A public hearing on the Chick-fil-A rezoning request will be held as part of the Dec. 16 Englewood City Council meeting, which begins at 7:30 p.m. in the council chambers on the second floor of the Englewood Civic Center at 1000 Englewood Parkway.

There also will be public hearing on an amendment to the subdivision associated with the same project.

At the hearing, a city employee will present the proposal and the mayor will call up those who signed up to testify. Those testifying at the public hearing will be sworn in and their comments become part of the public record. The council’s normal policy is not to vote on second and final reading of a proposal on the same night as the public hearing. However, the agenda indicated the council could vote on second and final reading on these issues on Dec. 16.

One public hearing is about the rezoning to a planned unit development necessary for the company’s proposal. The project would demolish the building at 3085 S. Broadway and two nearby houses on Acoma Street to create a 1.2-acre site that will become the location of the 4,600-square-foot drive-thru restaurant and adjacent parking lot. The second public hearing is about the subdivision amendment involving the same area.

A major aspect of the project involves the building on Broadway that held the Funtastic Fun indoor amusement establishment from 1994 until the doors were closed in 2011. The site has remained vacant.

Audra Kirk, Englewood planner, presented the proposal to the city council at the Dec. 2 meeting.

She said the request to rezone the site as a planned unit development is necessary because the current MUB2 and MURA zoning doesn’t permit a drive-thru restaurant.

“The Englewood Planning and Zoning Commission held a public hearing on the proposal on Nov. 5,” she told the council. “They forwarded the request to the council without conditions.”

The proposal calls for a right-in, right-out entrance on Broadway and a full access entrance on Acoma Street. Kirk said a traffic study predicted increased traffic on Acoma, but the traffic will be within the volume of traffic found on some other local streets.

“The traffic study suggested lengthening some left-turn lanes on Broadway and Dartmouth and restricting parking on the east side of Acoma adjacent to the Chick-fil-A property,” she said. “The proposal also would vacate a south portion of the alley between Acoma and Broadway and relocate the entrance and exit to the alley farther north on Acoma.”

Kirk said the subdivision amendment is required as part of the project, particularly the vacation of the southern portion of the alley while creating a 90-degree turn that will take alley traffic onto the entrance into the restaurant from Acoma Street.

Councilmember Jill Wilson said she looks forward to the public hearings so she can hear from the company and from the residents.

Councilmember Joe Jefferson agreed. He also talked about traffic.

“Traffic is a big issue for area residents,” he said. “I would ask that the city traffic engineer be at the public hearing to provide information when we discuss the issue of traffic.”

In keeping with city requirements, the company held a neighborhood meeting July 31 at Mayflower Church about the Chick-fil-A proposal. About 35 people attended the meeting.

Residents who spoke at the meeting were primarily concerned with the increased traffic on Acoma and alteration of the alley route.

Steve Lewis, senior development manager for Chick-fil-A, attended the meeting and told the resident he heard and understood their concerns.

“We will work with our designers and with the city to see what we can do to address the issues raised at this meeting,” he said.