HomeMy WebLinkAboutPZ - Applicant's Response To Staff Report
The Best Enterprise
13502 Hamburger Lane
TM
Is A Free Enterprise
Baldwin Park, Ca 91706-5885
626-813-8200
Staff Report Response H-2024-0058
Proposed In-N-Out Burgers Restaurant
5985 and 6037 N. Ten Mile Rd. Meridian, ID
Staff Report Page 3 Item C.1 Site Development and Use Analysis, Proposed Use Analysis (UDC
11-2)
Page 3 of the Staff report makes mention of hours of use and deliveries. On operating hours, the Staff
report appears to admit that a 6:00 AM to 11:00 PM operating hour restriction does not apply to the
project, while noting that the CUP could be more restrictive. In-N-Out agrees that the City UDC
would not restrict our proposed operating hours per se, and we would ask the Planning Commission to
consider our request to operate from 10:30 AM to 1:00 AM Sunday-Thursday and 10:30 to 1:30 AM
Friday and Saturday. These are our standard operating hours at all of our restaurants and we feel that
it is important to offer a late-night dine-in or drive-through option to the entire community. The
distance between our restaurant and the adjacent residential uses provides an adequate buffer and the
fact is that the road noise from Ten Mile will greatly exceed any noise produced by our restaurant.
With respect to night time deliveries, In-N-Out delivers fresh food products and restaurant supplies no
more than once nightly using an In-N-Out owned, maintained, and operated delivery truck. The
configuration of the proposed site will allow our truck to navigate the lot to avoid backing up so there
will be no backup alarms needed. There will be no impact to the nearby residential uses.
Staff Report Page 3 Item C.3 Specific Use Standards, Drive-Through Establishment (UDC 11-4-
3-11)
Here Staff expresses vague concerns about the ability of the proposed 29 car stacking lane to handle
customer traffic without “obstruction of driveways, drive-aisles, and the public right-of-way”. Staff
also refers to the site as a “constrained site”.
The queuing analysis in the Traffic Study clearly shows that, even if the Ten Mile site were to
experience the same drive-through volume as the Village at Meridian site did when it was surveyed in
December of 2024, the Ten Mile site can handle even the maximum queue of at least 47 cars when the
proposed overstack plan is employed.
And, if by “constrained” Staff is referring to the Ten Mile site as a standalone site with no adjacent
reciprocal mall or shopping center parking that can be employed for overflow queueing, that is true.
The Ten Mile site, however, is 2.2 acres which provides ample area for onsite over stacking. 2.2 acres
is significantly larger than most In-N-Out Burger sites and is significantly larger than the Village at
Meridian site which is 1.2acres, the Boise site which is 0.85 acre, and the Nampa site which is 1.4
acres. Staff, the Planning Commission, and the public can be reassured as to the adequacy of the Ten
Mile site when seeing how well the Boise and Nampa sites are performing despite being smaller than
the Ten Mile site.
Finally, at the bottom of this section Staff comments that “Many letters of opposition have been
received from area residents and patrons of adjacent commercial uses attesting to the traffic and
congestion issues in this area and concerns the proposed use will only exacerbate these issues”. In-N-
Out believes this comment unfortunately ignores many letters of support that have also been sent to
you.
“God Bless America” • The Customer Is Everything To Us
The Best Enterprise
13502 Hamburger Lane
TM
Is A Free Enterprise
Baldwin Park, Ca 91706-5885
626-813-8200
Staff Report Pg. 6 Item E.1 Transportation Analysis Access (Comp Plan, UDC 11-3A-3, UDC 11-
3H-4)
It is common for proposed In-N-Out Projects to receive comments and scrutiny about traffic. What is
uncommon here is that while Staff and some members of the community expressed concerns about
traffic, Staff never asked for a traffic analysis. It was almost as if they had made their mind up on the
matter of traffic at the Projects pre-application stage, and were not interested in any facts or an
objective analysis. Therefore, In-N-Out prepared and submitted a limited Traffic analysis tailored to
address specific areas of concern expressed by Staff and by nearby residents - namely the ability of the
proposed site to manage onsite queueing of the drive-through and to analyze potential impact to the
intersection of Ten Mile and Lost Rapids Road.
