Open until midnight or later? Not in Aurora
By staying open just an hour later each night - until midnight - SONIC officials believe their Aurora restaurant could generate $3,000 in additional tax revenue for the city.
Many of their neighbors, however, are not willing to put a price tag on their sleep.
When the SONIC at Kirk and Butterfield roads opened in August 2008, it did so with the stipulation it close at 11 p.m.
A year later, franchise owner Seth Wolken says he's feeling the heat from corporate officials to live up to the chain's recent marketing campaign that promotes hours of operation from 6 a.m. to midnight or later.
"We understand the community would be against us being open later than 11 p.m., but since that big ad push has been going on we've gotten a lot of negative feedback from customers and SONIC corporate," Wolken said. "They then don't look favorably on us as a franchisee and that could hinder our availability to develop more restaurants in the area."
Specifically Wolken was speaking to his franchise company's plan to convert the long-vacant Lone Star Steakhouse on New York Street near Route 59 into the city's second SONIC.
Residents of the nearby Kirkland Farms Homeowners Association aren't particularly worried about SONIC's corporate future in city, especially if it perpetuates the noise, fried food smells and loitering they already complained about during a recent meeting with Wolken.
"In their defense, they have been a good neighbor in what they control but the problems we have seem to be incidental to the SONIC," said association board member Craig Irvine. "Typically people who come to late-night fast-food places are prone to leaving in a loud manner. The guys on little ninja motorcycles and their 'Fast and the Furious' cars peel out now at 11:30 p.m. or midnight so I'm just not interested in moving that all back an hour later."
Wolken said noise and odor tests paid for by SONIC have shown the noise pollution comes from Kirk Road and smell complaints are unfounded because of a high efficiency hood system the city required when the restaurant was built. He stopped short of blaming the loitering on the nearby 24-hour Walmart that shares the parking lot.
Wolken also stressed that SONIC attempts to maintain litter-free grounds.
"We pick up all of the trash on our lot as well as in surrounding areas because our lot is our dining room," he said. "If our lot isn't clean, people won't think we're a clean operation."
Resident Kevin Ross lives in the home closest to the SONIC and Walmart and said he doubts the results of the smell and noise tests. SONIC, he said, also frequently misses picking up the trash that blows into his front yard.
When he moved into his home in 2004, he says he did so believing a senior citizen complex would be built on the lot now housing the Walmart and SONIC.
"I'm not against anyone looking to make a dollar but even something that smells that good can turn your stomach after a while," he said. "When the wind is coming from the south, the stench just permeates your clothes and your house."
First Ward Alderman Abby Schuler said the city's planning and development committee denied the request after she sat in on last weekend's meeting with the homeowners association.
"The neighbors felt SONIC has made some strides and they were glad they sat down but still it's only been a year," she said. "It's much too soon to consider that extra hour given that there have been incidences that have disturbed the neighborhood and may even continue later in the night if that hour was extended."
Alderman officially will consider Wolken's request at the Oct. 13 meeting of the city council. Irvine has asked all residents in his community with concerns to attend.