When The Shoppes at Westlake Village (the “Target” development on the area known as “Lot C”) was approved by the Westlake Village City Council last year, the developer (Dan Selleck) made the commitment that there would not be a fast food drive through restaurant on the property without bringing it back before the council to consider. In-N-Out Burger has filed an application to construct and operate a drive-thru restaurant at the southwest corner of the project, and the Council will consider that application at the December 11th meeting this week.
While there is already significant resident support for an In-N-Out in the area (see earlier article about a Westlake Revelations survey at https://westlakerevelations.com/2012/04/11/survey-results-shoppes-westlake-village for details), the City Councils Planning Area C Ad-hoc Committee and staff have been working through issues in architecture, impact, staging of customers waiting for their orders, car headlights visibility and more.
Originally, In-N-Out proposed their standard hours of operations for is 10:30am-1am (1:30 on Fri and Sat) — but the application has now been modified to 10:30am-midnight (1:30am on Fri and Sat) so that the hours are within the already approved times for The Shoppes at Westlake Village (until midnight Sun-Thur, and 2am on Fri/Sat nights).
In terms of the building, the restaurant will have Napa type architecture that matches the rest of the development — rather than the typical In-N-Out look. Of the signs on each of the four sides of the building, each seen from the freeway are halo-lit bronze (as well as the “monument” sign on Russell Ranch Road). A single sign facing the parking lot is corporate colors. Like Target, In-N-Out has never modified their signage/colors in this way — Westlake Village is the first to have this. Headlight screening has been put in place in the design to protect headlights from shining across the freeway to residential areas. To allow for additional parking and staging, the property is larger in size (over an acre) than a typical In-N-Out.
One of the most important considerations has been traffic. The Environmental Impact Report (EIR) for the development had already considered a fast food restaurant operating throughout the day, but without a drive through. The In-N-Out would be less than the morning impact outlined in the EIR (since In-N-Out doesn’t open until 10:30am), but would have an additional 12 cars in, and 12 cars out in the PM when compared to the EIR (e.g., no significant difference from existing EIR). Most In-N-Out’s have planned “stacking” of 12 cars for waiting for orders, but in Westlake Village, the plan is for 21 — possibly as many as 23. The restaurant design is In-N-Out’s most optimized — with the ability to process orders more quickly than other locations. Truck deliveries coming in, like the other parts of The Shoppes, are only allowed to travel on the southern portion of Russell Ranch Road to avoid passing by residential properties.
The December 11 meeting will be held at 6:30 pm in the City Council chambers located at 31200 Oak Crest Drive. All interested persons are welcome to attend and comment on the project. Further information on the project can be found on the Citys website at http://www.wlv.org . Comments on the project can be made verbally at the hearing, or sent by mail or email to the City Council via the Citys website. Questions to the City about the project should be directed to Scott Wolfe, Planning Director, at (818) 706-1613.
In addition, those interested in the project, or that have concerns, are encouraged to contact In-N-Out’s Katie Sanchez at (626) 813-8279.