Drive-thrus may be a ubiquitous part of American culture, but in Carlsbad, they are few and far between.
That's because the city banned new ones from opening on Jan. 6, 1998, shortly after Legoland was approved.
"When Legoland was first approved to come to Carlsbad, there was a concern by the City Council that we would have an over abundance of drive-thru restaurants and low-budget motels," said Bret Schanzenbach, CEO of the Carlsbad Chamber of Commerce.
The city feared turning into another Anaheim, crowded with drive-thrus and motels. But now, the city is rethinking that ban.
Schanzenbach said the old fear is no longer relevant because the area around Legoland is built out. And he said the ban is hurting business in the city.
"There's a lot of drive-thru convenience that we don't have in Carlsbad that people didn't think about 25 years ago," Schanzenbach said. "There are no coffee shop drive-thrus in Carlsbad at all, and there's some really great restaurants that won't even consider us because they can't have a drive-thru attached to them.”
Not all residents, however, think the ban should be lifted. They cite concerns, such as traffic and pollution.
"They are an eyesore, disrupt traffic, and only offer low-paying jobs," said Brittany Stalica in an email to the city's Planning Commission.
Others say that with the population growth and recent development, the policy needs to be revisited.
"The recent opening of Chick-fil-A, for instance, highlights some of the challenges ... it's created an awkward and less-than-ideal experience for residents," said Mary Frances Stanley in an email to the city's Planning Commission.
The ban only applies to restaurants and not to other businesses, such as banks or pharmacies. Restaurants that already had drive-thrus before the ban were allowed to keep them.
This leads to situations where newer fast-food restaurants without drive-thrus are located next to older ones that have them, such as Chick-fil-A, which is located next to an In-N-Out with a drive-thru.
Currently, there are 12 grandfathered-in drive-thrus in the city. Chick-fil-A was one of the reasons why this issue is being brought up again.
"Most of the community members we've talked to about this issue have no idea that there was a blanket prohibition in place in Carlsbad until Chick-fil-A came in," Schanzenbach said. "And everybody wants to know how come there's not a drive through at Chick-fil-A?”
The Chamber is advocating for lifting the ban. Schanzenbach said pollution is less of a concern now than it was decades ago.
"With the state moving so rapidly towards electric vehicles and the hybrids and with the technology involved, even in gas combustible vehicles, that shut off when they idle, that the environmental concerns are much more mitigated," he said.
The city is considering several options, including allowing drive-thrus only in certain zones, requiring a conditional-use permit or leaving the ban in place.
The City Council’s Economic Development Subcommittee will take up the issue at its 10 a.m. meeting Tuesday.
