The Dunwoody Homeowners Association at its April 14 meeting heard from restaurant representatives who want to build a Raising Cane’s Chicken Fingers restaurant on Ashford Dunwoody Road.
The site, located near an existing McDonald’s restaurant, was formerly a Wells Fargo bank branch office and has a drive-through window.
Carl Jenkins of Raising Cane’s showed several site plan illustrations for the proposed restaurant, which would seat 66 inside, 25 outside, and would have a double drive-through queue that would accommodate about 30 waiting cars.
Jenkins said the proposed site is “one of the best locations we can find in Dunwoody” because of the ability to handle a long queue of cars that would minimize back-up traffic on Ashford Dunwoody Road.
Several attendees at the meeting remarked that Raising Cane’s has a cult-like following among diners, similar to the In-N-Out Burger franchise, and expressed concerns that traffic on Ashford Dunwoody would be adversely affected by the drive-through line.
Jenkins said that the openings of Raising Canes’ locations typically see heightened traffic, but “over time, things calm down.”
Jenkins said about 65% of its sales traditionally come from drive-through customers, while 35% of people dine in. However, he said those numbers are shifting a bit more towards the dine-in side since the easing of concerns regarding COVID.
The DHA board did not voice either support or opposition to the plan, but its president Bob Fiscella joked that many residents are happy “whenever we replace a bank with anything else.”
A zoning ordinance passed last October requires a Special Land Use Permit for any new establishment that has a drive-through window. However, the property in question can be used for a restaurant without any change in rezoning, according to officials.
Jenkins said Raising Cane’s has not yet had formal discussions with Dunwoody officials but plans to in the future. He said Raising Cane’s “wants to operate where we are wanted.”
“If the community doesn’t want us here, we won’t move ahead with this,” he said. “We want to be part of the community. If you ask us to do $100,000 worth of landscaping, we will put in $150,000.”
In other action, several candidates vying for elected posts introduced themselves and briefly discussed their platforms, including Yolanda Mack, who is running for District 6 DeKalb County State Court judge, Austin McDonald and Andrew Ziffer, who are both running for the vacant DeKalb County District 1 Board of Education seat, Rob Patrick, running for re-election for District 1 Board of Commission, and Ana Maria Martinez, running for re-election for District 6 DeKalb County State Court.