NOT SO DRIVE-IN — This Sonic Drive-In on North Woodland Boulevard has been sitting empty since the restaurant closed a number of years ago. Barricades block the driveway that state transportation officials say cannot be used by motorists wanting to drive into the parking lot, only by those leaving.
BEACON PHOTOS/JOE CREWS
Access issues may keep Church’s Chicken from replacing a former drive-in restaurant at 1601 N. Woodland Blvd., on DeLand’s north side.
That’s the word from Shawn Eby, chief executive of Goalz Restaurant Group, which has been working toward putting the franchised chicken eatery on the site where a Sonic Drive-In closed several years ago.
“There’s a little bit of light at the end of the tunnel,” Eby told The Beacon earlier this week, after he spoke with officials with Atlanta-based Church’s. “We talked about turning and reconfiguring the restaurant to give the public better access.”
The Church’s folks were going to consider Eby’s proposals and get back to him soon, he said.
DeLand officials had approved the development plans and gave Goalz permission to apply for building permits. One was a driveway permit Goalz needed to obtain from the Florida Department of Transportation.
Sonic’s driveway permit had lapsed because that restaurant had been closed for so many years, and Goalz couldn’t be grandfathered in because of the time gap, FDOT spokesman Steve Olson said.
In addition, current traffic standards don’t allow for the existing driveway to be used by motorists entering the property, Olson said, although it could be used for customers exiting onto North Woodland Boulevard.
“It can’t be the way it was,” Olson said. “The old configuration is not considered safe by current standards. It would have to be a right-exit only.”
Olson pointed out that FDOT has been in informal discussions with an engineering consultant for Goalz, but a new driveway-permit application had not been filed as of Monday.
Eby said that’s because it would cost about $20,000 to file an application, and he didn’t want to spend the money until he knew for sure Church’s would approve the location.
Eby also said Church’s wouldn’t approve access to the property from Old Daytona Road, which runs along the south side of the site.
“It has to be from the main street — that is how it’s always done,” Eby said.
Volusia County property records show American Development Partners, based in Franklin, Tennessee, in October bought the 1-acre property and 1,600-square-foot building for $675,000. (The seller never took down a “property available” sign on the front of the lot, much to Eby’s displeasure.) ADP will be building the new restaurant for Goalz Restaurant Group, if it gets the go-ahead from Eby and Church’s officials.
If the access issue can be worked out, Cheyenne, Wyoming-based Goalz plans to tear down the Sonic building and replace it with a more modern restaurant that conforms to Church’s updated architectural style.
If Church’s decides not to allow Goalz to proceed, Eby said he will probably put the property back on the market.
— Joe Crews, joe@beacononlinenews.com