Carlsbad adopts new drive-thru policy

After 26 years, Carlsbad eases its drive-thru restaurant ban by allowing case-by-case approvals, but with potentially costly hurdles for businesses

The Carlsbad City Council somewhat lifted a ban on drive-thru restaurants on Tuesday. Developments will be considered on a case-by-case basis. Steve Puterski photo

CARLSBAD — A long-running ban on drive-thru restaurants has been repealed … sort of.

The City Council voted 3-2 on Tuesday to keep a limited prohibition in place, although site-specific development applications will be considered on a case-by-case basis. The catch, though, is an applicant must assume the full cost of environmental analysis.

Some developers estimate those initial costs could range between $500,000 to $750,000 and then must navigate the City Council in hopes of getting three votes for approval. Bret Schanzenbach, chief executive of the Carlsbad Chamber of Commerce, said it will be a wait-and-see approach if any businesses move on the new policy.

Meanwhile, staff presented five options, including keeping the ban, the pseudo ban, permitting drive-thrus in the Local Shopping Center Zone, allowing then in “restaurant” commercial zones or in commercial zones. The last three options would’ve required a potential one-time $175,000 cost for an environmental analysis form the city.

The first two options were no cost to the city, although it appeared there was some confusion as to whether the city would’ve been required to undergo the analysis.

According to staff, the option passed by the council requires subsequent site-specific approval of a discretionary permit, California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) review and environmental analysis to be performed by project applicants, not the city, on a project-by-project basis. As such, staff doesn’t anticipate the need for funding to make the required zoning ordinance amendments to implement this option.

Alternatively, staff said the city could prepare a programmatic-level environmental analysis that applicants could use when processing their respective applications, saving them time and money in review. A city-initiated environmental analysis would be a one-time cost of approximately $175,000.

Any environmental costs will be paid directly by an applicant depending upon what they submit. A future applicant would be required to submit fees per the city’s master fee schedule, which would have included a zoning change and Conditional Use Permit, and potentially a Master or Specific Plan Amendment, staff said.

Councilwoman Teresa Acosta, who voted no with Councilwoman Priya Bhat-Patel, said one of her concerns was the cost to the city with the other three options. She said if one of those three were selected, it may require the city to enforce more restrictions on businesses.

“I want to make sure it’s not on the city,” Acosta said about analysis. “The onus is on the business community who wants the change. Maybe we put more restrictions on businesses for other things.”