Chick-fil-A Opens Despite Traffic Concerns

BRADENTON  — The highly anticipated grand opening of Bradenton’s newest Chick-fil-A restaurant briefly hung in the balance on Wednesday when city officials found themselves needing to address missing roadway improvements they understood the developer had promised. Despite frustration and confusion over the lack of a de-escalation turn lane to help with increased traffic congestion expected by the drive-through restaurant's newest location, the city council agreed to let the restaurant at 43rd Street West and Manatee Avenue West proceed with its opening on Thursday as scheduled. 

 

During a Bradenton City Council meeting on Wednesday, several city leaders expressed their disappointment and safety concerns regarding the lack of an extended turn lane to access the venue. The parcel of the popular chicken and waffle fries restaurant resides within the city limits, but the two bordering roadways are regulated by separate agencies—Florida’s Department of Transportation has jurisdiction over Manatee Ave (SR64), and Manatee County over 43rd Street West. 

 

In Sept. of 2021, the city's planning commission recommended approval of a special use permit to applicants Bohler Engineering, LLC (agent) and JBCC Manatee, LLC (owner) to operate the 20-seat drive-through restaurant at 4311 Manatee Avenue West. Concerns over anticipated traffic impacts were largely softened when it was explained to the planning commission that stipulations had been mutually agreed upon between the developer and city planning officials and would be attached as conditions for the project's approval. 

 

In the event that significant traffic conflicts were to arise due to the restaurant's operations adding to the already strained intersection that supports traffic flow to nearby schools—including Jessie P. Miller Elementary, which is directly across 43rd Street from the Chick-fil-A, St. Stephens, which sits diagonally across Manatee Ave from the site, and Manatee High School, which is about a mile in proximity—the business owners agreed to work with the city to implement one or more of the remedies proposed in the stipulated terms. 

 

Some of the options listed included that the business might be required to change its parking lot circulation or utilize dine-in parking as additional drive-through space during peak hours. Additional listed solutions included the possible installation of signage by the business to assist with traffic flow, changes to the restaurant's hours of operation, or paying local police for traffic control. 

 

With the stipulations agreed to, and a plan in place to readily address significant traffic issues should they arise after the restaurant opened, the city’s planning commission recommended the city council approve the future Chick-fil-A with a 4-2 vote. 

 

The day before the applicant was to appear before the Bradenton City Council for possible approval, the Manatee County Commission held a regular meeting of its board. During that local government meeting, Commissioner Kevin Van Ostenbridge informed his colleagues that the city's planning commission had recommended the approval of the Chick-fil-A and that he anticipated the city would likely approve its development in his district. 

 

"Tomorrow the city will be voting on the Chick-fil-A property and I will be attending to speak during public comment in favor of West Bradenton getting a Chick-fil-A," Van Ostenbridge said. 

 

At the time, Van Ostenbridge's comments garnished little response from his fellow commissioners, but for one who vocalized a "woo-hoo" before the commissioner's comments moved to other topics. 

 

The next day, Oct. 13, 2021, the Bradenton City Council took up the item. Again the discussion turned to concerns regarding potential traffic impacts at the already busy intersection, and again, some of those concerns were lessened when council members were informed of the stipulated terms agreed to between the developer and city planning officials. In addition to the stipulations agreed upon between the city and Chick-fil-A, Councilwoman Jayne Kocher offered that it was her understanding that the county also intended to assist with intersection improvements. 

"I understand that the county has a plan for improving that intersection and one of the people that is championing it is here," Kocher said gesturing toward Commissioner Van Ostenbridge who was sitting in the audience. 

Van Ostenbridge addressed city officials during public comment assuring the council that the county is focused on infrastructure goals and roadways. Van Ostenbridge said that while the intersection at 43rd Street West and Manatee Avenue West was not currently included in the county’s Capital Improvement Plan (CIP), he was confident such a project would be "moved up" into the next budget's adoption. 

 

"This Chick-fil-A would prioritize this intersection," Van Ostenbridge said of the council's potential approval of the development. "I’ve already brought it to our board during commissioner comments and let them know this Chick-fil-A is likely to be approved after passing your planning commission and that we would have to prioritize this next year."

Van Ostenbridge told city council members that while the county commission did not hold an official vote to approve prioritizing the intersection improvements, he said that his mention of prioritizing the intersection received "a lot of bobbing heads." However, during his comments to commissioners the day prior, Van Ostenbridge never raised a suggestion that the county should plan to prioritize the intersection to accommodate the construction of the restaurant. He only mentioned briefly his intention to address the city council in support of its approving a Chick-fil-A in his district. 

