Potential drive-thru ordinance change

The Salt Lake City Council is considering adopting a change to its drive-thru ordinance that requires facilities to serve walk-ups and bicyclists through their drive-thru windows or open up their facilities after hours to all customers. Old facilities would be exempted unless significantly remodeled. But they would be legally nonconforming uses and this ordinance, if adopted, would create an explosion of nonconforming uses. This is ironic because Salt Lake City Planning is attempting to decrease the number of nonconforming businesses (generally in residential zoned neighborhoods).

The ordinance has been prompted by incidents where service was refused for pedestrians and bicyclists at drive-thru windows after hours. That does happen, but this ordinance is an overreaction to a business decision that takes into account the customer, public and worker safety and insurance costs. The specific language in the proposal (Title 5) is: "During business hours a building with a drive-through facility shall be accessible to all customers either through the drive-through, a walk-up window, in the dining room or by other means, notwithstanding whether they arrive on foot, bicycle, in a motor vehicle or another mode of transportation."

The proposal says that the standards "would improve pedestrian access and safety of future drive-thru developments" but encouraging the mixing of pedestrians and vehicles (possibly with incapacitated drivers) in a drive-thru window lane is an accident waiting to happen. Actually many accidents like this already happen. These accidents shouldn't be encouraged.

If the facilities are forced to stay open for the hours of drive- thru windows, they complain that they will be inundated with drunks, homeless and drug problems. Restaurants do not want drunk or drug incapacitated customers, especially inside their facilities. It increases the requirements for more Salt Lake City police to respond to these issues. And if drive-thru windows open for walk-ups and bicyclists, the clerks are exposed to increased potential robberies and violence. Walk-ups and bicyclists can easily reach in with a gun and create a significant threat to the clerks. Government should not be telling businesses how to design their facilities that could threaten public safety.

Some say that this ordinance will decrease drunk driving, but convincing a drunk to walk instead of driving is not realistic. The next step will be to place the same requirements on other drive- thru businesses, including banks and cleaners. There are potential solutions that might require pre-paying or ordering by phone prior to pickup, but businesses should decide if their facility can safely serve those customers after hours. They should not be told to serve customers that could cause significant public safety issues. This isn't just big mother government; it is big bully government.

On Sept. 30, the Salt Lake City Council will decide (at its 7 p.m. meeting) if it wants to force businesses to serve anyone walking or biking up to a fast-food window, no matter how incapacitated or dangerous they are.

George Chapman is a former bicyclist and retired engineer who is an activist in Salt Lake City and encourages public participation in government.