By Loyd McIntosh, For The Tribune
CLAY — The City of Clay may be in line to get a new drive-through-only Chick-fil-A on the corner of Old Springville and Chalkville Mountain Road.
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At the Clay City Council meeting on Tuesday, August 23, City Manager Ronnie Dixon outlined a proposal to bring a new, drive-through-only Chick-fil-A restaurant on a six-acre plot of land recently sold to a private developer.
“For the last two or three weeks, we’ve been communicating back and forth with an engineering firm who has been working on the property down here on the corner, and sometime in the near future, we will have the building drawings for a new Chick-fil-A,” said Dixon. “It will be a new concept for Chick-fil-A; drive-through only.”
The property, sold following the passing of longtime Clay resident Linda Harrell, is currently zoned residential and agricultural and will require rezoning to business prior to development. According to Dixon, the restaurant’s plans have been designed to keep traffic congestion to a minimum along Old Springville and Chalkville Mountain Roads, as well as to keep the environmental impact in check.
“I have the preliminary plans, and we’ve been working with the Department of Transportation to get the driveways lined up properly,” Dixon said. “There will be underground stormwater retention, so there should be no additional water going over to Old Springville.”
According to members of the City Council, the Clay Chick-fil-A will potentially have either three or four lanes, the first such concept in the area.
Place 2 City Councilman Dean Kirkner says the new Chick-fil-A should provide the city with a substantial source of tax revenue based on the sales figures of the nearby Trussville location, estimated at $10 million.
“They do $10 million a year with two lanes. Imagine what they could do with three lanes,” said Kirkner.
Additionally, Place 4 City Council Bo Johnson said the six-acre property may also include additional parcels that could be part of a more comprehensive commercial district.
“They’ll have some outparcels. They don’t need but two or three acres even with three or four lanes,” said Johnson. “They can sell some parcels for some other kinds of commercial potential.”
Dixon said he anticipates the rezoning to “happen fairly quickly” at the next Planning and Zoning Committee meeting scheduled for September 15, 2022.
