ThisWeek CW 05/30/2013
Plans to annex land from Violet Township near the intersection of Kings Crossing and Diley Road, just off U.S. Route 33, could result in nearly 90 new jobs for Canal Winchester.
McDonald’s intends to build a new restaurant on land currently occupied by a plumbing supply warehouse just south of the Meijer store. A second lot currently owned by the Ohio Department of Transportation, which is otherwise landlocked, will be included in the project with an access drive being built for potential future site development, according to Canal Winchester Development Director Lucas Haire.
“We control Kings Crossing internally with the city, so we’ve asked that a service drive be constructed to the other lot when that’s developed and McDonald’s has agreed to that in the application,” Haire said. “This would also extend utilities to the area.”
The joint Canal Winchester and Violet Township Cooperative Economic Development Agreement land-use committee recommended the annexation and appropriate rezoning legislation to allow for the new McDonald’s development. The Canal Winchester Planning and Zoning Commission also forwarded a favorable recommendation to city council for approval.
McDonald’s representative Lynsey Ondecker thanked the city for its support of the project at the May 13 planning commission meeting.
“As you can see, McDonald’s is really investing in their brand right now, and I want to thank the city for being a tremendous help to us on this project,” Ondecker said. “If this is approved, we anticipate hiring about 85 hourly employees and three salaried, for an annual payroll of about $625,000.”
This new McDonald’s would use the same style of building as the recently redesigned McDonald’s on Gender Road, including the dual drive-through lanes.
“In the proposed site development plan, there is a circular drive with double drive-through lanes with a layout similar to Gender Road and it is architecturally almost identical,” Haire said. “They always propose a lot of signage and then we talk it down from there, and they’ll have to come back to planning and zoning for approval of a final development plan if the annexation goes through.”
Canal Winchester City Council heard a first reading of the annexation and rezoning legislation at its May 20 meeting. A public hearing has been scheduled for 7 p.m. June 17 prior to the third and final reading of the ordinance.
If council votes to approve the annexation, a final development plan could be submitted for approval as early as the Aug. 8 planning and zoning commission meeting.