City Council passes drive thru ordinance
Howell "Howie" Dennis is the news editor for The Crowley Post-Signal. He can be reached at howie.dennis@crowleytoday.com or 337-783-3450.
The Crowley City Council held its monthly meeting Wednesday night to move forward and decide on several local issues. The meeting was moved back a day from its regular Tuesday session in observance of Veterans Day.
The council voted to change the space requirements for any businesses that come to Crowley that use drive thrus. The measure, which has been discussed during the past two council meetings, will require that all new businesses operating a drive thru window allow a minimum of 100 feet from the service window to the flow of traffic .
The ordinance will not effect any businesses that currently use drive thrus as the council stated that they would be grandfathered in. However, should an existing business decide to add a drive thru, it must abide by the ordinance.
Local businessman Tracy Young approached the council to ask if the ordinance would affect any parking areas of locally run businesses.
“Any business that have their parking areas in place will not have to make a change,” said Mayor Greg Jones.
The ordinance was introduced in part in response to some drive thrus having cars that were lined up onto roadways slowing traffic.
The council also agreed to the purchase of 20 used SCBA (Self contained breathing apparatus) packs for the Crowley Fire Department. The individual cost of each pack will be $1,200 with the total amount for all 20 not to exceed $24,000.
In another decision involving the fire department, the council decided to defer a payment due to the city from Fire District 11 for two accidents in which hazardous materials were spilled.
Fire District 11 is still awaiting the collection for the Oct. 6 and Oct. 11 accidents from the trucking companies involved.
The I-10 service road project, which is projected to bring businesses and increased revenue to Crowley, may be delayed due to the bids which were turned in.
Only two companies (Glenn Lege Construction and Elliot Construction) submitted bids, the lowest of which of which (Glenn Lege Construction) was still nearly $1 million over the estimated $3,221,699.80 projected total cost of the project.
Mader blamed the high cost on the lack of competition.
“I’ve asked the DOTD to analyze the bids and the contract with us,” said Mader.
Jones said that any decision should wait until after the DOTD’s review.