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Traffic outside a California Chick-fil-A has gotten so cuckoo that local officials are considering declaring the insanely popular fast-food eatery a “public nuisance.”
Officials in Santa Barbara said some motorists can’t even cross the road due to the massive lines at the restaurant’s drive-thru — because they choke traffic for hours on end.
“The city’s traffic engineer, police chief and community development director have evaluated the situation and believe that the persistent traffic back-up onto State Street is a public nuisance and that the nuisance is caused by the operation of a drive-through at the Chick-fil-A restaurant,” a city traffic study concluded, according to a report by CBS News.
The study determined that the line of cars at the drive-thru window blocks one lane on the public roadway for up to 90 minutes on weekdays — and 155 minutes on weekends.
“Chick-fil-A has a good problem here,” Santa Barbara City Council member Kristen Sneddon told the station. “They are so successful they have outgrown their side. It’s possible they were oversized for that site to begin with.”
The council voted unanimously to move forward on the “public nuisance” designation but agreed to keep a public hearing on the move open until June 7.
Chick-fil-A, best known for its delectable chicken sandwiches, requested the delay to chime in before a final vote.
The Santa Barbara location opened in 2013 and is the chain’s only outlet in the city.
Travis Collins, who runs the restaurant, told CBS it wants to “be a good neighbor,” and was eyeing beefing up staff and considering traffic-control agents to ease the problem.
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