 

Expanding on his assurances to city officials that the intersection would be improved, Van Ostenbridge stated that the potential for future widening off 43rd Street would be aided by the fact that "there is school board property there, and we can make a deal with them."

"This is not property that they (the school board) would be averse to parting with," he said of obtaining the right away for such a project.

The county commissioner also shared with the council that he had already spoken with county public works staff on ideas for the intersection, including the addition of two left turn lanes, a through lane, and a right-hand turn lane for the south side. 

 

When Councilwoman Marianne Barnebey pressed the commissioner for assurance that the project would be added to the county’s next fiscal year’s CIP, Van Ostenbridge confirmed that it would be, but added that the improvements would not be completed before the restaurant opened. 

"Should this council approve this," Barnebey said addressing Van Ostenbridge, "we're going to have a big headache for a while. I don't want to have a big headache for a long time, commissioner." 

Van Ostenbrige answered the councilwoman's concerns, telling her, "When we move into the intersection phase of our CIP next year, this project will be a tier-one project."

By the end of deliberations and public comment, city officials voted unanimously to approve the construction of the Chick-fil-A at 43rd Street. 

 

To replay the Oct. 2021, Bradenton City Council meeting discussion on the Chick-fil-A and Van Ostenbridge’s public comments on the topic, click the video below. 

 

 

Two weeks later, on Oct. 26, Van Ostenbridge reported back to commissioners that the city had approved the franchise's newest development. He also told commissioners that due to the city's approval, the county’s public works director reached out to the project's developer to discuss "working together" on future intersection improvements. 

 

"And so that’s something for next year’s CIP," he told commissioners. "Just to give you a heads up, but we will talk about it then." The board had just adopted the FY21-22 budget the prior month, and the next budget and CIP adoption would not be taken up by the board until Sept. of 2022. 

 

However, roughly two months later in Jan. 2022, the county's then-CFO Jan Brewer appeared before the board to present proposed changes to the current year's approved CIP. During the public hearing, commissioners were asked to approve the removal of two budgeted projects from the CIP in order to replace them with two different projects—one being a $3.3 million for intersection improvements at 43rd Street and Manatee Ave. The resolution also identified Infrastructure Sales Tax as a funding source for the project. 

 

At the time, several commissioners appeared caught off guard by the request, if not confused as to how the intersection improvements had been identified as a priority requiring changes to the board's previously approved CIP.

 

Commissioner James Satcher requested a detailed explanation as to why a project with a higher cost was being requested to replace an already approved project of a lesser expense. Commissioner Carol Whitmore expressed concerns about using Infrastructure Sales Tax for the project. Commissioner George Kruse questioned whether there had been any analysis done to show that the intersection improvements were the best use of the $3 million. 

 

"This (intersection) was somewhere on the list, but so is every road and sidewalk in the county... but this wasn’t in the five-year plan. It wasn’t pre-funded in the next 12 to 24 months. This wasn’t even planned for the next half a decade. This was on the list somewhere far down the road," Kruse said. "As Commissioner Satcher mentioned, this is not insignificant dollars." 

"If we were approving a Chick-fil-A," Kruse continued, speaking hypothetically, "we would require them to create turn lanes to accommodate the infrastructure, because you’re a private enterprise, and I don’t want to use public funds to facilitate your private business..."

Van Ostenbridge responded to some of his colleagues' concerns by explaining that the city had already approved the restaurant’s future location at the intersection, and being that 43rd Street is a county-owned road, the project will need to be prioritized in order to address the city’s approval of the new development and the increased traffic that will be coming with it. Van Ostenbridge told commissioners that he had already spoken to the director of public works who had advised him that IST funds could be utilized to "get the project moving." 

 

After a somewhat lengthy discussion, the board unanimously approved the resolution making changes to the CIP to include adding the 43rd Street expansion project to the list. 

 

To replay the January 11, 2022, BOCC meeting discussion concerning the changes to the CIP and prioritizing 43rd Street West intersection improvements, click the video below. 

 

 

Fast-forward several months, and on an August 2022 BOCC meeting agenda, a consent item was added for the approval to execute an agreement with Chick-fil-A. Because the item was passed on consent, there was no presentation or board discussion about the item. 

