Drive Thru STacking & Parking

[moose]

Hi there, I'm working on opening a double lane drive thru here on the East Coast and the stacking and parking requirements seem steep. Here are the Zoning requirements for a double lane (drive thru only):

PARKING:
Fast food , drive - through only, 14 spaces per 1,000 square feet of gross restaurant floor area.

STACKING:
Stacking spaces shall be provided in addition to the parking spaces required. Each stacking space shall be at least 20 feet in length. The stacking space requirement shall not include the space next to the transaction station.

Double drive-through lane Required Stacking Spaces: 16 with no less than 5 stacking spaces per lane if walkup window is provided; 20 with no less than 5 per lane if there is no walkup window.

So it looks like I'm going to need 14 parking spaces and 16 stacking spaces, plus the space for my building. Assuming 2 lanes of 8 spaces that comes out to something like 8000 sq feet (40x200), not counting parking.

Is this typical of what other drive thrus have had to do?
Anyone have creative solutions for minimizing the necessary space or bending lanes?
I'm afraid that this much space is going to make leasing space on a parking lot difficult or at least very expensive.

Anyone had experience with this issue that they could share?
Thanks

 

[RMC]

STACKING

Hey Moose,
I'm surprizes no one has responded to your Q. I'm not much help cause I'm only preparing my BP on a double drive-thru. I'm living in Oregon for now and there are like 20 shops just in my small town! Some have stacking for about 6-8 cars on each side and some look like they could only stack about 4. I want to set up shop in Michigan and my friggin' city requires a 20 CAR STACKUP for any type of drive-thru!!! Moreover, they define 1 car as 23 x 8 - so I totally sympathize with you. Really complicates things for a guy who only wants a 10 x 20 building. A city official did say that this was just a starting point and that they realize it may seem excessive. He told me that if I petitioned the zoning board with a coherent plan and volume assessment that allowances could be made. In fact, even the heavyweights (McD and such) couldn't cram 20 vehicles in their lanes so I know there's leeway. Anyway, might want to ask the city about their appeal process and get a handle on just how low they will go. Otherwise, you may unnecessarily scrap the idea. Sorry I babble.