New Chick-fil-A Gets Santa Barbara County Planning Commission Approval

The Chick-fil-A planned for Calle Real was approved on May 27 by the Santa Barbara County Planning Commission with a unanimous vote of 5-0 for the start of construction. The restaurant is being put in on Calle Real, at the former location of an IHOP that closed in the summer of 2022. Off the same exit at Turnpike are an In-N-Out Burger and a Starbucks, both featuring a drive-through.

The project was originally heard on March 25 but was pushed back due to the commissioners not seeing enough evidence on the air quality claim. They raised concerns about traffic, as well as how air pollution will be impacted. The staff report stated that the drive-through will have no greater air-quality impact than a regular restaurant.

“Idling is better than park and restart,” said Beth Collins, a land-use attorney from Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck LLP, during last Wednesday’s hearing. “Also, less time on site results in fewer air quality emissions from idling or park and restart.” Collins said that park-and-restart emissions are higher than stabilized running emissions, meaning that when an individual turns off their car, it begins to create emissions due to evaporating fuel from the hot engine.

The report also stated additional reduction in emissions will come from features that minimize time in the drive-through, such as being able to order online and an iPad ordering system on site.

“The study concluded that the wait time for a vehicle in the drive through would be five minutes and the wait time for a walk-in customer would be 10 minutes,” said Willow Brown, a planner for the county. “The emissions estimated for a customer parking and turning off their car, going inside and ordering, and getting back in the car and restarting it are significantly higher than the amount of emissions from a customer idling in the drive-through.”

The restaurant will have two lanes that can hold up to 32 vehicles maximum, anticipating 19 cars in the drive-through for about 85 percent of business hours. The location will also feature a patio with 66 seats, 52 parking spaces, and 10 spots for bikes. The restaurants will employ around 65 to 75 people at a time, with seven to 16 employees working during a shift.

The restaurant asked customers at the Santa Barbara restaurant to fill out a survey for the new location. Of more than 722 comment cards, 77 percent of the supporters said they lived in Isla Vista and Goleta. The average trip length to arrive at the State Street location of Chick-fil-A was 13.9 miles. With the new location being 2.6 miles to the west in Goleta Valley, it will reduce miles traveled for some customers.

“If we have a drive-through at this location, those people will drive to the shorter location,” said Collins. “Even the people who want to park and dine in will be able to find a parking space immediately because there will be more open parking.”

Planning Commission Chair Roy Reed spoke on his experience with drive-through restaurants and how order-takers will meet you in line. “If you look at In-N-Out, I think Chick-fil-A is clearly faster in getting your order and getting you through the line,” said Reed.

Two in-person public comments were made, indicating how much the speakers enjoyed going to and working with the restaurant, and how they believed a second location will improve traffic and vehicle emissions in the Santa Barbara area.

However, resident Suzann Sturz, who lives near the project site, expressed that the 18-year-old APCD analysis shown is not relevant and urged the commission to deny this project. Collins said that the data is not solely relied on by the APCD study from 2008, but that this data has been reaffirmed over the years.