Celebration Village chick fil a.jpg

A rendering of of Chick-fil-A's proposed location at 2183 E. Beltline Avenue NE at Celebration Village in Grand Rapids. The restaurant is re-submitting plans for a drive-through this January after the Planning Commission denied its proposal in October 2016. Contributed.

GRAND RAPIDS, MI - Chick-fil-A's second attempt for a drive-through restaurant at Celebration Village has met the same ax as the first plan.

The Grand Rapids Planning Commission denied Chick-fil-A's plans for a 120-seat restaurant with a 23-car drive through at 2183 E. Beltline Ave. NE. on the Grand Rapids city line in its Thursday meeting.

"At first glance to me this doesn't appear to be demonstrably different," said Chairman Kyle Van Strien. "I think they were trying to address our concerns but I don't know if this meets the spirit and intent of the overlay district and the joint plan. We have denied a lot of drive-throughs for this area."

In October the commission had denied nearly identical plans for the restaurant because it was a standalone drive-through, and the project didn't offer more than one use.

This January Chick-fil-A returned with plans - proposing what they considered to be "multi-use" by tacking a 1,200-square-foot office space with its own entrance onto the side of the Chick-fil-A building.

Jason Hill, development manager for the company, said he was hopeful that the proposal would have met approval with the office space - but the Planning Commission didn't agree.

The commission's Thursday denial cited a need to protect the transportation capacity of the East Beltline corridor -- and that a drive-through does not fit with the walkable intent of Celebration Village.

The proposed office space wasn't enough to constitute a mixed-use project or an integrated development, the commission said, and the peak times at the restaurant along lunch and dinner will clash with rush hour.

Hill said the company would be reviewing whether they wanted to pursue the Celebration Village location.

Chick-fil-A has the property that fronts East Beltline under contract, Hill said. The location is the site of two former failed restaurants - Fajita Republic Cantina and Johnny Carino's.

"You do want to consider the longevity of the business that will be there on a site where two restaurants have failed," Hill said. "We've never closed (a Chick-fil-A) due to lack of performance."

The company was proposing to tear down the existing building and build a new 5,036 square-foot restaurant that would seat 120 people, as well as an adjacent 1,200 square-foot office. Plans submitted did not include windows, and Chick-fil-A did not yet have a tenant in mind for that space.

Chris Zull of the city's traffic engineering department showed the Planning Commission a video of traffic during the opening day of the Chick-fil-A at 1545 Edgeknoll Dr. S.E. in Gaines Township. It showed an aerial angle of cars backed up along Kalamazoo Avenue and the exit ramp from M-6, waiting to get into the restaurant.

Opening Day! Posted by Chick-fil-A Grand Rapids South on Thursday, January 12, 2017

Zull wanted the Planning Commission to consider whether they would want that kind of traffic on Beltline and Knapp.

"This area is very congested, with 30,000-plus cars a day on Beltline, and 15,000 cars on Knapp," Zull said. "This is the type of context that needs to be considered, especially for opening day and the regular weekend traffic."

Hill said Chick-fil-A worked with police on the opening day of the Gaines Township Chick-fil-A as they anticipated crowds. When necessary, Hill said the company will pay for police to mitigate traffic on opening days.

Traffic is still higher than normal at the Gaines Township location, Hill said, noting he expects it to taper off in several months as more Chick-fil-A locations open in West Michigan.

Chick-fil-A was not required to conduct a traffic study for the Beltline proposal.

Grand Rapids lawyer Matt Zimmerman presented a lengthy argument to the planning commission on behalf of Chick-fil-A -- but it did not prove to be enough.

"In Michigan, infrastructure follows the use," Zimmerman said. "The Michigan Department of Transportation is already looking at adding lanes on both sides of Beltline."

Zimmerman said the outlot that Chick-fil-A is pursuing was never a part of the "walkable village" design of Celebration Village -- and that developing an unused site would help the rest of the businesses there.

The owner of Celebration Cinema agreed -- a representative read aloud a letter from John Loeks at the Thursday meeting, in which he supported the Chick-fil-A.

The Grand Rapids South location is the first of three scheduled to open in West Michigan this year. Locations also include 700 54th St. SW in Wyoming and 6202 S. Westnedge Ave. in Portage.