When In-N-Out Burger enters a street corner, snaking drive through lanes are part of the deal. A flyer is circulating around Santa Ana, protesting the noise, traffic and odor the chain will cause if it builds a restaurant on a vacant lot at Tustin and 17th Street. (SCNG File photo)

A flyer against In-N-Out in Santa Ana sparks debate on Facebook.

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In-N-Out is hoping to open a location at the corner of 17th Street and Tustin in Santa Ana. Santa Ana. The lot has been vacant for years. (Nancy Luna, Orange County Register/SCNG)

In-N-Out tries to keep lines moving by placing workers at the drive through. They take orders to speed up the ordering process. (Stan Lim, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)

In-N-Out is hoping to open a location at the corner of 17th Street and Tustin in Santa Ana. The lot has been vacant for years. (Nancy Luna, Orange County Register/SCNG)



Snaking lines at the drive-throughs are common at In-N-Out. (AP Photo/Adam Lau)

An In-N-Out Double Double and fries.

In-N-Out Burger is adding two more Orange County locations including one on an empty Santa Ana lot that has triggered some controversy among neighbors.

A flyer protesting an In-N-Out proposed at the corner of 17th Street and Tustin Avenue in Santa Ana has been circulating on Facebook. The flyer, which has been distributed to area residents, said the fast-food project will cause “noise, traffic and odors.” (The flyer also says a Chick-fil-A is planned for the site. But a spokeswoman for Chick-fil-A told the Register this week that the chain does “not currently have any new locations to confirm.”)

But, In-N-Out is definitely in play.

Carl Arena, vice president of development for Irvine-based In-N-Out, said the Santa Ana restaurant is still in the early phase of development.

“We do hope to open a restaurant there in the future. That said, it is still very early in the development application process,” he said.

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McDonald’s announces spicy Chicken McNuggets and a Chips Ahoy McFlurry He did not comment on the flyer, which was posted on a community Facebook forum targeting Orange residents. Most of the commenters said they didn’t have a problem with the new development. In fact, many rejoiced at the ability to order a Double Double closer to home.

“My husband and I are pretty stoked for this,” wrote one woman who said she lives nearby.

The busy corner, near the (55) freeway, is a few miles south of Orange. A gas station, a Starbucks with a drive-through and a Claim Jumper, occupy the other three corners.

Other locals said any development is long overdue as the blighted lot has been empty for years. “It will be great for that intersection. The area has been idle for years,” one person wrote.

If approved, and after construction begins, Arena said it will take at least four to five months to build.

“There is still quite a bit of work to be done before we can even set a time to begin construction. Because it is still so early in the process, it would be premature to comment on a timeline or if we will even achieve a development approval,” he said.

Arena said the chain will open its next Orange County restaurant in early 2018 in La Habra.

At nearly 4,000-square-feet, the restaurant will take up two lots at 1761 W. Whittier Blvd. It will have a patio and drive-through lane that can accommodate 17 vehicles.

The 325-unit chain, founded in Baldwin Park in 1948, operates 25 restaurants in Orange County. All restaurants are company owned.