About a half dozen Ellis Avenue residents came to the Maplewood Board of Adjustment meeting Wednesday night where Raising Cane’s Chicken Fingers had its first city meeting in the process to build a restaurant at 2707 S. Big Bend, the former Schaefer Shell location. They were outnumbered by Raising Cain’s real estate representatives and architects.
The Ellis residents had concerns more than than opposition — more orderly than when McDonald’s told them what they wanted do on the corner and met fierce opposition.
- McDonald’s meets Ellis Avenue residents: free-for-all
- Schaefer Shell loses lease, to close this month
Representatives for Raising Cane’s requested a variance to allow parking five feet from the street, rather than 15, which is city code. Maplewood Assistant City Manager Anthony Traxler said Raising Cane’s isn’t asking to remove any houses on Ellis, to give them more room, which is forcing the request to push parking closer to the street. McDonald’s had wanted to remove two houses on Ellis.
Traxler said city staff recommends approval. He said reduced access to the site — only from Manchester and Big Bend — will improve safety. There will be no curb cut from the restaurant onto Ellis. The entrance to Raising Cain’s on Big Bend will be right in only and right out only.
The restaurant wouldn’t open until 10 a.m., which would help residents exit Ellis onto Big Bend. Raising Cane’s real estate manager, Robert Montgomery said it would close at around 11 p.m or midnight on weeknights and 1 or 2 a.m. on weekends.
A six-foot tall fence will run along Ellis, and a 10-foot retaining wall will be needed, with the fence on top, where the property meets the house at the end of Ellis.
The board said questions about traffic will be addressed by planning and zoning. The restaurant also still needs to meet with design and review, with final approval from city council.
Ellis resident, Eric Hoffman told the board he’d like a wider landing pad for pedestrians on the corner. Traxler told him the county plans to redo the intersection, including adding a right-turn only lane on north-bound Big Bend, so the intersection may be changed.
Both Hoffman and John Hendel said they’d like the sidewalk along Ellis to be as wide as possible. Traxler said the sidewalk would be reconstructed.
Ellis resident Craig Ross said after the meeting that Raising Cane’s has been respectful in how they’ve tried to plan it, though he’s still concerned about safety — not only on Ellis, but with the the ECC a block away.
He said he’d also like the city to address how the west end of Maplewood can be better connected to downtown. “When I walk with my family to go have dinner, it’s hard when you’re hauling a couple little kids around,” he said.
Susan Johnson’s backyard, on Woodland, faces the corner. “I am kind of opposed, but I won’t be happy until they put the Shell back,” she said after the meeting. “I just don’t want a food place there. But as far as some of the accommodations they’re making, they’re much better than McDonald’s.
Johnson said traffic and safety is going to be awful. “Fortunately Tim Horton’s doesn’t seem to be that busy, CVS isn’t all that busy, but I don’t like the hours they’re talking about, I don’t like where the dumpster is, I don’t like the smell of chicken and I don’t like the lights.”
The board voted unanimously to approve the variance.
If I want cheap chicken, I go to Porter’s. If I want GREAT chicken I go to Piccadilly at Manhattan. Who needs chicken fingers?
I understand the concerns, especially of the Ellis residents, of the additional traffic that a restaurant will add, but what surprises me is the disdain for Raising Cane’s. It’s not high cuisine, but nothing on the corner would be. And if you’ve tried them, you’d realize that they do what they do well.
I mean, an organization as highfalutin’ as the James Beard Awards recognized an essay on chicken fingers this year: https://longform.org/posts/the-2016-james-beard-award-winners
A healthier option would be great, but we do already have Bread Co. and McAlister’s in the area. And at least Raising Cane’s isn’t open at breakfast, when the kids are walking to school.
no one has mention the fact that Maplewood could be renamed Chickenville, because of all the chicken restaurants. there will be four in a two block area….come on…
Not true. There will be two chicken restaurants within two blocks. Raising Cane’s and Gus’s.
Porter’s is well down the road, and you would be hard pressed to call it a major establishment. KFC isn’t even in Maplewood. I don’t know why this is such a problem, though I do feel for the Ellis residents if there is going to be a chicken odor every time they walk outside.
A place that only sells chicken fingers, fries, and cole slaw? I’d like to know what this corporation can and will promise Maplewood when it closes in a couple years and leaves an abandoned space on the corner of the busiest intersection in town. What happens then?
Why would they close in a couple years? This is a very successful franchise. The location on Hampton has people at it all the time. I think its delicious & its very quick, where as Gus’s is a sit down resturant. Yes, they both sell chicken, but its quite different from each other.
I don’t deny that traffic flow is kind of messy at that spot, but I don’t understand the concerns Ellis residents have voiced over cars using Ellis to exit that property. It would seem to be more dangerous in the current plan which has cars turning North (left) from Ellis onto Big Bend and cars from the chicken shack turning South (right) onto Big Bend. Residents will have to deal with the customers regardless. They might as well just be safer by having everyone wait in a single line to enter onto Big Bend instead of trying to cross paths. Also from a walking standpoint, it doesn’t make much of a difference. If anything it would likely be safer to cut across the path of a driver leaving the lot to enter onto Ellis compared to a driver leaving the lot to enter onto Big Bend.
Joe S – You don’t understand the problem we Ellis residents have because you don’t have to be in that environment every time you leave your house. We don’t have a choice. It’s busy and dangerous. The school children walk up Ellis to Big Bend and cross the street. Adding more cars will make it dangerous for the kids. I walk through that intersection and find it acceptable now. Add more cars and that changes the safety. Try exiting Ellis every time you leave your house, you’ll see.
I don’t doubt that leaving the street is less than ideal. Also most people would agree with you that child safety is a major concern. However, a business will go into that lot, as it should. And it is also unrealistic to expect a business on that lot to not have an entrance/exit on the south end of it (as there is currently). Given that cars will be exiting the lot either directly onto Big Bend or Ellis and Ellis residents will have to deal with the traffic regardless, it just seems to be safer for traffic to go to Ellis first.
Has there been any discussion to make Ellis a one way street going the other way so that you enter from Big Bend only?
Just to add a point of clarification, the Board approved two specific requests from Raising Cane’s that their proposed site plan be allowed slight deviations, or variances, from city code. The Board of Adjustment does not have the authority to approve whether the restaurant can move into that space. Citizens can still voice their opinions on that matter whenever it comes before Planning and Zoning or the City Council later on.
At least we have places like Acero, Reed’s, Waterstreet and other great restaurants in Maplewood that offer innovative and delicious food that isn’t fried chicken. Crow’s Nest, Muddled Pig, Maya, Boogaloo and Bottleworks all have really good menues, and I look forward to more like all of them migrating to our cool little town.
I agree with you.
My kids love Robata. If I told them we were going to grab chicken fingers for dinner, they’d wonder what they did wrong.
Ralf, I’m a fan of all the places you mentioned in your post, but I think our “cool little town” could use a little dose of humility. Maplewood is not a wealthy town. In fact, nearly 45% of the kids in the school district qualify for reduced or free lunches. Yet we celebrate the upscale joints that seem to come and go at an alarming rate. We have upscale chocolate, upscale donuts, upscale beer, upscale whiskey, and a whole bunch of upscale restaurants that may or may not be here tomorrow. Is it me, or do they seem to be for people who don’t live here?
Just s note on the spelling of Cane’s. Since I am very familiar with this chain I like to see it referred to in the correct way.
Thanks, Kay
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