No Zone Change For Chick-Fil-A In Concord, City Staff Recommends

CONCORD, CA — Concord city staff is set to recommend the City Council reject a general plan amendment and rezoning to allow a Chick-fil-A restaurant at the site of a closed Chinese buffet on Willow Pass Road. In December, Chick-fil-A submitted a preliminary application to develop a franchise-operated restaurant with drive-thru service at 1400 Willow Pass Road. The site is now the closed Lin's Buffet Chinese restaurant.

Chick-fil-A had earlier explored building a restaurant at 1225 Willow Pass Road — now the empty former Elephant Bar restaurant — and at 1353 Willow Pass Road, which has since become the site of Gen Korean BBQ House.

And while those parcels were zoned for fast-food restaurants with a drive-thru, Concord city staff said they wouldn't have supported those locations over concerns about effects on traffic, circulation and economic development.

The city has similar concerns with the Lin's Buffet site, which currently is zoned for fast-food restaurants, but not with drive-thru windows.

A city staff report says Chick-fil-A was encouraged to explore other areas of Concord to build, but that Chick-fil-A has said it wants to build near Interstate Highway 680, which is a quarter-mile west of the Lin's Buffet location.

The Concord City Council meeting begins at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday in the City Hall council chamber, 1950 Parkside Drive.

Bay City News Service