Chick-fil-A, Palmetto Pig to add new drive-thrus in these Midlands locations

Two Columbia restaurants are seeking special exceptions from the city’s Board of Zoning Appeals to construct drive-thrus. The board will meet to discuss and vote on the plans on Aug. 5.

The Chick-fil-A located at 7424 Garners Ferry Road is looking to add a second drive-thru lane around the entire building and extend the restaurant’s canopy to cover both lanes.

The expansion to the restaurant’s drive-thru would allow for a larger volume of customers to be served and improve traffic flow, representatives for the restaurant wrote in an application to the board. This would minimize the current issue of traffic backing up onto Atlas Road and nearby establishments.

Other changes to the Chick-fil-A location included in the proposed plan are improvements to the site’s accessible parking and landscaping to increase shade.

Palmetto Pig, located at 530 Devine St., is looking to turn an existing pass-through window at the restaurant into a drive-thru.

Since the onset of the coronavirus pandemic, many customers have turned to relying on drive-thru and carryout options at restaurants. The addition of a drive-thru window would help Palmetto Pig “sustain its business and serve customers in the most convenient manner,” representatives for the restaurant wrote in an application to the board.

Additionally, a drive-thru window would make parking at the restaurant easier, because parking is currently limited at the restaurant, representatives wrote.

Construction on the projects will be able to begin as soon as the plans are approved by the board.