Council says yes to Sonic

Council says yes to Sonic
By Melissa Murphy
Posted: 09/23/2009

Sonic Drive-in now has a green light to come to Vacaville.

The City Council unanimously approved the project Tuesday night during its regular meeting.

"We're extremely excited about coming to Vacaville," said Scot Cochran, Sonic representative. "We believe this is a very good market."

The fast-food chain, known for its carhop-style service, will occupy a new building at the corner of Bella Vista Avenue and Davis Street, adjacent to a park-and-ride lot. The existing building was approved in 2007 and completed the following year, but has sat vacant since then.

With the new business, a new driveway will be installed that will line up with the existing traffic lights at the intersection of Davis Street and Hume Way.

Temporarily, because of the business, traffic congestion will increase prior to construction of the city's Davis Street widening project, which is planned to be completed before the end of 2010.

Another part of the project involves Sonic buying a portion of the park-and-ride lot, where there are presently 21 parking spaces.

The area will be re-striped to accommodate 17 wider parking spaces, which would include menu boards at each space.

These spaces would be added to the overall Sonic project site, making the site larger to accommodate the on-site parking requirements.

In return, Sonic will fund the construction of 21 replacement spaces in the adjacent city-owned parcel on Davis Street, which will be added to the city's facility.

Council members also approved the land swap and the sale of the 21 park-and-ride lot stalls and construction of replacement stalls on adjoining city-owned property.

Meanwhile, the city is working closely with Sonic to ensure the safety of students walking from Buckingham Charter School, which is diagonally across the street from the restaurant.

Unfortunately, additional crosswalks to the intersection would impact the level of service for traffic, but according to City Planner Peyman Behvand, they are still considering barricades and signage at the spot to keep pedestrians safe.

"I want to compliment staff on the tremendous job they did to see that this happened," said Vice Mayor Curtis Hunt, who added that sometimes the council is blamed for not being business friendly. "This is exactly the kind of thinking we need."

In other action, the council approved appointing Vacaville resident Mitch Mashburn to serve on the Planning Commission. Mashburn ran for City Council last year but was defeated. He fills the seat that Commissioner Ella Marie Kallios resigned from.