Beaufort County Council passed an ordinance that clarifies the standards for drive-throughs at the Monday, March 28 council meeting. All three readings of the ordinance passed without objection.

"The last two years have seen a change in customers' habits," said Robert Merchant, Director of Planning and Zoning. "More customers are using the drive-throughs vs. going inside the building, and fast food restaurants are very quick to close lobbies because of understaffing."

The changes are as follows:

• For locations on corner lots, drive-through access shall occur from the side street. Where possible, rear alley/service lanes shall be used for either the drive-through entrance or exit.
• Drive-through service windows shall be located to the side or at the rear of the building and shall be designed so that pedestrian safety is ensured. In no instance shall the drive-through window be located on the side of a building facing a street.
• Drive-throughs that will generate over 50 peak-hour trips, a Traffic Impact Analysis shall be submitted in conjunction with Land Development Plan review or Special Use Development Plan review as appropriate; uses generating fewer trips shall provide an evaluation of the site plan by a traffic engineer.
• Pedestrian pathways that cross stacking lanes shall be made prominent using raised pavement, pavement markings, and/or signage to ensure pedestrian visibility and safety.

"In looking over our drive-through planning standards, we realized that we needed to beef up the language to be more specific about the requirements," said Merchant. "We wanted to make it clear to developers wanting to build drive-throughs that they must consider traffic into the establishment and how it will flow around the business."

The new standards mirror requirements the City of Beaufort recently adopted for drive-throughs and similar language found in other municipalities' codes. The new standards help to unify the County for drive-through requirements.

"It has been a long time coming," said District 2 Council Member Paul Sommerville. "Anyone who reads the newspaper knows that there has been a lot of controversy lately about drive-through coffee shops or whatever in highly congested areas."