Chick-Fil-A May Be Declared a 'Public Nuisance' by the City of Santa Barbara

A bustling Chick-fil-A restaurant in California may soon be designated a "public nuisance."

Community members have complained to the city council about the Santa Barbara branch, which opened in 2013 and has been tremendously popular.

At issue is that it could be having a negative impact on the community, with customers who do not fit in the drive-thru parking lot using the adjacent roadway, which is blocking nearby driveways and sidewalks and causing a build-up in traffic, CBS News reported.

The restaurant attempted to introduce fixes to alleviate the traffic clog but this reportedly failed, prompting residents to take their complaints to the city council, which is considering a public designation to label the Chick-fil-A location a "public nuisance," a city council agenda document reads.

"The city's traffic engineer, police chief and community development director have evaluated the situation and believe that the persistent traffic back-up onto State Street is a public nuisance and that the nuisance is caused by the operation of a drive-through at the Chick-fil-A restaurant," a city traffic report reads.

Not only are residents fed up with the traffic, they are concerned about the danger it poses.

"Each time a queue forms on State Street, the eastbound number two traffic lane is blocked leaving only one lane available. The queuing increases the risk of collisions, particularly rear-end collisions and side-swipe collisions," the city document reads, according to Fox News. 

It added: "Queued vehicles persistently block the sidewalk and bike lanes, creating a danger to pedestrians and cyclists. The queuing of vehicles routinely blocks access to adjacent businesses, which affects customer and delivery access to these businesses."

The city council unanimously voted to advance a motion that would label the restaurant a "public nuisance," during a hearing earlier this month, Fox News noted. Chick-fil-A however has requested a delay so that it can take action to rectify the situation.

In a statement to CBS, Travis Collins, the franchised operator of the restaurant, said he wants to "be a good neighbor," and was continuing efforts to ease the traffic issues, which includes hiring additional staff and third-party traffic control.

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