It is also common for an Applicants traffic study to receive scrutiny and comment from City Staff and
often some back and forth between a draft and final report. To date there has been no feedback
whatsoever from anyone at any department at the City except for what is written in the Staff Report.
Interestingly, there is truly nothing negative at all in this section of the Staff Report, except for the
bolded conclusion at the end which reads “While Staff doesn’t necessarily disagree that the proposal
should be adequate once operations normalize, Staff is concerned about the impacts to internal
driveways and adjacent public right-of-way and associated public safety in the interim if vehicles stack
beyond the boundary of the site”. This concern is exactly why In-N-Out prepared the Traffic Analysis
and the Analysis should reassure Staff, the Planning Commission and the community, that the Site is
more than adequately designed and has internal capacity to handle what we like to call the
“Honeymoon Period” business that is expected for a while after opening. Not only does the Traffic
Analysis address, and dispel, the listed concerns, the current conditions at the Village location, the
Boise location, and the Nampa location should offer additional real world reassurance when In-N-Out
tells you that the proposed Ten Mile location will operate wonderfully.
Staff Report Page 7 References Comprehensive Plan Policy #2.02.02C States “Support infill
development that does not negatively impact the abutting, existing development”.
Staff’s paragraph here reads “Based on the above analysis and the public testimony received, Staff
believes the proposed development will have a negative impact on adjacent residential properties.
Concerns include deteriorating air quality from vehicle exhaust while cars idle in line for service, and
noise generated outside acceptable hours for areas next to residential uses. Additionally, the proposed
development will most certainly increase traffic and congestion in an area that is already strained,
further exacerbating existing transportation challenges.”
Much of the referenced “above analysis” is opinion and conjecture, not supported at all by facts or real
world situations. And while concerns expressed by community members should be considered in any
decision, concerns or opinions don’t measure up to facts, analysis, or professional opinion.
“Concerns” thrown in here for apparent good measure include:
Deteriorating air quality from vehicle exhaust fumes while cars idle in line for service. This is a
factor included as a basis for denial, really? Are idling cars in a drive-through illegal in Meridian?
They weren’t illegal when the first Meridian store was approved. They weren’t illegal when the
Costco gas station was approved. They weren’t illegal when the Café Rio drive-through was approved
immediately next door to the proposed Ten Mile In-N-Out. A drive-through restaurant was ALWAYS
slated for this property and was included in the master approval for the Costco shopping center.(Todd
please confirm before stating this) Does the City have an objective standard for evaluating this issue
like the State of California does? The State of California has some of the most restrictive
“God Bless America” • The Customer Is Everything To Us
The Best Enterprise
13502 Hamburger Lane
TM
Is A Free Enterprise
Baldwin Park, Ca 91706-5885
626-813-8200
environmental regulations in the Nation and it imposes an objective standard for evaluating air quality
– a standard that In-N-Out Burger has always satisfied, and if it were imposed here, this proposed
project would satisfy it. I’ll just finish by saying that the proposed project is bounded by 2 busy roads
– Lost Rapids Road which has approximately 2,700 daily trips, and Ten Mile Road which has 20,182.
Any emissions from the In-N-Out drive-through would be minimal in this context. And, let’s
remember that all new cars have idle limiters and more and more folks are driving electric cars these
days.
-----------------------------------------
The analysis portion of the Staff Report concludes on page 7 with the statement that “As of the date of
this report, 146 letters of public testimony, mostly in opposition to the project, have been received and
are included in the public record. However there have been at least over 50 letters of support and more
likely coming in.
