'It's Going To Be Untenable': Fairfielders Speak Out Against Chik-fil-A Proposal

FAIRFIELD, CT — One after another, Fairfield residents spoke Tuesday against bringing a Chik-fil-A to the town center.

The reason for their opposition: traffic.

“I think it’s going to be untenable,” said Jill Vergara, a Representative Town Meeting member who lives in District 7, where the restaurant is proposed.

Property owner 750 Post Road Associates LLC is seeking a special permit and coastal site plan approval from the Town Plan and Zoning Commission to construct the 5,000-square-foot restaurant and drive-thru on an approximately 2-acre site at 750 Post Road and 42 Eliot St. The land was formerly occupied by Joe's American Bar & Grill and Colonial Unisex Hair Cutters.

Tuesday marked the third night of the project's public hearing, which was held via Webex and was again continued as the commission reached its 10 p.m. curfew.

Vergara said she worried the eatery could overwhelm highway entrances and exits and “completely nullify” efforts to solve existing traffic problems in the area.

Neighborhood resident David Oleksiw noted there are already drive-thrus at McDonald’s and Doughnut Inn, both located in the nearby Post Road-Kings Highway Cutoff traffic circle, which was not included in the traffic study submitted as part of the Chik-fil-A application.

“The traffic study ignores that big red herring in the room that the circle is tremendously dangerous,” Oleksiw said.

Other concerns voiced by residents included the restaurant's potential effect on property values and its proximity to Fairfield University, Fairfield Ludlowe High School and Roger Ludlowe Middle School. They also noted the flooding issues in the area and the narrow underpass nearby on Benson Road.

One resident who spoke had worries beyond the traffic impact.

“As a queer person, my first reaction was, ‘Oh no, Chik-fil-A’s super homophobic,’” said C.J. Vinas, a recent high school graduate.

Chik-fil-A’s CEO, Dan Cathy, has donated to the National Christian Charitable Foundation, which has funded organizations that oppose legislation to protect the rights of LGBTQ people, according to Business Insider.

Vinas went on to add traffic to her list of concerns.

“Even when they try to mitigate traffic to the best of their abilities, they’re always over capacity," she said.

Also in attendance Tuesday was attorney Joel Green, who is representing several nearby businesses worried about the Fairfield project.

Green argued that Chik-fil-A’s proposed drive-thru door is against town regulations, that a planned freestanding structure above the outdoor ordering kiosks is 2 feet over the required setback and that the zoning application was incomplete because it lacked dimensional drawings. The proposed stucco building also did not align with the architectural standards of the historical town center, he said.

“This location is going to be problematical,” Green said. “The operations are chaotic, they are dangerous, they back up into the road.”

If constructed, the restaurant would include a two-lane drive-thru with a capacity for 36 cars. Another eight vehicles would be able to overflow into the parking lot — which would have 76 spaces — without effecting drive lanes. Cars would enter the drive-thru near Eliot Place and leave onto the Post Road via a right-turn-only exit. About 2,000 vehicles pass the site during peak traffic hours.

Based on traffic counts at Chik-fil-A's Norwalk and Wallingford restaurants, a Fairfield location could expect to draw 333 vehicle trips during its peak hour mid-day Saturday, 280 trips during a typical peak afternoon hour and 70 trips during a morning peak.

The developer is proposing a time adjustment to the nearby traffic signal at Post and Benson roads.

Green called on traffic engineer Michael Monteleone to detail some of the issues with the plan.

Monteleone noted the applicant did not provide data on traffic during the mid-day lunch rush and said it was inappropriate for the developer to seek zoning approval before receiving clearance from the state Department of Transportation on the signal changes, the usefulness of which he was skeptical.

“You’re just pushing the problem onto somewhere else,” he said of the time adjustment. “This is basically a shell game.”

Following the resident feedback, lawyer John Knuff, who is representing the property owner, was visibly frustrated.

“There have been some preposterous claims, frankly,” he said, adding he felt Green relied on conjecture and hyperbole.

Knuff will make his final defense of the project at a commission meeting in the coming weeks.