 

In short, the agreement was for Chick-fil-A to construct certain intersection improvements along 43rd Street West simultaneously while the restaurant building was under construction. A detailed timeline for the improvements included dated milestones for plan approvals and permit approvals. Bohler Engineering would be retained by the developer to perform the stated duties and tasks associated with the intersection improvements, which included a deceleration turn lane along the south end of 43rd, and the removal and replacement of an existing water main. If the developer completed the agreed-upon improvements on the county’s behalf, the county would reimburse the developer for project plans, permits, and construction costs, totaling roughly $1 million dollars. 

 

Attached to the consent agenda item's supporting documents was the county attorney’s response for legal review. The attorney's office advised that staff should carefully review the agreement to assure it reflects staff’s intentions. 

 

"It includes fairly complicated provisions tying the Developer’s obligations to multiple permitting scenarios," the county attorney wrote. 

 

The agreement's section, 2. (b) reads, in part, "...Due to the timing constraint, the County agrees to issue its Permit for the approved Construction Plans no later than September 29, 2022, and to allow construction of the portion of the Intersection Improvements, along 43rd Street West up to the curb line of Manatee Avenue ("County Intersection Improvements"). Even if the FDOT Permit has not been issued, Developer shall begin the portion of the Intersection Improvements along 43rd Street West upon issuance of the County permit, and provided the Permit from the County and all other relevant permits have been issued by September 29, 2022, Developer shall begin construction of the County Intersection Improvements. Once all Permits and approvals are issued from the relevant governing authorities for the remainder of the Intersection Improvements and provided such permits are issued by December 31, 2022, Developer shall begin construction on the FDOT Intersection Improvements…"

 

Section 2 of the agreement also includes, "...If the FDOT Permit is not issued by December 31, 2022, Developer may, at its sole discretion, terminate the agreement by giving notice to the County in writing. Termination by the Developer shall end the Developer’s obligations under this contract as to the FDOT Intersection Improvements..."

 

Section 5 of the agreement states, "County's Remedies: Should Developer fail to promptly commence construction of the Intersection Improvements by December 31, 2022, or any time extension approved in writing by Manatee County, then Manatee County will have the right to complete the Intersection Improvements." 

Click here to read the agreement between Chick-fil-A and Manatee County in full. 

At a county commission meeting last Tuesday, the first clues were revealed that there may be an issue relating to Chick-fil-A. At several moments throughout the proceedings, Commission Chair Van Ostenbridge was notably absent from the dais without explanation. Just as the meeting was set to adjourn, Van Ostenbridge told commissioners that there was one other item to address that was not on the agenda—an addendum to the county's agreement with Chick-fil-A. 

 

"I don’t know if the county attorney has had the opportunity to read it yet," Van Ostenbridge said. "This is why I had to step out five times today (from the meeting).” 

 

The meeting then recessed to allow the county attorney time to review the item. When the board returned, the chair only stated that an agreement could not be reached and then adjourned the meeting. 

 

The following day, during a Bradenton City Council meeting, the matter was addressed in more detail than it was the previous day at the county meeting. As the Bradenton Herald reported, frustrated city officials debated blocking the restaurant’s scheduled opening due to the absence of a turn lane on 43rd Street which the council understood the developer had promised to construct. 

 

Ultimately the city allowed the opening to go forward after the city attorney relayed that Chick-fil-A had communicated to him that it would hire a contractor to construct the new lane by Aug. 10, before the next school year begins. 

 

To replay the discussion from last week’s Bradenton City Council meeting, click the video below. 

 

 

Through the county’s planning and permit portal, TBT was able to locate evidence that construction plans were submitted by the developer of the restaurant to the county, and those plans appeared to have received approval. The county's building permit search feature, however, only showed a pending Dec. 2021 permit application for off-site improvements to the right-of-way by the developer. The permit application showed a "TBD" status with "more information required" from the county utilities department before a permit could be issued. 

 

Access to records of permit applications via the FDOT website is limited, so TBT submitted a request for public records to the agency earlier this week. Our request was confirmed but the requested records were not yet available by the time of this story's publication. 

 

For its part, Chick-fil-A, Inc., told TBT by email that it deeply values its relationship with local city officials and that the company is sorry for any misunderstanding. 

 

Concerning the lack of the deceleration lane on 43rd Street which had some local leaders pointing the finger at Chick-fil-A, a spokesperson of the Atlanta corporate office wrote, "To share additional context, the project ties into a larger widening of the intersection of 43rd Street West intersection at Manatee Avenue which requires permits from the county and state. We are eager to start the project but are still waiting to receive all necessary permits."

 

The spokesperson added that Chick-fil-A is currently working with contractors to start work on the phases of the project that have been permitted.