Page 8 of the Staff Report Section IV City/Agency Comments & Conditions, Meridian Planning
Division reads “Staff is not recommending approval of the proposed conditional use permit; therefore
conditions of approval are not included. If the Commission wishes to approve the request, the project
should be continued to a subsequent hearing date for Staff to prepare conditions of approval for
consideration by the Commission.” As an Applicant that has worked diligently with Staff to produce
a Project that objectively complies with City Codes and Standards, this is very unusual and very
disappointing. In fact, if I were a Planning Commissioner I would be terribly disappointed with City
Staff. If the Planning Commission wishes to approve the Project, and In-N-Out hopes that it does,
Staff’s failure to provide proposed conditions likely precludes the Commission from taking approval
action tonight and simply extends the process unnecessarily. Not very fair to the Applicant.
Now we get to the Findings section of the Staff Report for the Conditional Use Permit. This section
lists 11 Findings, 3 of which Staff finds inapplicable, 3 of which Staff finds it can make, and 5 of
which Staff finds it cannot make in support of the Project. In-N-Out disagrees with Staffs arguments
for the 5 findings that it cannot make.
Finding #1
That the site is large enough to accommodate the proposed use and meet all the dimensional
and development regulations in the district in which the use is located.
Staff finds the site is not large enough to accommodate the proposed use and comply with the
specific use standards listed in UDC 11-4-3-11, which require stacking lanes to have
sufficient capacity to prevent obstruction of driveways, drive aisles and the public right-of-way
by patrons, per the analysis above in Section III.
In-N-Out has factually refuted all of the spurious arguments Staff made in its report and it is clear that
the City can objectively make Finding #1 in support of the CUP. I will briefly bullet point the
arguments in support of the In-N-out position:
The site is 2.2 acres which is more than adequately sized to support the proposed Project.
That is much larger than an average In-N-Out. It is much larger than the Village at
Meridian location which is 1.2acres, the Boise location which is 0.85 acres, and the
Nampa location which is 1.4 acres (.about 1.1 acres useable due to setbacks)
“God Bless America” • The Customer Is Everything To Us
The Best Enterprise
13502 Hamburger Lane
TM
Is A Free Enterprise
Baldwin Park, Ca 91706-5885
626-813-8200
The stacking lanes are more than adequate to contain the drive-through queue onsite.
Even if the drive-through queue were to manifest as the maximum queue observed at the
Village at Meridian store. This evidence is presented in the traffic analysis which uses real
world data gathered from the Village site in early December of 2024 – one year after that
location opened which was after the Boise location opened but before the Nampa
location opened.
The project provides parking for 73 cars. This is 4.5 times the City’s code required parking
of 16 cars. The over stacking plan noted above would potentially sacrifice 15 stalls but
that would still leave 58 cars available which is 3.6 times the City’s code required parking.
Finding #2
That the proposed use will be harmonious with the Meridian comprehensive plan and in
accord with the requirements of this title.
Staff finds the proposed infill development will not be harmonious with the Comprehensive
Plan in that the proposed use and extended hours of operation will negatively impact
abutting existing residential development, area residents that live nearby traveling on Lost
Rapids and patrons of other commercial uses in the area due to excessive noise, traffic and
congestion.
Nowhere in the Staff report does City Staff cite any evidence or facts to support the erroneous
conclusion that it can’t make Fining #2 in support of the Project. A couple brief bullet points to
support our position that this finding can and should be made:
The operating hours proposed by In-N-Out are consistent with the C-G Zoning – the Staff
Report says so. City Staff can’t acknowledge compliance with a code in one part of its
Report and then claim that component of the development proposal is not compliant and
therefore disqualifies the project from approval. If the Planning Commission wishes to
exercise discretion in imposing a more restrictive CUP condition of project approval that
is an entirely different thing.
The City can’t argue that the use proposed by In-N-Out will cause excessive noise, traffic
and congestion without providing any evidence to support that argument. To the contrary,
In-N-Out has provided evidence in the traffic report to refute the traffic and congestion
claims, and the noise complaint is a canard when there is ample distance buffer between
the commercial and residential uses and a drive-through use on this site was always
included in the master approval of the Costco shopping center
In addition to the above arguments against the City’s position, denying In-N-Out on basis
of its proposed drive-through use would be employing a double standard when several
nearby drive-through’s with similar circumstances received approval – Café’ Rio, Burger
King, Dutch Bros, and others are examples.
