McDonald’s faces design standards in Garden City

<!–Saxotech Paragraph Count: 13
–>

The McDonald’s restaurant on Middlebelt south of Ford would like to expand to a new, adjacent site.

Company officials have acquired the adjacent former gas station location at the southwest corner of Ford and Middlebelt for this purpose, but the new location will need to adhere to specific standards.

Amy Neary, principal planner of McKenna Associates, the city’s planning consultants, said that its location in the Central Business District requires the considerations.

“The CBD is an established zoning district in the city that was created as a result of downtown planning initiatives that started almost 30 years ago,” Neary said. “These are not new zoning ordinance standards which McDonald’s is required to comply with. These standards have been in place since about 1996.”

Neary said there are some key design standards. The building setback must be no more than 12 feet but may be increased up to 20 feet for a drive-thru from the front lot lines at Middlebelt and Ford, depending on site layout.

Design standards

Buildings situated on a corner shall possess a level of architectural design that incorporates accents and details that accentuate its prominent location.

“This can be accomplished through increased building height, building peak, tower or similar accent, with the highest point at the corner,” Neary said.

Alternatively, a pedestrian plaza may be provided at the corner.

Off street parking must be located in the rear portion of the site and behind the building. Access to parking lots must be provided off alleys, when available, in order to minimize curb-cuts across pedestrian sidewalks.

Off-street parking lots with frontage on Ford or Middlebelt are prohibited, unless screened with a decorative wall, fence or hedge.

The city held a rare joint meeting, billed as a workshop, on Monday with the Garden City Council, Planning Commission and the DDA.

At the meeting, McKenna Associate representatives produced a two-story design which it thinks is ideal for the site.

“The two-story McDonald’s building design was taken from a store in Texas,” Neary said. “There are two-story McDonald’s in Michigan, however, we wanted to use a McDonald’s with their new corporate architecture and that is why we chose the Texas store to use as an example.”