Allan Appel Photo
Why will the hungry driver cross the road? He might do it to get the chicken and biscuits without ever having to bestir himself from his vehicle— thanks to a zoning board decision that overruled a city staff report.
The decision came Tuesday night at a meeting at the Board of Zoning Appeals.
Feathers were flying as commissioners, staffers, and the owners of Popeye’s and their assembled experts debated a proposal to permit the Whalley Avenue fast-food joint to reconfigure its lot and put in a drive-thru.
The board voted 4 – 1 to approve a “special exception” to allow a drive-thru addition to the popular restaurant near the downtown confluence of Whalley, Goffe and Dixwell.
It did so even though a City Plan Department staff report advised against it.
Of specific concern to the staff is the u‑shaped wrap-around drive path in the plan. It has cars entering on Goffe Street, accumulating in a queue of up to six vehicles, circling around the now halved Popeye’s lot, and exiting back onto Goffe.
Planners called this a danger to pedestrians walking on Goffe. They also envisioned a potential “criss-cross” vehicular peril at the entrance and egress curb cuts that are so close to each other.
Commissioner Victor Fasano also expressed concern about a a row of backed-up cars spilling onto Goffe, their drivers growing irritated and distracted, their bellies growling to get their birds, biscuits, and Louisiana-style shrimp.
“I was prepared to vote against this,” he declared after two hours of testimony from Solomon and his team of engineers and designers and lawyers.
But the presentation was so persuasive, he changed his mind, he said.
Keith Solomon said he holds is the national record among Popeye owners for getting you your order: within 153 seconds on average.
In the end, only commissioner Regina Winters voted against, citing noise concerns for nearby apartment and fraternity house dwellers.
Fasano said that more noise is likely to come from the nearby Yale fraternity house, one of the only residential buildings within 250 feet of the proposed drive-through. Relief from this restriction was, specifically, one of the reasons a “special exception” was being sought by Popeye’s.
The Popeye’s team put on a full-court press for approval during what turned out to be a two-hour hearing at Tuesday’s zoning board meeting. That batted away, for the most part, point by point the concerns, and emerged triumphant in the flap.
36 Cameras, Buried Loops
Commissioner Ben Trachten wanted to know how many cars could safely queue up to the menu board, the first station on entering the drive-thru loop at Goffe. The answer: two.
Consulting Engineer Christopher Bell said the optimal design of a drive thru is to go around the building, but it’s impossible at Popeye’s: not enough space.
But most drive straight in the line past the menu board to the ordering kiosk, claimed designer Christopher Bell.
That’s what happens at the Popeye’s in Hamden, said Keith Solomon. He has owned both the Hamden and the New Haven Whalley Popeye’s franchises for decades, he said. He claimed he has grown so adept at drive-thru technology he has helped Popeye’s national with innovations. Loops buried in the pavement let his staff know how long a car is waiting. If the wait lasts too long, a staffer can go out and deliver the goods and get that car moving.
Solomon said he’s having a special meat-holding locker designed especially for the site to further cut down waiting time. He has sold all his other businesses and is concentrating on Popeye’s here and in Hamden, he said. Hamden works without a hitch. He doesn’t see why, even though this lot is uniquely small, a drive thru couldn’t work here, he said.
He mantra: Keep them moving, fast and safe.
“Eighty percent of our business is take-out” as is, said Solomon. Instead of people driving in, parking, and waiting as long as 20 minutes, they can slip through in three minutes or less.
Fasano came back to that traffic “criss-cross” at Goffe. Solomon’s attorney, Anthony Avallone, objected to the term.
Traffic engineer David Spear, working for Solomon’s crew, testified their studies show 95 percent of the time no more than four cars will occupy the queue, which has a maximum of six, without the seventh back-ending out onto the sidewalk at Goffe. On a given day, he said, 8,200 cars pass on Goffe.
If cars do stack up more than that, drivers have two waiting slots to pull into, Solomon said. He also promised to hire a traffic and security staffer to direct traffic at the busiest times.
Noise? Crime?
BZA Chair Pat King remained skeptical. Solomon’s experts testified that they had tested decibel levels and concluded neighbors won’t hear anything.
Crime? No problem, Solomon claimed. Commissioners learned that police have responded to 200 calls at the Popeye’s address over two years. But Beaver Hills-Edgewood top cop Sgt. Max Joyner testified that those numbers don’t tell the story. Very few complaints actually involve Popeye’s, he said. The general location pops up as a reference in complaints.
“Although we have a high number of calls to that area, half don’t involve Popeye’s,” he testified. He praised the number of video cameras on the site, some added at Joyner’s request. Also at Joyner’s request, Solomon has added off-duty officers who on Fridays and Saturdays maintain order until the 3 a.m. closing time.
Dwight Alderman Frank Douglass offered the community’s “total support” in no small part because the current 50-plus full and part-time staff would grow.
Attorney Avallone presented a petition of 18 businesses along Whalley in support of Solomon, who is also a board member of the Whalley Avenue Special Services District.
The only opposition to the plan at the public hearing came from Courtyard Marriott Hotel. Attorney James Perito argued that hotel guests are residents too. As such, they are within the 250 feet from the proposed drive-thru. He said as many as half of the hotel’s 200 guests frequently complain about noise at Popeye’s. One hundred of the 200 rooms face Popeye’s. Aa drive-thru with people blaring radios while waiting would only add to the cacophony, he argued.
At that point, Solomon’s father, an attorney, arose. Where are they 100 people who complain? he asked Perito. Have they testified? As presented, this is not a credible objection, he argued.
The zoners’ vote for approval included a condition: that the staff’s five recommendations for the design be incorporated into the site plan, which now goes before the City Plan Commission fore approval. The suggestions involve monitoring, security, and a rule that Popeye’s employees park off site, on the United Illuminating property immediately to the west of the store.