ROCKWALL — Those who want to eat more chicken in Rockwall will have to find another spot after the City Council on Monday night failed to approve a second Chick-fil-A location in the city.

The second site would have been at Yellow Jacket Lane and Goliad Street, but concerns over traffic and parking left it one vote shy of the 75 percent council majority needed to approve it.

"I think Chick-fil-A's getting beat up for being too good," the restaurant's attorney, Brad Williams, told the council. "The existing traffic that's out there is exactly why this is a good location."

Indeed, the fast-food sandwich chain's Rockwall fan base showed it plenty of love during several public meetings in the last couple months. On Monday night, the 19 people who spoke against it did so because they said the new Chick-fil-A would be too successful and bring more cars to an already congested area.

Brad Williams, and attorney representing Chick-fil-A, spoke during a public hearing at Rockwall City Hall on Monday. (Jae S. Lee / Staff Photographer)

Cars often stack for three cycles of the stoplight when Rockwall High School lets out down Yellow Jacket Lane. And a study showed that traffic on Goliad has to wait at the intersection an average of 32 seconds during peak times.

Throwing a popular destination like Chick-fil-A into the mix would also make things less safe for inexperienced high school drivers, opponents said.

'The same problem'

But at least one council member who voted in favor of the restaurant, said that all of those concerns would be there regardless of what went there.

"No matter what goes on that piece of property, this is going to be the same problem," said council member Dennis Lewis, who voted with Kevin Fowler and John Hohenshelt to approve the plan. It would have taken four votes -- two members were absent Monday -- to give Chick-fil-A the go ahead.

Three employees of the restaurant's current Rockwall location south of I-30, plus a four-member corporate team, spoke in support of the plan. They said the company took the site's limitations into consideration in proposing a drive-through restaurant with walk-up capabilities but no indoor seating.

The plan for the corner lot, where a former convenience store and former Pizza Hut now stand, easily met the city's drive-through requirements with its ability to stack 19 cars. Five other nearby restaurants have drive-throughs.

1 / 3A proposed Chick-fil-A restaurant with a drive-through at the corner of Yellow Jacket Lane and Goliad Street in Rockwall was denied by a single City Council vote on Monday. (Jae S. Lee / Staff Photographer) 2 / 3A rendering of the proposed drive-through and walkup Chick-Fil-A restaurant is shown at the at Rockwall City Council meeting Monday. (Jae S. Lee/The Dallas Morning News)(Jae S. Lee / Staff Photographer) 3 / 3A sign of Luigi's Italian Cafe sits next to a lot for the proposed Chick-Fil-A restaurant on the southwest side of Yellow Jacket Lane and Goliad Street in Rockwall. (Jae S. Lee/The Dallas Morning News)(Jae S. Lee / Staff Photographer)

Developer Dan Porter said Chick-fil-A had done its due diligence, studying the site plan for months.

"They have a responsibility to the company," Porter said. "You spend $3 or $4 million on a site that doesn't work, that's a problem. These folks have done their homework."

'Creates a liability'

But Chick-fil-A's 15 parking spaces would be insufficient, the city said, unless employees parked off-site.

The restaurant's immediate neighbors, Luigi's Italian Cafe and a small office building, couldn't provide that overflow parking. Workers would have to instead cross the busy intersection or use the Hobby Lobby lot on the same southwest side of Yellow Jacket and Goliad.

"Which will create traffic walking through Luigi's or my own lot," said Heath Mayor Brian Berry, who owns the office building and said cut-through traffic is already a problem. "That creates a liability for me."

Earlier this month, the Planning and Zoning Commission had recommended that the Chick-fil-A specific use permit be denied. Because of that, four of five council members present Monday would have had to vote to approve it. Rockwall Mayor Jim Pruitt and council member Bennie Daniels voted against the specific use permit.

In addition to the two-hours of verbal testimony, more than 2,000 signatures on a petition circulated by Chick-fil-A in support of a second location were presented to the City Council, along with a petition against the plan from Mario Smajli, the owner of Luigi's.

Unclear what happens next

It's unclear what Chick-fil-A will do next. But those who spoke at Monday's meeting made their feelings known.

"I would have signed the petition saying I want another Chick-fil-A in Rockwall," resident Bob Wacker told the council. "I would have also signed the other petition saying it's a bad location."

"It sounds like you're saying, 'We love you. We just don't want you in our neighborhood.' " said Jo Mason of Royse City, one of the Rockwall Chick-fil-A employees who testified.

Timeline: Proposed Chick-fil-A

Dec. 12 — Rockwall Planning and Zoning Commission approves Chick-fil-A site plan at Yellow Jacket Lane and Goliad Street. Because it is in a general retail district and has a drive-through, a specific use permit must also be approved.

Dec. 18 — City Council approves architectural variances, allowing the site plan to move forward in lieu of the specific use permit.

Jan. 9 — The Planning and Zoning Commission approves the specific use permit unanimously.

Jan. 16 — The council orders more parking spaces and a traffic study and sends the item back to the Planning and Zoning Commission for reconsideration of a new specific use permit.

Jan. 30 -- Chick-fil-A representatives tell the plan commission that they are working on an agreement for employees to park off-site.

Feb. 13 — The plan commission denies the new specific use permit, 4-1. The denial can only be overridden by a "super majority" (75 percent) of the City Council.

Monday — The council votes 3-2 in favor of the specific use permit, however that is one vote short of the super majority needed to approve the new location.