Finding #3
“God Bless America” • The Customer Is Everything To Us
The Best Enterprise
13502 Hamburger Lane
TM
Is A Free Enterprise
Baldwin Park, Ca 91706-5885
626-813-8200
That the design, construction, operation and maintenance will be compatible with other uses
in the general neighborhood and with the existing or intended character of the general vicinity
and that such use will not adversely change the essential character of the same area.
Staff finds the design and operation of the proposed use will not be compatible with other
residential and commercial uses in the general neighborhood, due to noise, air quality and
transportation impacts, which are already challenging in this area and will be exacerbated
with the proposed use as discussed above in Section III, which will adversely change the
essential character of the area.
The City’s position on this Finding is wrong for the same reasons that it is wrong on Finding #2, and:
The City has provided no objective or empirical evidence whatsoever to support its
position. To the contrary, In-N-Out provides evidence that this Finding can be made in the
affirmative, and the Finding was easily made for several other similar uses approved
nearby, including immediately next door (Café’ Rio).
To find otherwise for In-N-Out would be to employ an unfair double standard and be
inconsistent with the City’s own codes.
Finding #4
That the proposed use, if it complies with all conditions of the approval imposed, will not
adversely affect other property in the vicinity.
Staff recommends denial of the proposed use as Staff finds the proposed use will adversely
affect other properties in the vicinity. Staff finds it is not practicable to develop conditions of
approval to adequately mitigate these adverse effects absent fundamental changes to the
proposed use.
The City’s position on this Finding is wrong for the same reasons that it is wrong on Finding #2 and
#3, and more:
Sprinkled throughout the Staff report are mention of conditions that might be
recommended if the Planning Commission chooses to approve the Project. Yet, the Staff
Report inexplicably fails to provide Conditions of Approval that might allow the Planning
Commission to actually approve the Project at this Hearing.
Finding #7
That the proposed use will not involve activities or processes, materials, equipment and
conditions of operation that will be detrimental to any persons, property or the general
welfare by reason of excessive production of traffic, noise, smoke, fumes, glare or odors.
Staff finds the proposed use will be detrimental to persons, property and the general welfare
due to excessive production of exhaust fumes from vehicles idling in line for extended periods
of time, noise, traffic and congestion based on the analysis above in Section III and letters of
testimony received from the public included in the public record.
“God Bless America” • The Customer Is Everything To Us
The Best Enterprise
13502 Hamburger Lane
TM
Is A Free Enterprise
Baldwin Park, Ca 91706-5885
626-813-8200
As noted previously, In-N-Out has factually refuted many of the unsupported conclusions that Staff
made in its report and it is clear that the City can and should objectively make Finding #7 in support of
the CUP. The City’s arguments against the Project lack substance and appear to be founded on
opinion and conjecture. They are unsupported by any facts or evidence and appear to be a reaction to
vocal opposition from a small localized group of nearby residents. Opposition from a small but vocal
group of nearby residents should not preclude the City from approving a Project that complies with its
Codes and requirements, a Project that will be a benefit to the entire Meridian Community. Finally,
the City’s Staff Report appears to completely dismiss the fact that there is also support for the project
from throughout the Community.
Thank you for your time Commissioners. In-N-Out asks you to make your decision based on the facts
and the substance of our development proposal. We operate our first ever Idaho, Village at Meridian,
restaurant in a manner that is entirely consistent with our Mission Statement. We have made good on
every commitment we made when the City permitted that Project and we have shown you and your
surrounding communities of Boise and Nampa that we are good neighbors. As you deliberate and
make your decision, we ask you to treat us as a valued member of your business Community that
simply wishes to expand the opportunity to serve your community and all of our customers.
“God Bless America” • The Customer Is Everything To Us