Sunday, June 08, 2008
Editorial: Blacksburg takes out its anger on Sonic
The drive-in eatery faces a hostile council on Tuesday.
From the RoundTable blog
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Blacksburg Town Council feels like it was had. The developers of First and Main came into town with promises of a high-end, mixed-use development on Main Street. Instead, they plan to deliver a hodge-podge of shopping dominated by what is likely to be a Wal-Mart Supercenter.
Anger, resentment and even the costly lawsuit attempting to block the big-box store are all understandable. Enough with the nitpicking, though.
Council has cast its baleful gaze on a Sonic Drive-In that is part of the project. Sure, it is not quite the upscale eatery everyone expected, but it will fit with the overall direction the project unfortunately has taken. It will sit well between Wal-Mart and Arby's. Yep, Arby's is the most recent upscale addition to First and Main.
Sonic will fit in, that is, if council backs off. The fast-food joint needs a special use permit for the drive-in's speakers. At a work session last week, many council members seemed disinclined to grant it.
They inflate a few quibbles over what should be a noncontroversial permit process. Chief among them are concerns that the speakers would be too loud and that there is inadequate pedestrian access.
The planning commission discussed the same concerns and voted to attach a dozen conditions to the permit to mitigate them. Sonic must keep the volume down on its speakers, install pedestrian signs and work with the developers on additional access. With those requirements in place, the commission voted to recommend council approve the project.
Special use permits are not a blanket excuse for council to deny projects against which it has a grudge. Rather, council must issue permits consistently and deny them only for a compelling public reason.
Sonic is not setting up shop in the middle of a residential neighborhood. This is a commercial section of town. The expansive First and Main project aside, there is a strip mall next door and another across the street. A Wendy's with a drive-through and a bank with speakers of its own are also nearby. The closest homes are hundreds of yards away.
As for pedestrian access, the planning commission imposed adequate conditions. Besides, what part of Sonic Drive-In do council members not get?
If Blacksburg's goal is to jerk around every project associated with First and Main -- or at least the ones that do not meet council's standards for upscale shopping -- then by all means, reject Sonic's permit at Tuesday's council meeting. If, however, council remembers that its job is to look dispassionately at development proposals, then lay off.
