Saint Paul’s Drive‑Thru Policy Shift: What Businesses Need to Know

Last week, the Saint Paul City Council unanimously approved a sweeping new set of restrictions on future drive‑thru businesses — an ordinance that increasingly feels like a solution looking for a problem. While the city frames the action as a step toward safer streets and reduced congestion, the ordinance raises more questions than it answers, especially regarding how existing drive‑thrus may be expected to adapt.​

The new ordinance significantly narrows where drive‑thrus can be located, barring them from downtown, near high‑frequency transit corridors, and from stand‑alone buildings in designated pedestrian‑oriented districts. It also dictates how new lanes must be positioned — requiring placement along the side or rear of buildings and imposing a strict 120-foot buffer from nearby homes for restaurant and coffee uses. One example illustrates how this process unfolded: after more than a year of being laid over, the ordinance was amended to more than double the transit station buffer — from 300 feet to 660 feet — just one week before final adoption. With little to no input from the regulated industries, the Council expanded a buffer that now covers nearly 40% of the city's existing drive‑thrus.

The Chamber highlighted two practical fixes: a clear definition of where the 120-foot buffer is measured from, and a site-specific review process to address cases where the standard rules don't fit the terrain. The Council adopted neither. Without measurement clarity, applicants and reviewers are left to interpret a critical standard inconsistently, creating uncertainty that could delay or derail otherwise compliant projects. Without a variance or exceptions pathway, operators facing unusual lot configurations have no recourse short of abandoning the use altogether. These are not minor tweaks; they reshape entire site‑planning assumptions for prospective operators.

More striking is the dramatic jump in required “stacking space.” Restaurants must now provide 12 car spaces, and coffee shops 14 — triple the previous minimums. Banks, credit unions, and pharmacies are now required to provide 6, at least double what current demand for these institutions typically generate. Yet the ordinance provides little insight into how businesses with existing constrained footprints are expected to interpret or respond to these new thresholds.

Rather than delivering clarity or signaling that Saint Paul is open for business, this measure creates regulatory ambiguity — leaving residents and businesses wondering what problem the city is truly trying to solve. 
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See you in the trenches,
B

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