FAYETTEVILLE — A fried chicken vendor’s request has ruffled some feathers.
Clayton Scott opened Frickin Chicken earlier this year in a trailer at College Avenue and Rolling Hills Drive. Now he wants to stay longer than his 90-day mobile vendors’ permit allows.
Owners of a KFC franchise across Rolling Hills from the vendor are crying fowl. According to city code, Fayetteville planning commissioners can only grant an extension to a mobile vendor’s 90-day permit if they find that the “vendor’s presence for an extended period of time at one location will not create an unfair advantage over similar and nearby permanent businesses.”
Meeting Information
Fayetteville Planning Commission
When: 5:30 p.m. today
Where: Room 219, City Administration Building, 113 W. Mountain St.
On the Agenda:
• A variance to the city’s mobile vendors’ ordinance for Frickin Chicken
• A conditional-use permit for a 150-foot-tall cellphone tower at 1720 E. Zion Road
• Several variances for planned condominium project at the southwest corner of 15th Street and Razorback Road.
Joseph Morrow, a regional manager with KFC, wrote a letter to the commission that said the temporary nature of Frickin Chicken poses a threat.
“By allowing this mobile unit to position itself in such close proximity to our newly remodeled KFC restaurant, there would be a conflict — a PROFOUND conflict of interest to our success,” Morrow wrote.
Other fried chicken restaurants, including AQ Chicken House, Zaxby’s and Slim Chickens, are less than 1 1/2 miles away.
Scott said by email last week he was “shocked and surprised” by KFC’s opposition to his request to stay at College and Rolling Hills for another nine months.
“To suggest KFC would be under a disadvantage to operate within the realm of fair competition is outrageous,” Scott wrote. “I must say, however, I am flattered that a corporation with worldwide annual sales revenue estimated at $15 billion finds my part-time, two-person Frickin Chicken operation a threat.”
Fayetteville code allows mobile vendors to move to a new location at least a half-mile away every 90 days. A new permit and a $50 filing fee are required. Planning commissioners are scheduled to consider Frickin Chicken’s request today. Planning staff members are recommending denial of the permit extension.
The request isn’t the first time a mobile vendor and brick-and-mortar store have been at odds in Fayetteville. Planning commissioners in February gave a Shave the Planet snow cone stand the authority to operate for an additional 180 days at College Avenue and Rolling Hills Drive, despite objections from the owners of a Maggie Moo’s ice cream store across the street.
Tracy Hoskins, whose wife runs the Maggie Moo’s franchise, argued because mobile vendors don’t have to provide restrooms, install permanent utilities or comply with architectural and landscape standards other businesses have to meet, they’re able to undercut the competition.
Planning staff recommended if commissioners do grant an extension for Frickin Chicken they require the property owner to install a 5-foot sidewalk on College Avenue and provide landscaping, restrooms, bicycle racks, shaded outdoor seating and Americans with Disabilities Act parking spaces.
Scott said he would “gladly comply with any improvements that the Planning Commission deems necessary within reason.”
Commissioners are also scheduled to discuss an application for a 150-foot-tall cellphone tower at 1720 E. Zion Road, south of Lake Fayetteville.
And plans for a 68-unit, 232-bedroom condominium project at 15th Street and Razorback Road are up for consideration. Condo developers have gone back and forth with city staff with plans for the project for several months. After initial concerns about development too close to the Town Branch creek on the west side of the 4.4-acre property, engineers with Crafton, Tull & Associates revised designs by pulling a 234-space parking lot farther away from the creek. Staff members are recommending in favor of a variance to the city’s streamside protection ordinance.