Out with the old, in with the new.
The City of Armstrong is a step closer to a new McDonald’s restaurant, which will replace the existing one, after council unanimously passed third reading of the restaurant’s application to rezone the Smith Drive property from town centre commercial to highway and service commercial (Coun. Paul Britton was absent from the council meeting).
This will legally allow the restaurant to operate a dual-lane drive-thru service.
“The current building was built in 1997 prior to the current zoning coming into enactment, so our restaurant is considered illegal but non-conforming use because of the drive-thru,” said Delia Medwid, area real estate manager for McDonald’s Restaurants of Canada,” at a public hearing on the application Monday.
If final adoption of the application proceeds, the new building will have McDonald’s’ newer look.
“It will be contemporary,” said Medwid. “It will have all of the latest interior and exterior looks of our current standards. It will have McCafé. The drive-thru will be a dual-lane which will allow customers to order at the same time, then merge into a single lane, pay and pick up their order.”
The new building will almost double in size from the current 1,700 square feet to almost 3,400 square feet.
A couple of concerns were raised by the public in regards to traffic flow.
“It’s a rather busy intersection,” said Ken Chapman. “It’s going to exacerbate problems at certain times of the day.”
Replied Mayor Chris Pieper: “The traffic flow, I’m quite sure they would actually see it increase.. That’s why they’ve brought traffic in off Smith Drive so vehicles line up on the lot and not on Smith Drive.
“The entrance is in the same place.”
Medwid said if the application is successful, McDonald’s will apply for the required permits and construction would begin as soon as possible.
The restaurant would be shut down for approximately four-to-five months.