If Starbucks takes over Jack in the Box on San Elijo....

Tomorrow (February 9) the Encinitas City Council will hear an appeal concerning a proposal to turn a drive-thru Jack in the Box into a drive-thru Starbucks.

It's no simple swap, city staff decided last November when the planning commission determined that the project at 1967 San Elijo Ave. in Cardiff would be an "intensified use."

Think morning coffee hour rush.

In short, traffic would nearly double, and the fact that the Jack in the Box, located at the corner of San Elijo Avenue and Birmingham Drive, is a legal nonconforming use means it can't be expanded anyway.

The restaurant was built in 1968, but Cardiff has grown denser and more pedestrian-oriented over the years, making drive-thrus unsuitable. Today, new drive-thrus aren't allowed in the Cardiff-By-The-Sea Specific Plan.

Critics of the proposal say the fast food pit stop has stayed mostly within its lot rather than spilling into the streets, since its peak business hours are spread throughout the day.

If converted to a Starbucks, however, breakfast, lunch and dinner would converge in the early morning like commuters all heading to work at once.

At some Starbucks locations, patrons waiting on their coffee are known to stop their cars in the street in order to queue up for the drive thru, says a letter from the Cardiff 101 Main Street Design Committee, a group "vehemently" opposed to the conversion.

Jack in the Box, which appealed the commission's interpretation in December, argues that the proposal is a rebranding of the restaurant, not an expansion of a legal non-conforming use. Both Jack in the Box and Starbucks meet the city’s definition of “drive in or drive through restaurant.”

So far, no actual development has been proposed. Calbay Development LLC is under contract to purchase the Jack in the Box, and plans several minor improvements, such as re-striping to add more parking, closing off Birmingham Drive, and installing a sign directing customers to the walk-up window if queuing of vehicles becomes too great.

As the commission sees it, the whole deal would amount to an entirely different use of the site. And certainly, a much busier one.

According to a staff report, county traffic planning agencies don't have separate trip generation rates for a coffee shop versus a restaurant; "however, the Institute of Transportation Engineers separates Fast Food Restaurant with Drive Through vs. Coffee/Donut Shop with Drive Through Window."

On weekdays from 7-9 a.m., the average vehicle trips from the Institute of Transportation Engineer’s Manual shows an increase of 66.7 peak hour trips if Starbucks goes in. Smaller increases are noted for weekday afternoons and Saturdays.

Switching to a coffee shop would cause a substantial increase in trips, the city says, which would clog the intersection of San Elijo Avenue and Birmingham Drive.

The city is recommending denial of the appeal.