City Commissioners will be asked to adopt a resolution of intent during their March 17 meeting to vacate a portion of 10th Alley South for the planned Chik-fil-A at 721 10th Ave. S.
Staff is recommending approval and that commissioners set the public hearing for April 21.
The request does not include vacating the alley portion adjacent to existing houses in the northeast corner of the block and those houses aren’t included as part of the project.
Chik-fil-A’s proposal will remove the existing former H-O Paint building to build a restaurant on the southeastern portion of the property with parking and a stormwater detention pond on the western portion of the project.
The Electric first reported in January 2025 that Chik-fil-A had filed a traffic study for the same site, and reported in January 2026 that the restaurant had submitted a building permit application and requested the alley vacation.
Chik-fil-A is requesting to vacate the western portion of the alley to use land on both sides of the alley and aggregate all parcels into a single parcel, reducing the “potential legal and administrative complexity for the development,” according to staff.
The proposed site plan includes the restaurant with 39 parking spaces south of the alley and 38 parking spaces and stormwater detentions pond north of the alley, according to the restaurant’s vacation request.
“To maximize efficiency in site circulation and parking, two of the proposed landscape islands are proposed encroaching into the alley from the north. Vacating the western portion of the alley will allow Chick-fil-A to use the land more effectively and provide the best and safest options for circulation and parking,” according to the restaurant’s request.
Under city code, fast food restaurants are required to have one parking space per 2.5 seats in the restaurant, plus one per employee per shift. As designed, Chik-fil-A has 106 seats, which equates to 43 parking paces, plus 30 spaces for employees. Their planned design includes 79 standard parking stalls and four ADA-compliant stalls, according to the draft site plan.
The alleyway will continue to route traffic to and from the restaurant and if vacated, the retains utility and public access easements, and alley maintenance of the vacated portion will be assigned to the developer, according to the staff report.
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Under state statute, commissioners have to first adopt a resolution of intent to vacate any public-right-of way then set a public hearing on the request.
State law also requires a petition be sent to property owners abutting the right-of-way and unless 51 percent of affected property owners oppose it, commissioners may approve the vacation by ordinance.
The same property owner owns all of the properties on either side of the alley portion being considered for vacation.
Commissioners last approved two alley vacations in 2022.
City approves alley vacation for new tire shop [2022]
One was a partial alley vacation in 2022 for the Discount Tire store currently under construction and the other for the Chipotle restaurant.
A spokeswoman for Discount Tire told The Electric this week that the new location is slated to be open by this summer pending any changes to the construction timeline.
Commissioners vacated a street as part of the C.M. Russell Museum’s expansion project in 2020.
