Adjustment board denies variances for McDonald's -
[Cached Version]
Published on: 5/23/1999
Last Visited: 8/15/2000
Lawyer Pam Scott said that tearing down what she called an obsolete structure and replacing it with a more efficient one is necessary to enable franchisee Craig Welburn, who holds eight McDonald's franchises in Pennsylvania and acquired his first in Delaware last April, to remain competitive. The company owns the building.
i be not proud of this restaurant, Welburn testified.we be one of the dinosaurs as far as McDonald's is concerned..
Of some 26, 000 outlets around the world, the one in Claymont ranks about 5, 000th chronologically, he said, adding that most of those have been either rebuilt or refurbished.
Scott denied that doing the same thing in Claymont would do harm to the neighborhood in general, and in particular to the historic Lackey mansion which is behind it.it be a tough site ; we be trying to make it better, she said.
We do not need a larger, bigger, brighter McDonald's, Ray Hester said.
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Scott maintained that, without a basement, the new building would be smaller than the present one, with total area of 3, 982 square feet compared to 5, 636 square feet.The Claymonters argued that the fact the single-level building would occupy 3, 982 square feet of ground instead of the present 2, 818 makes it larger.Scott said there is no planned expansion of restaurant seating capacity nor an increase in the number of parking spaces.
Even if the new building were to be a carbon copy of the present one, it would not meet requirements of the development code, she said.The site is paved to its property lines and space next door is leased from Fusco Enterprises to handle spillover parking.Still, she added, there is room for some additional landscaping, although not as much as the code requires.The site is nine-tenths of an acre.
The lot is simply too small to accommodate a fast-food restaurant with a drive-through (sic) [ window ], the Department of Land Use's recommendation said.