A TASTY NUISANCE: California city may declare Chick-fil-A a ‘public nuisance.’

In Santa Barbara, the city is close to dubbing its sole Chick-fil-A a “public nuisance” due to long drive-thru lines that often has cars filled with hungry customers backed into the street for hours at a time.

The eatery known for its waffle fries and chicken sandwiches has had a restaurant in Santa Barbara since 2013, drawing a steady flow of patrons whose vehicles block nearby driveways and sidewalks and make city buses and emergency vehicles find other routes, according to city officials.

Chick-fil-A’s drive-thru lane heightens the odds of traffic collisions and pedestrians getting injured. At peak-volume, the drive-through blocks one lane of traffic for as much as 90 minutes on weekdays and for as much as 155 minutes on Saturdays, according to a city traffic report.

“The city’s traffic engineer, police chief and community development director have evaluated the situation and believe that the persistent traffic back-up onto State Street is a public nuisance and that the nuisance is caused by the operation of a drive-through at the Chick-fil-A restaurant,” the document stated.

Or is the real nuisance… political?