Chick-fil-A, 7-Eleven construction takes over Marysville intersection

MARYSVILLE — It’s a busy time for this Marysville intersection.

Two businesses at 88th Street NE and 36th Avenue NE — Chick-fil-A and 7-Eleven, across the street from each other — are closed while undergoing renovations concurrently. The 7-Eleven is removing two underground storage tanks, while the Chick-fil-A is extending its drive-thru lanes to ease traffic, according to building permits. The two stores are closed for the construction and it is unknown when they’ll reopen.

Queuing at the Chick-fil-A drive-thru has caused traffic problems in the past, planning staff wrote in city documents. At 36th Avenue NE, lines sometimes spilled onto the street, causing delays to the general public accessing the neighborhood and other businesses. Marysville police performed traffic control at times.

“Doubling the drive-thru capacity and providing additional queuing length will provide much needed relief to the adjacent roadway capacity and businesses,” Marysville community development staff wrote in their recommendation to approve the construction.

The extended drive-thru lanes would remove 15 parking spots and add room for as many as 41 cars to wait in line at the chicken joint, documents show. The number of parking spots on site, 41, would be under the city’s required limit of one spot per 75 square feet — which would total 58 at the Chick-fil-A location — but the city approved because many of the current parking spots are blocked, as cars in the drive-thru would block parked vehicles in.

At noon, the busiest hour of the day, Chick-fil-A said, out of 180 customers, 115 of them use the drive-thru, 30 dine in, 15 use curbside delivery, 15 use carryout and five come from third-party delivery companies. The company estimates the extended drive-thru will divert 10% more customers to use that method.

Across the street, 7-Eleven is removing 10,000 gallon and 15,000 gallon tanks, both storing unleaded gasoline. The Marysville community development department found no probable adverse effect on the environment and approved the project.

Will Geschke: 425-339-3443; william.geschke@heraldnet.com; X: @willgeschke.