The Sandy Springs Planning Commission recommended removing restricted hours of operations for a drive-through for the Whataburger restaurant planned on an outparcel of the Dunwoody Place shopping center.
The 1.36-acre site at 8721 Roswell Road is zoned commercial mixed-use and was home to a Wells Fargo branch bank that was built in 1995. The shopping center is anchored by a Publix grocery store.
The Whataburger franchisee plans to demolish the vacant bank structure and its drive-through facilities to build a new single-story, 3,287 square-foot Whataburger restaurant. It will include an outdoor patio and bike rack, 20 parking spaces, a dumpster enclosure and landscaping and hardscape amenities.
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The applicant needs a conditional use permit for a drive-through facility, which was recommended for approval by the planning commission. The drive-through will be hidden from Roswell Road by the elevation and landscape.
The applicant was receptive to the vehicle-stacking requirement for the drive-through and the requirement to follow a site plan that was submitted on April 1. What wasn’t wanted was a restriction on the restaurant’s hours.
Harrison Parker, the Whataburger franchisee with MTO RE, questioned the staff’s recommended condition to limit restaurant hours to 5 a.m. to 12 a.m. Sunday through Wednesday, and 5 a.m. to 2 a.m. Thursday through Saturday.
“But our concern here is the hours of operation, because it is Whataburger’s purpose statement, and has been for 75 years, ‘Goodness, 24/7.’ That is their mission statement,” Parker said.
Whataburger would not be happy for the Sandy Springs restaurant to be one out of 1,300 restaurants not open 24/7, he said.
Staff confirmed that no other Whataburger restaurants had restricted hours.
An initial motion to recommend approval with staff conditions, including the restricted hours, failed. The planning commission then approved a recommendation with the restriction on hours of operation removed.
The Sandy Springs City Council is scheduled to hold a public hearing on the conditional use permit during its meeting on Aug. 19 at 6 p.m. at city hall.
