Citrus Heights Vice Mayor Concerned City Is Becoming 'Fast-Food Mecca'

CITRUS HEIGHTS (CBS13) — The City of Citrus Heights is discussing whether they have too many drive-throughs and whether enough is enough.

A new drive-thru fast-food restaurant called Raising Cane's on Greenback Lane is such a hit, the restaurant has an employee assigned to traffic control to prevent nearby businesses from being blocked by cars lined up at their ordering windows.

The traffic trouble left Vice Mayor Tim Schaefer wondering if Citrus Heights should now consider putting the brakes on more drive-throughs in the city.

"This needs to be managed in some way," Schaefer said. "We certainly are concerned about being known as sort of the fast food mecca of the area."

The traffic from Raising Cane's became bad enough for some neighbors, Schaefer proposed a moratorium on new Citrus Heights drive-throughs for the next five years. The city council agreed to conduct a drive-thru study first.

"We just want to slow this down a little bit, really study it and make sure we have policy in place," Schaefer said.

Since incorporating as a city in 1997, Citrus Heights has put moratoriums on some types of business in place before: strip clubs, marijuana dispensaries, smoke shops and massage permits.

Schaefer says this would be different.

"I'm not looking at it from that perspective at all," Schaefer said. "I'm looking at it from a perspective of simply managing the traffic, managing the community."

In the Sunrise Mall redevelopment plan, the city council has already written a ban on drive-thru restaurants into the new retail entertainment complex.

"People do kind of enjoy the fast food experience here, but we're more than fast food, we're a thriving community," Schaefer said.

Suddenly this drive-thru convenience is becoming a concern.

Citrus Heights is launching the study that will include traffic impacts and environmental impact of drive-through's. A possible vote on a moratorium would come after the study is complete.