Site of future Popeye’s on Kimberly Ave.
Westville and Kimberly Square are getting new fast food joints — with a side order of trees.
A brand new Popeye’s Chicken & Biscuits at the end of Kimberly Avenue and an enlarged Mickey D’s at 1094 Whalley were both approved at Wednesday night’s City Plan Commission (CPC) meeting.
Popeye’s architect Ray Oliver, with green belt in the site plan drawing.
Both site plans were among the first that reflect what CPC coordinator Joy Ford called “our new green regs.”
That’s why the plans showed to CPC members Wednesday night contain significant belts of attractive green.
In the case of the new Popeye’s, a now mostly empty lot will get a 2,600 square foot, 38-seat restaurant and drive-thru. Lining the perimeters along the north and south property lines will be a dozen sugar maples, according to the plan.
There will also be low plantings in the front of the building and on the menu board island.
Such changes were inspired by new zoning regulations the Board of Aldermen passed last year with City Plan staff advice. The regulations call for more vegetation and fewer impervious surfaces in new developments.
Click here for the city’s zoning ordinances and scroll to the changes.
According to Ford, the changes were approved by the Board of Alderman in one action on September 9, 2011, effective approximately 10/1/11. The amendments pertained to Sections 29, 45, 55, 58, 64, and new section 60.
In general and in specifics they deal with the relationship between hardscape and vegetation, storm water drainage, and appropriate lighting.
For example, section 60.2 (‘“reflective heat impact”) reads in part that half of all on site non-roof hard-scape or paved area will be either shaded or be constructed with solar reflective materials.
In addition to eliminating or reducing impervious sites, the regulations call for storm water management plans that take a much greener approach than they would have last year.
Other “green” changes to the zoning ordinances apply to sections dealing with parking, including new inducements to make space for bicycles.
The new regulations went into effect in October. The site plans discussed at the CPC’s first meeting of 2012 are the first to be implemented requiring trees and shading for impervious surfaces, appropriate lighting, and storm water drainage plans.
After Popeye’s architect Ray Oliver made his presentation Wednesday night, City Engineer Dick Miller asked him how many feet he will allowing for the green buffer.
Four feet, Oliver replied. “Six would be better for the tree belt,” Miller said More room for the trees, much better for the roots over a long period.
No problem, Oliver said.
Oliver said that the building itself will be a standard stucco structure with what he described as a little “southern, red awnings and green shutters to dress it up.”
Allan Appel Photo
The McDonald’s on Whalley at Dayton is to be razed, then rebuilt bigger.
Meanwhile up in Westville, the current McDonald’s on Whalley between Emerson and Dayton is to be razed and replaced with a building with a footprint nearly twice the size. The cost of the project is $1 million.
According to the project engineer John Kucich, the good news for nugget eaters will be two side-by-side drive-thrus for customer speed and convenience. Waiting time will be cut in half. So, too, theoretically, will idling.
New McDonald’s engineer John Kucich.
The new configuration also foresees parking reduced from 61 to 43 slots.
“We don’t need so many slots. That’s a 5,00 square foot reduction in impervious area,” said Kucich.
Joy Ford pronounced the response to the new regulation “so far, so good.” She said the architects generally are happy and the engineers are adjusting.