The Memphis City Council delayed a hearing on Tuesday that would determine whether or not the McDonald's at 657 South Highland St. would be relocated to the corner of Highland Street and Southern Avenue.
This hearing would include a vote on the design plans of the new McDonald's and ultimately determine if the relocation would be approved.
SR Consulting, the company in control of the design of the relocation project, requested the hearing be postponed until Dec. 17 in order to develop a new plan. This is now the second time the hearing has been rescheduled, and it is possible that it could be postponed again.
After the rescheduling of the hearing was requested, Josh Whitehead, the director of Memphis' Office of Planning and Development, recommended that the plans be sent back to be revised. Since the original plans that were set to be voted on are going to change, they have to be revised once again by the Land Use Control Board, according to Whitehead.
The Land Use Control Board has the power to hold the plans if they feel they are not ready, so there is a chance that a final vote on the project could be delayed for a third time, Whitehead said. If these plans are voted down, SR Consulting must wait another 18 months before proposing new plans.
While specific problems with the plan were not brought up at the meeting, the primary issue with the plans that has been voiced so far has mainly centered around designing a drive-thru that falls in line with regulations of the University District Overlay. The overlay is a document designed by The Memphis and Shelby County Office of Planning and Development and the University Neighborhoods Development Corporation aimed to govern construction projects in the University area.
