The Zoning Commission hearing for McDonald’s, located at 4950 South Dakota Avenue NE, is scheduled for November 28, 2022 (Zoning case number 22-19). Recall McDonald’s is requesting a map amendment (rezoning) that would upzone the property to the MU-7B zone solely for the purpose of replacing the existing restaurant with a two-story McDonald’s with a drive-thru as a matter of right. It currently does not have a drive-thru. I have written plenty of treatises about this matter already; I will add links later. See FAQs McDonald’s previously provided about the project.

The District Department of Transportation (DDOT) and DC’s Office of Planning (OP) both submitted reports today, with DDOT objecting to the map amendment request and OP supporting it.

Link: DDOT Report

Link: Office of Planning Report

DDOT writes:

DDOT has reviewed the Applicant’s request and determined that based on the information provided, the Applicant intends to construct a new fast‐food restaurant with a drive‐through, which will be a by‐right use if the rezoning is granted. DDOT discourages construction of drive‐through lanes since they negatively impact pedestrian safety and increase impacts to the transportation network. Therefore, DDOT objects to this Map Amendment application since the Applicant does not intend to increase existing uses or density on the site, and is using the rezoning solely for the purpose of adding a drive‐
through.

Instead, DDOT recommends the Zoning Commission consider a different zone, with similar densities to the MU‐7B, but which does not include a drive‐through by‐right. DDOT is in support of higher densities and mixed‐use potentials of the site to support adjacent Priority Bus Routes and generate foot traffic for nearby businesses.

DDOT goes on to provide traffic analysis and requests, should the property be redeveloped in the future.

Contrary to DDOT, OP uses a lot of pages analyzing this case from a completely fictional standpoint, as if there is a world in which McDonald’s intends to put a mixed-use development on the property or in which McDonald’s ever had that goal in mind when they submitted a proposed Comp Plan amendment to the Office of Planning way back when. OP would probably say that is what they are supposed to do, pretend as if they have a blank slate before them.

But the fact remains McDonald’s stated very clearly when it submitted a proposed amendment to the Comp Plan several years ago that its goal was and always will be trying to put in a drive-thru, something it has been trying to do since at least 1982. That’s it. Nothing about increasing density or seeking any of the other benefits of upzoning.

Unclear why OP completely fails to acknowledge this fact to conclude that the rezoning application “on balance” is not inconsistent with the Comprehensive Plan. Actually, it is clear. I would say the Zoning Commission should ask OP to address that question head on, but the Zoning Commission and OP will likely both contend that intended or actual uses do not matter when considering rezoning applications because neither OP nor Zoning want to give an inch in their goal to stem the litigation that had been holding up development projects prior to the Comp Plan update.

I had been waiting to see how DDOT and OP would handle this case in their final reports. I will write more next week, but for now I will just say DDOT got it right and OP got it completely wrong. OP will likely never admit that they should not have supported McDonald’s proposed amendment to the Comp Plan’s Future Land Use Map (FLUM) that paved the way for McDonald’s to submit this application (when OP rejected a similar upzoning amendment proposal from the church next door during the amendment process that would have made it easier for the church to build affordable housing as a matter of right as it has been trying to do for years). And honestly if the concern is about how to drive more traffic to the McDonald’s (no pun intended) so that it is financially viable for them to remain in the neighborhood (which seems to be the driving concern here), then OP and other officials can offer other ways to help McDonald’s do that without supporting McDonald’s desire to put in an actual drive-thru.

It will be interesting to see what the Zoning Commission decides.

Instructions on how residents can testify at the hearing or submit written testimony for the record are in the Hearing Notice.