Columbia sued over Five Points fast-food restaurant

A long time Five Points restaurateur and developer has sued the city of Columbia for granting a special permit for a drive-thru window in a proposed fast-food restaurant at the high-profile corner of Harden Street and Santee Avenue.

Richard Burts, who since 1988 has owned and operated buildings and businesses in the urban village near the University of South Carolina, claims the city’s Board of Zoning Appeals last month improperly issued the special permit for a proposed Zaxby’s chicken restaurant in the old Harper’s location.

The suit claims the board overlooked the impact that additional traffic from the drive-thru would have on the lower end of the village. The lawsuit also says the board failed to consider that most of the neighborhood associations adjoining the area – as well as the Five Points Merchants Association – opposed the permit.

“I’ve worked for the last 30 years ... to understand the pedestrian feel of the neighborhood and work toward making that even better,” said Burts, one of the village’s largest landowners. “This (suit) is just the next step in the process.”

He noted that the Five Points zoning laws discourage drive-thrus in “lower” Five Points, and the city requires a special exception from the zoning board to have one anywhere.

“When does the exception become the rule?” he asked.

The dustup over Zaxby’s is just one of a string of issues facing the village, which has seen four full-service or locally owned restaurants close in recent years. Neighbors also are protesting a new restaurant and bar on Blossom Street and are pushing for the city to force all bars in the college-oriented entertainment and shopping district to close by 2 a.m.

The board voted 4-2 on Dec. 12 to allow Zaxby’s to locate a restaurant in Five Points with a drive-thru window. Board chairman Chuck Salley abstained because he works at the commercial real estate brokerage that represents Zaxby’s.

Burts’ attorney, Dick Harpootlian, who lives in nearby Wales Garden, said the lack of a traffic study spurred the lawsuit.

“There are going to be a bunch of people making U-turns and driving through neighborhoods because of this,” he said. “And we believe that will be detrimental to those neighborhoods.”

At the December hearing, building owner John Scarborough noted that the Harper’s location was home to a fast-food restaurant called D’Lites from 1984 to 1990. It was built with a drive-thru window.

Scarborough said the new drive-thru lane would mirror the previous one and would have access from Santee and Harden, with a long looping lane to absorb the cars.

But the vast majority of those who spoke at the nearly 2 1/2 -hour hearing at Columbia City Hall opposed the drive-thru, saying it did not conform to the pedestrian nature of the village or the guidelines of the “FutureFive” master plan adopted by City Council about a decade ago.

Harper’s, which served steaks, barbecue and American fare in Five Points for 27 years, was the second full-service dining location to close in the village in recent years. Garibaldi’s, a white-tablecloth Italian and seafood restaurant, closed in 2015.

In May, two other restaurants — El Burrito and Rise Gourmet Goods and Bakeshop — also closed.

Zaxby’s franchisees Britt and Jim Poston of Florence own 19 franchises in South Carolina, including the stores on Knox Abbott Drive in Cayce and on Beltline Boulevard near Richland Mall. They have stores in Myrtle Beach, Florence, Sumter and Orangeburg as well as Columbia.

Britt Poston told The State newspaper on Thursday that the brothers were surprised by the opposition to the new store.

“We’ve been doing this for 20 years,” he said. “Usually, people are trying to get us in. We’ve never had anybody trying to keep us out. People love Zaxby’s.”

This story was originally published January 19, 2018 at 8:54 AM.