Main Street restaurant awaits changes to bylaw

The Town of Pincher Creek is looking at making a change to one of its zoning designations.

Known as C-4 transitional commercial, it covers financial institutions, retail stores and restaurants, but the rules now don’t allow for a business to operate a drive-thru window.

The owner of a Main Street eatery is hoping a proposed amendment to the current bylaw will change all of that.

Avinash Thakor owns the downtown Subway location, at the corner of Main and Davidson, and has since 2017.

“The drive-thru, for some people, is much more convenient, especially if, maybe, you have kids in your car. It’s much quicker sometimes,” Thakor said.

“Right now, I’m really just waiting for the process to be completed.”

For any changes to be accepted, though, a bylaw amendment or amendments need to go to a first reading, then to a public hearing, before a second and final third reading.

The first two steps have already happened.

“So, if the request gets added into the zoning, and the zoning gets changed, then the applicant is going to have to bring an application forward,” Mayor Don Anderberg explained after the Aug. 28 public hearing.

Facing staffing challenges, like many employers, opening the drive-thru window hasn’t always been top of mind for Thakor, but it’s something his customers have been asking about with a window already in place.

If approved, the restaurant will also need to establish a traffic pattern to avoid blocking a nearby alleyway and Davidson Avenue, but so far no one in the neighbourhood has shared any concern, including at the recent public hearing.

“There is actually space in the parking lot where you could enter the drive-thru and it’s wide enough,” Thakor said.

A passing of the new bylaw could come as early as the town’s next regular council meeting, Sept. 11, when it’s expected to receive both second and final readings in succession.