Batavia OKs setback, double lane drive-through for McDonald’s

The proposed replacement McDonald’s restaurant in downtown Batavia Monday got the setback variance and permit for a double-lane drive-through it wanted — but not before four aldermen criticized the plan, saying it doesn’t fit with Batavia’s comprehensive and downtown master plans.

Aldermen Jim Volk, Michael O’Brien, Dawn Tenuta and Robert Liva voted against allowing the building to be set back 78 feet from Wilson Street. Batavia’s zoning law only allows a 10-foot setback in the downtown to create a more “urban” look and encourage people to walk to and around the downtown. The existing building was constructed in 1978 — more than two decades before the zoning was changed — and is set back about 77 feet.

Tenuta, O’Brien and Liva also voted against allowing a double-lane drive-through. The existing building has a single-lane two-window drive-through.

“They (McDonald’s representatives) say they want to get people in and out,” Tenuta said. “I don’t want to get people in and out of our downtown. I would like people to stay.”

“I thought our vision was to get more pedestrianism going downtown,” O’Brien said, adding the city had spent a lot of time and money in the last 15 years revising its land-use plans and laws. But by building a smaller building, McDonald’s is discouraging walk-in business, he added, noting the next item on the council’s agenda was a resolution supporting the Kane County Health Department’s “Fit Kids 2020 Plan.”

“And the same night we are going to approve a double drive-through for McDonald’s?” he asked.

Alderman Eldon Frydendall, who voted in favor of the requests, criticized the new design as a “military Quonset hut with a few decorations,” adding that when it was built it had railroad-themed decor that tied into Batavia history.

But over the years, he said, the building changed to reflect the more standard look the McDonald’s corporation wanted, including putting vinyl siding over what he called “good brick.”

But the council wasn’t voting on the design; the Batavia Plan Commission hasn’t finished reviewing it. However, McDonald’s officials have already said it is a standard corporate design for new restaurants and the corporation is unlikely to approve deviations from it. They also said that in the Chicago market, about 74 percent of its business comes from the drive-through lanes.

Alderman Dave Brown, chairman of the community development committee, reminded the council that McDonald’s had delayed plans to rebuild for two years while a developer floated a plan to move the McDonald’s as part of building a parking garage, recreation center and shops at Houston Street, Island Avenue and Wilson. Mayor Jeff Schielke said other mayors who visit him are envious that Batavia has a McDonald’s in its downtown.

Still, Schielke said he was worried that having less seating in the new building would anger Batavia residents. He said the current McDonald’s, because it is located in a downtown, is frequented by large numbers of dine-in customers. It is a community gathering spot, he said.

“I hope they take into consideration some of the customer patterns here,” he said, regarding the restaurant’s interior design. “On a daily basis we have any number, several hundred, that join in large groups of 10, 12, up to 15 people, almost ceremoniously every day to enjoy each others company and whatever.”