‘Environmentally unsound:’ Parksville mayor’s motion to ban drive-thrus fails

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O’Brien said he’s personally “indifferent” to the motion as he doesn’t use drive-thrus, but brought it forward based on what he said were concerns from community groups.

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'Environmentally unsound:' Parksville mayor's motion to ban drive-thrus fails

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Parksville businesses already with a drive-thru include A&W, Starbucks, McDonald’s, Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen, and Wendy’s. (Image Credit: Jordan Davidson/NanaimoNewsNOW)

O’Brien’s motion comes a few weeks after council approved an amended development permit to construct three new commercial buildings at 1209 Island Hwy. E, the site of the former Parksville Heritage Complex, with a drive-thru planned for one of the buildings.

Nearby Serious Coffee is already planning to move in and utilize the drive-thru.

The vote on O’Brien’s motion was split 2-2, with him and coun. Amit Gaur voting in favour, while councillors Sean Wood and Mary Beil were opposed. A tie vote defeated the motion.

Coun. Adam Fras left the meeting around 5:20 p.m., shortly before the vote occurred, with the meeting starting at 1:00 p.m.

Councillors Joel Grenz and Sylvia Martin were not present.

The drive-thru at the Tim Hortons, located at 494 Island Hwy. E., wraps around the building and is surrounded by commercial businesses. The store and drive-thru are open 24 hours. (Image Credit: Jordan Davidson/NanaimoNewsNOW)

Gaur, who lives near a 24-hour drive-thru, said drive-thrus go against the “walkability” of a community, and not having them would support local businesses, with the current drive-thrus located at chain restaurants.

“The drive-thrus are…creating more of a car-dependent communities. We talk about Parksville, we saw active transportation, we want to encourage walkability, so in my opinion, that (drive-thru) goes against those goals as well…” (I would) rather have people sit. Enjoy, socially interact with each other to build community.”

Beil and Wood said they’d rather address the individuals concerns surrounding drive-thrus rather than implement a blanket ban.

Complaints were supposedly around increased lighting, noise, and traffic drive-thrus can create, often being open later than the dine-in option.

Wood said while they’re convenient for drivers in a rush, drive-thrus also account for a big percentage of sales for those businesses.

“Having a couple of kids, I’ve gone through one specific drive-thru lots and lots and lots of times when you didn’t want to pull the kid out of the car, bring a diaper bag with you and try to order.”

The defeated motion would have only applied to new builds, and would have had no impact on existing drive-thrus, or projects already in development and approved by council.

Both the Wendy’s and Popeyes drive-thrus at 673 and 667 Island Hwy. E. respectively have installed large wooden fences along their drive-thrus to block headlights from shining into homes along Pioneer Cres. (Image Credit: Jordan Davidson/NanaimoNewsNOW)

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