Sandy Springs Planning Commission recommends 24/7 hours for Whataburger location

The local Whataburger franchisee plans to open a restaurant in the Dunwoody Place shopping center in the north end of Sandy Springs. (Provided by Sandy Springs) The Sandy Springs Planning Commission recommended removing restricted hours of operations for a drive-through for the Whataburger restaurant planned on an outparcel of the Dunwoody Place shopping center. The 1.36-acre site at 8721 Roswell Road is zoned commercial mixed-use and was home to a Wells Fargo branch bank that was built in 1995. The shopping center is anchored by a Publix grocery store. The Whataburger franchisee plans to demolish the vacant bank structure and its drive-through facilities to build a new single-story, 3,287 square-foot Whataburger restaurant. It will include an outdoor patio and bike rack, 20 parking spaces, a dumpster enclosure and landscaping and hardscape amenities. Related stories:• Bye, WaHo egg surcharge!• The top five spring restaurant openings from around Atlanta The applicant needs a conditional use permit for a drive-through facility, which was recommended for approval by the planning commission. The drive-through will be hidden from Roswell Road by the elevation and landscape. The applicant was receptive to the vehicle-stacking requirement for the drive-through and the requirement to follow a site plan that was submitted on April 1. What wasn’t wanted was a restriction on the restaurant’s hours. This vacant branch bank and its drive-through will be torn down to make room for the Whataburger restaurant if a conditional use permit gets approved by the city council. (Provided by Sandy Springs) Harrison Parker, the Whataburger franchisee with MTO RE, questioned the staff’s recommended condition to limit restaurant hours to 5 a.m. to 12 a.m. Sunday through Wednesday, and 5 a.m. to 2 a.m. Thursday through Saturday. “But our concern here is the hours of operation, because it is Whataburger’s purpose statement, and has been for 75 years, ‘Goodness, 24/7.’ That is their mission statement,” Parker said. Whataburger would not be happy for the Sandy Springs restaurant to be one out of 1,300 restaurants not open 24/7, he said. Staff confirmed that no other Whataburger restaurants had restricted hours. An initial motion to recommend approval with staff conditions, including the restricted hours, failed. The planning commission then approved a recommendation with the restriction on hours of operation removed. The Sandy Springs City Council is scheduled to hold a public hearing on the conditional use permit during its meeting on Aug. 19 at 6 p.m. at city hall. The post Sandy Springs Planning Commission recommends 24/7 hours for Whataburger location appeared first on Rough Draft Atlanta.