GCC tables Yonah Burger application

GAINESVILLE - The public hearing on the Yonah Burger application for a restaurant on Thompson Bridge Road - which has run into into neighborhood opposition - adjacent to Green Street Circle was tabled by the Gainesville City Council Tuesday night.

The vote to table until the next council meeting was 3-2 with Mayor Ruth Bruner and councilmen Danny Dunagan and George Wangemann voting in favor.

The matter was tabled after the applicant, Jeff Payne, left the council meeting about 6:30 to go vote. Just before he left Dunagan asked if he would be willing to temporarily close the cut-through between the restaurant and Green Street Circle. At first, Payne said he would consider an "arm" that could be raised for dine-in patrons to leave the restaurant. When the matter came around for discussion again, Payne was not there and the matter was tabled.

Eight-to-ten Green Street Circle residents addressed the issue during the council meeting. Most were okay with the restaurant but not the plans to include a drive-up window.

The city's traffic engineering department did a traffic count last Friday and Saturday on the straight part of Green Street Circle behind the proposed restaurant site, not the curve. It showed 548 cars on Friday and 371 on Saturday. The Friday count was one-half of what other streets in the area show.