that could go there, Hall is advocating for another drive-thru??
I will only support an Amy's here if they rethink their drive-thru concept and make this a fast casual restaurant or have a walk-up window.
Traffic on No. Main is already overly congested! This past Saturday (5/25), I was driving southbound on No. Main and traffic on the other side of the street (i.e., northbound on No. Main) was backed up from Geary to 2nd Avenue -- due to traffic generated by 24 Hour Fitness and Chick-fil-A. We cannot handle any more congestion on No. Main. It will force more traffic onto the residential areas around 2nd Avenue and onto Buena Vista to skirt traffic back-ups. I like Amy's frozen dinners that I buy at Safeway - but, PLEASE DO NOT add the drive-through.
No drive thru of any kind should be put on this site. Any sit down restaurant would be fine. The traffic ramifications from another drive thru on this section of Main Street would be catastrophic.
I do not support ANY FAST FOOD business on this site. I support ONLY office space on this site.
Traffic in this area (getting on and off the freeway) is already a nightmare after 3pm due to the 24 Hr and Chick-Fil-A, adding another destination eatery with a drive thru will only add to the issues.
"Too much traffic related to chikfila and 24 HR fitness already in same area. Drive through would impede neighborhood traffic which is already changed due to increased traffic on 2nd Ave related to traffic on N Main.
Sit down restaurant, please!! You'd get all the neighbors who will boycott the drive thru!!"
With the added traffic on North Main, both as a freeway access road, and from the Chick-Fil-A/24 Hour addition, it's dangerous and difficult to turn left (and sometimes right) onto North Main without a stoplight, such as from 3rd Ave. 2nd provides a stoplight to get in and out of the Larkey Neighborhood. Adding a drive through on the neighbourhood side would add significant congestion to an already increasingly traffic-laden area.
Drive-thru is not a “permitted use” on that lot for many good reasons. If Amy’s is really all about the health of our families & local community, why can’t Amy’s choose a “drive-thru” location where a drive-thru is a permitted use/there aren’t family homes adjacent to the lot?
Drive thru would cause more backed up traffic, not needed. Then, other drive thru projects would pile on. Traffic is miserable already. Offer and promote bike parking :=)
We do not support Amy’s on this site at all because it backs up to homes and will impact traffic in the area and on 2nd ave.
I'm not sure there's more we can say than what we've said before and what is stated above and in the many previous comments made about the In-n-Out.
Bottomline is this for me and for many many of my neighbors:
This site is not zoned or suitable for a drive-thru. There are homes literally 150 feet from the car lane. The streets off 2nd Ave are ALL residential. There is not one traffic producing business here. It's homes, and a community park, a community pool, and a wildlife center. Why is Hall insisting on another drive-thru business when they have publicly claimed to want to develop in collaboration with, and in consideration of, the needs of the neighbors in Larkey Park?
Amy's concept and ideals are sounds and laudable, but a drive-thru needs to go where a drive-thru goes - in a commercial area not off a residential street, blocking access in and out of people's homes.
We want this site developed and we want it to make money and prosper for all. But the fact that the site is a blight now is not reason to grant a variance for its use. We don't feel the city should reward Hall for letting it get into the state it currently is in as a result of their neglect and inattention.
Traffic getting on to and off of N. Main is already a well-know problem due to other Hall Equity projects on Main Street and off it (Sprouts) and due to the amount of truck and vehicles that use this artery into and out of Walnut Creek. It's especially a problem for those of us who have one way into and out of our homes - 2nd Ave.
If a drive-thru conditional use permit is approved it will be over the majority of homeowners and residents wishes and the neighborhood will not support this business. If Amy's finds another Walnut Creek lot in one of the commercial areas suited for and needing another fast-food option, we will most certainly support it.
Another drive-thru does not seem consistent with Walnut Creek's "Going Green Together" initiative that is specifically about reducing greenhouse gases. How does another drive-thru, even one selling vegan fare, help the city achieve this goal? I contend it doesn't.
We further ask that the City of Walnut Creek, instead of allowing development in this area to be parcel-by-parcel, developer-ask-by-developer ask, take a holistic look at this area of the city that was left out of the "N. Walnut Creek Development Plan.
Some here joking calling this area "South Pleasant Hill" because we feel that Walnut Creek does not pay enough PLANFUL attention to our neighborhoods and residents.
Please consider creating a comprehensive plan for this wonderful part of the city. We feel like we deserve that kind of consideration and engagement, if not from Hall Equities, then from our city governance.