Hardee’s has to fight to use its parking lot
Challenged with balancing the right of a business to function and the right of a residential property owner to peacefully enjoy the use of his or her property, members of the Zoning Commission rejected a rezoning request from Hardee’s Tuesday.
At issue is a city agreement that Hardee’s not use its back parking lot between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m. Manager Dick Stepien said that agreement, a special exception under R-1 (residential) zoning that dates back several years, forces him to rope off the parking lot area during those times now that his business is open 24 hours.
He said roping the area off negatively influences business and hoped re-zoning the parking lot to C-1 (commercial) would allow for expanded times of use there. He noted he hoped to lessen confusion about which of the restaurants’ two menu boards customers should use at the drive-through.
Stepien added Hardee’s officials were not necessarily interested in commercial zoning, but said he was advised by the city to request a zoning change as the way to address the problem.
“We really don’t care if it’s zoned commercial. We just want to be able to use it 24 hours,” he said of the back parking lot, noting if open use was allowed, one of the menu boards that faces a resident’s house would be eliminated. The other menu board is tilted away from houses, Stepien added.
Three residents living on Main Street objected to the request Tuesday.
Resident John Douglass, who lives adjacent to the back parking lot, said he’s been living with Hardee’s traffic for years.
Douglass said he was promised 32 trees would be planted between the parking lot and his residence to act as a buffer, but submitted Tuesday only nine trees are there now and said he is affected by both day and night-time use.
“We’ve been going to bed and getting up with Hardee’s from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. for a long time. We’ve had to call Hardee’s numerous times when they would forget to close the gate so we could go to sleep and that gets to be a real problem,” he told officials.
“… I don’t know of any better place in town to get a sausage and biscuit than Hardee’s,” he added. “We frequent their place quite often, but this parking lot deal is pretty unbearable as it is and I don’t see how keeping it open 24 hours a day is going to solve a thing.”
Nearby residents Everett Brock and Keith Smartt said Tuesday they also opposed C-1 zoning, as both of their houses are situated across the street. Brock said he said he is most affected by headlights shining into his house, while Smartt noted he is also affected by noise.
Zoning officials suggested communication between Hardee’s and the neighbors and held some debate on whether the business could use its parking lot in the future if the problems residents defined were addressed, but ultimately voted on what was before them and denied the request to change the zoning to commercial.
Stepien said Thursday he has taken some steps to meet with Brock and Smartt since Tuesday to determine a solution to the problems, but was uncertain about a potential agreement with Douglass, who suggested after officials asked Tuesday that the construction of a wall would help him out.