Verdun votes to ban new drive- thru businesses
There will be no new drive- thru restaurants in Verdun.
Councillors voted unanimously this week in support of a motion calling for the banning of any new drive- thru windows at restaurants or businesses in the borough, to spur more physical activity and limit greenhouse gas emissions from idling cars.
They join the boroughs of Rosemont — La- Petite- Patrie, Saint-Laurent and Plateau — Mont- Royal who have adopted similar bylaws. The zoning change is expected to come into effect in April.
“Drive- thrus encourage people to take their vehicle,” Verdun city councillor Sterling Downey said. “We want to encourage people to be less sedentary and a little more active and social.”
Verdun already has four establishments with drive- thru windows, which will be allowed to keep operating. They are a McDonald’s and Saint- Hubert restaurants in the central borough, and a gas station with a drive- thru Tim Horton’s window and a bank with a drive- thru wicket on Nuns’ Island.
The impetus for the future ban came after a resident protest over a proposed drive- thru Starbucks for Nuns’ Island last autumn. Resident opposition led the borough to cancel the project, Downey noted. Drive- thru restaurant windows are ill- suited to the dense urban layout of the borough, Downey said. Outside of the Starbucks bid, the borough has not received any requests for a drive- thru window permit in years.
“Drive- thrus take away the whole notion of taking time to slow life down and sitting down to have a coffee and be social,” he said. “They promote this attitude that you should always ‘ go- go- go’ that is super stressful.”
Similar bans in other boroughs have been met with resistance from some residents who said the drive- thru windows are necessary for people with reduced mobility or parents transporting young children. Downey said there were other measures businesses could take to make themselves more accessible, and hadn’t heard similar arguments in Verdun.
Proposed bans in Ontario cities London and Ottawa were successfully fought by Tim Hortons when they were owned by TDL, which reported in 2009 that half of its $ 2 billion in revenues came via its drive- thru windows, Canadian Business magazine reported.
The company threatened to sue the city of Kingston in 2010 when the city proposed a plan that would prohibit new drive- thrus in its historic downtown area over concerns of traffic congestion, emissions and the inconvenience for residents. Kingston already had 15 drive- thru Tim Hortons at the time and six more were being developed.
TDL commissioned a study from RWDI consultants that found drive- thrus are actually beneficial for the environment, because when drivers turn off their cars to park, the catalytic converter cools and is less efficient at reducing emissions when the car is restarted. RWDI also argued it was underestimated how much time drivers spent idling in parking lots.
Verdun councillor Downey said there have been no complaints from prospective drive- thru businesses, and the borough does not foresee any.