Kanatans aren’t loving plan for new Mcdonald’s

Residents’ objections aren’t zoning matters, city staff report says

A McDonald’s proposed for the far north end of Kanata should get the go-ahead over neighbours’ objections, the city’s planning department says, because few of the complaints deal with anything the city’s allowed to do anything about.

Smells, plans for a 24-hour drivethru window, the illumination of a sign and an argument that McDonald’s “promotes obesity, diabetes, and heart disease” are among issues the city can do little to control, at least with zoning codes. According to the official report recommending the development be permitted, one resident worries the restaurant will be a magnet for idle teens who will “loiter and get into trouble in the neighbourhood.”

Planners respond that, “The proposed development itself does not necessitate teenager troubles.” Of 39 comments the proposal drew in public consultations, the report says only five were in favour of the restaurant.

The property at 894 March Rd., at the intersection with Maxwell Bridge Road, has been zoned as “development reserve” land, which is the usual label for property on the very edge of the suburbs that’s due for new construction soon.

As usual, the actual McDonald’s will take up only a small part of the lot; parking spots are to take up most of the rest, with a line of trees separating the new development from homes nearby.

A McDonald’s is in keeping with nearby single-family homes and a strip mall across the street, according to the planning department’s report, and it fits with the city’s desire to make neighbourhoods walkable because it’s conveniently located on the edge of a residential neighbourhood (though one resident argued that the area should stay purely residential, with no commercial buildings permitted to back onto any houses). Also, it will include bike parking, which is appropriate considering there are bike lanes on March Road.

Several of the complaints about the project might actually be addressed later in a more finely detailed process called site-plan control.

That’s where things such as the height of a bright road sign and the direction that vents will blow kitchen smells will be dealt with.

City council’s planning committee is to vote on the proposal next Tuesday.