McDonald’s eyes fast-food restaurant near Food Lion in Milton

The golden arches may soon be coming to Milton. 

The Milton Board of Adjustment approved two variances related to a proposed McDonald’s at the corner of Route 16 and Union Street Extended, while denying a third at an Oct. 24 meeting.

McDonald’s is proposing to build a 4,000-plus-square-foot restaurant on the northeast corner of the existing Milton Park Center Shopping Plaza, colloquially known as the Food Lion shopping center for its anchor tenant. The parcel is zoned C-1 commercial. Plans include 60 seats, parking, drive-thru windows, landscaping, lighting and other improvements. Fast-food restaurants are a permitted use in town code within the commercial district. 

The board unanimously granted variances to allow McDonald’s to have four electronic signs and to have a 10-foot-wide drive aisle from the service window to the parking area; town code requires a minimum of 60 feet from the service window to either the public right of way or interior parking areas, a requirement board Chair Steve Crawford deemed excessive. 

However, the board denied a variance from the minimum parking setback requirements, which by Milton code must be 30 feet. McDonald’s had asked for 15 feet because in order to comply with code, it would require the removal of code-required parking spaces.

Bill Rhodunda, attorney for McDonald’s LLC, the applicant, said the restaurant would be a typical setup for a McDonald’s. He said 75% of McDonald’s business is via the drive-thru. Rhodunda said access to the restaurant would be from the center lane of the shopping center, with no direct access from Route 16 or Union Street Extended. He said McDonald’s was not seeking a variance from the parking requirements, but sought to instead cut into the setbacks. Despite that, Rhodunda said, there is still a substantial right of way on Route 16.

Steve Fortunato, engineer with Bohler Engineering, said of the setback variance, “The ask here is based on the geometry and the size of the parcel. McDonald’s is not a particularly large building. We’ve squeezed the site down as much as we can while still maintaining the code-required parking, minimum drive aisle width and having one-way drive aisles.”

On the signs, Fortunato said they do not blink or strobe and are intended to display the menu options in the drive-thru. 

Rhodunda said he did not believe the McDonald’s would have an adverse impact on the surrounding neighborhood and that there would be no impact on traffic since the entrance for the restaurant already exists. 

While the board granted the variances for the signs and the drive aisle, they were not fans of the setback variance, suggesting that instead of seeking a variance from the setback requirements, McDonald’s should have asked for a variance from parking requirements. Rhodunda said McDonald’s wanted to have enough parking for both customers and employees. Site plans show about 41 parking spaces on site; by code, McDonald’s is required to have one space per 100 gross square feet. Rhodunda said McDonald’s would have more green space than other lots in the area and is maintaining the sidewalks plus providing parking. 

The board raised concerns about the setbacks being so close to Route 16 and the possibility that the Delaware Department of Transportation will widen that road in the future. 

Indeed, there will be some improvements within the corridor when the proposed Royal Farms convenience store and gas station goes in across Union Street Extended from the proposed McDonald’s location. Board member Robert Gray said if Route 16 were to be widened, it could cause safety issues at the McDonald’s. 

As for where the McDonald’s goes now, developers will either have to reconfigure the plans to comply with code or ask for a different variance prior to going to site-plan review in front of the planning and zoning commission.