In-N-Out Burger did not get the nod from the City Council at
Wednesday
’s meeting.
In-N-Out Burger did not get the nod from the City Council at Wednesday’s meeting.
A move to approve the fast food eatery lost when only Mayor Dennis Kennedy and Councilman Greg Sellers favored it; Councilmembers Hedy Chang, Larry Carr and Steve Tate said they were not yet satisfied. That led to a unanimous decision to delay a decision to a special meeting next Wednesday.
It was not that they don’t like In-N-Out, not that they are rejecting 50 new jobs or sales tax the company estimates at $50,000 a year, not that they object to Applebee’s, a sit-down restaurant In-N-Out has brought along to appease the city.
They balked at overriding the city’s general plan that reserved that ‘gateway-to-the-city” location at Cochrane Road and Hwy 101 for two sit-down restaurants, not a fast food, drive-through establishment, an arrangement agreed to by Tharaldson, the property developer.
The Planning Commission, at a recent meeting, agreed with In-N-Out that the site is actually too small for two sit-down restaurants, despite what the general plan says.
“I want to preserve the integrity of the general plan,” said Tate near the end of the two-hour discussion. He emphasized that his reluctance was based on the gateway issue plus landscaping, architectural and building position problems, not on the the idea of In-N-Out itself.
While the Planning Commission and the Architectural Review Board have both approved the project – with a few reservations – city staff has remained adamantly opposed. And staff’s reluctance has caused the council and In-N-Out to wrangle every step of the way.
A previous problem about traffic circulation was fixed when the company, Public Works staff and the Commission worked out a re-alignment of the main drive aisle so it lines up between the two restaurants, ending up at the hotel in back. A permanent driveway cut on Cochrane Road needs approval from Caltrans but, until that is secured, the commission and the company – and the council – will be satisfied with one slightly west of the intended spot.
Quibbling over franchise architecture was put to rest when In-N-Out offered to replace its usual design with one from a new site in Chandler, Ariz. That design has a solid, southwestern feel with wide overhangs and thick, tapered columns.
“It will be the most handsomely detailed building in the area,” said Ron Volle, Northern California real estate manager for the company.
The ARB and the company will meet once more to iron out color and material details so the board will fit into Morgan Hill. Council said they were satisfied with that.
They were not, however, satisfied with the landscaping. The Planned Unit Development (PUD) calls for 50 percent of building perimeters to be landscaped. Far less than that is planned for In-N-Out.
“It’s because of the overhangs,” Volle said, referring to the southwestern design the ARB had insisted upon. The PUD also calls for a 30-foot-wide landscape buffer between the parking lot and the street but the eastern-most part is within three feet of the freeway offramp buffer.
“I get frustrated with this ‘sea of parking’ I continue to hear. There will be mature trees and a well-landscaped area, not a sea of cars.”
Volle said the company has applied to Caltrans for a variance and permission to landscape the now-empty buffer between the offramp and the eastern corner of the lot.
Nor was council happy with the building’s placement. Staff continuously recommended pulling In-N-Out forward, closer to Cochrane Road. That would entail moving one of two rows of parking to the rear of the site, a situation that Volle said he could not approve.
David Bischoff, planning director, said so many rows of parking between the building and the street would be unappealing.
“You would have a sea of cars,” he said.
“Restaurants do not want people to drive up, see a full parking lot, and leave because they think there is no place to park,” Volle said. “Applebee’s would not accept this.”
Kennedy said he thought leaving the building as planned might not be a bad idea.
“We moved Walgreen’s (on East Dunne Avenue, across from Safeway) and lost several planned oak trees. With the use of berms, trees and landscaping, the negative can become a positive.”
Volle insisted his company was bending over backwards to satisfy the city.
“No other fast food company could afford this,” he said. He said In-N-Out has spent more than $175,000 on the project so far.
The annual sales tax of $50,000 predicted by Volle sounded high to Jack Dilles, the city’s finance director, for a fast food restaurant but, on Thursday he said it could happen.
“To me that is a very aggressive number,” he said. “It would be in the upper range, but it is possible.”
Dilles said, in order for In-N-Out to provide the city with $50,000, it would have to make annual sales of $5 million.
“It (the tax the city gets) is calculated at 1 percent,” he said. Dilles said the only other tax or fee the restaurant would owe the city is a business license tax, and that is “very low.”
Kennedy asked for details. Volle said the $5 million would be a minimum in sales but would be a combination of the two restaurants.
Volle brought the sheaf of petitions with 300 signatures of residents wanting the restaurant in Morgan Hill. Residents came in person, too, to urge the council to say yes.
“In-N-Out is a first class company,” said Jim Stewart. “It’s not like your typical fast food place.”
“We wonder why we have no business opportunities here,” Sellers said. “This two-hour meeting is why.”
Both Chang and Tate worried over the staff reluctance to the In-N-Out project.
“I’ve never seen our planning staff so uncomfortable in my seven years here,” Chang said. “Something is being shoved down their throats.”
Chang and Tate will meet with Volle before the April 30 meeting to try to get past the hurdles.
“I want to feel comfortable with this project but I am not there yet,” Tate said.
