Commissioner Noble: traffic analysis for Maple Avenue drive-through lacks key data

Commissioner Douglas Noble spent much of the Sept. 9 meeting pressing for clearer traffic analysis and concrete operational controls for the proposed drive-through at 226 Maple Avenue West.

Noble, who identified himself as a professional in transportation engineering, said the materials provided to the commission were difficult to follow and contained inconsistencies. "The traffic study report itself was actually rather hard to follow," he said, noting a mismatch between a queuing diagram that shows four vehicles and a plan graphic showing five. He also questioned whether the applicant averaged service times over a two-hour window (07:30'09:30) rather than the peak hour and asked for measures of variability around the reported arrival rate (20 vehicles per hour).

Noble raised operational concerns tied to safety and pedestrian-vehicle conflict points: he requested documentation of signage, pavement-marking plans and the distance from the back of the on-site queue to the sidewalk, and he pressed for explicit performance metrics or a written procedure that would trigger staff to open a second lane or deploy a queue manager. "So right now, I'm personally not comfortable moving it forward," Noble said, and he submitted supplemental narrative to staff ahead of the BZA submittal.

Staff and the applicant said they could update the study and provide additional documentation; the commission added a condition limiting on-site stacking to 11 vehicles and required signage to direct vehicles to the exit. Noble cast the lone recorded Nay vote on the final recommendation.