The Draft Urban Design Guidelines for Sites with Drive-Through Facilities will assist in achieving Official Plan goals for City beautification and the creation and enhancement of a comfortable, safe and vital public realm, which encourages walking and transit use, as well as specific built form policies as they relate to drive-through uses.

Drive-through facilities are defined as the use of land, buildings or structures to provide or dispense products or services through an attendant, window or automated machine to persons remaining in motorized vehicles that are in a designated stacking lane.

These Urban Design Guidelines will assist developers, architects, landscape architects, urban designers and professional planners in making informed decisions when developing site plan applications for drive-through facilities. They establish principles and criteria for consistent review of development applications for sites with drive-through facilities by City staff, in those areas of the City where they are a permitted land use, by:

  • Clarifying the City’s interest in addressing the development impacts of sites with drive-through facilities; and
  • Establishing standards and criteria for the design of sites with drive-through facilities, integrating operational elements, site and built form design with a focus on assisting this use with making a positive contribution to the surrounding context and pedestrian streetscape.

These Draft Guidelines were approved for community consultation by City Council in June 2005. They are in use by City staff for review of development applications for drive-through facilities during the consultation period.