The Inglewood Planning Commission is considering imposing a 1,000 foot distance requirement between fast food restaurants during its July 5 meeting.
According to City Planners Bernard McCrumby and Mindala Wilcox, “over the past few years, a number of studies have been conducted, on the over-proliferation of fast food restaurants in minority communities and why they disproportionately target lower-income communities and Inglewood is no exception.”
Citing a potential over-proliferation of fast food restaurants the 34-page staff report lays out a proposed 1,000-foot distance requirement that would be similar in scope to the current requirements imposed on hair and nail salons.
According to the Finance Department, there are over 200 fast active fast-food/take-out establishments registered in the City.
“There are approximately 15 fast food establishments, with drive-thru’s, along the 2.6-mile corridor between LaCienega and Crenshaw.”
In order to determine over-proliferation, the City used McDonald’s as a benchmark to compare with nearby cities.
“I applaud the local government’s effort to improve the food landscape for the health of the citizens of Inglewood. It’s more than others city councils are willing to do,” said Dr. Steven Graves, Professor of Geography, who studies public health issues at California State University, Northridge
The City compared Inglewood with the South Bay, Culver City, and Pasadena and determined an over-proliferation exists based on how many McDonald’s are in each city.
They then used the cities of San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara citing they outright “prohibit drive-thru’s”.
“I don’t like the analysis they used. Heck, they could have called me and I would have whipped up something far better than a McDonald’s per square mile ratio. It’s not really very informative and seems like pretty scant evidence upon which to base legislation,” said Dr. Graves.

Inglewood residents will recall the former Burger King, located in front of City Hall as lacking a drive-thru. Despite applications to install one, and having the space needed to install it, the City denied their request to add the drive-thru and the business ultimately closed. It is now the site of the Beckman YOLA Center.
The Planning Department is proposing Special Use Permits (SUP) for new and expanded free-standing fast-food uses that will “better ensure an additional level of review for potentially sensitive uses and the ability to apply site-specific conditions.”
They are also proposing a SUP for drive thru’s for all new and expanded drive-thru’s to “ensure that site-specific conditions related to traffic, vehicle queuing, and onsite circulation are adequately addressed.”
The SUP would address site design to include queuing for a minimum of eight cars, shall not obstruct parking spaces, and the Public Right-of-Way.
The SUP, for drive-thru’s, appears to address ongoing issues that permeate on Century Blvd. at the In N Out burger, whose traffic regularly spills onto Century which obstructs traffic and patron’s ability to park in the parking lot due to the long lines blocking access.
In N Out has used a workaround by coning off the parking lot but does little to mitigate the issues of backed-up traffic when turning into the parking lot from Century Blvd.
“My data shows that part of Inglewood is indeed a “Fast Food Swamp”; and that health outcomes in Inglewood are poor,” said Dr. Graves. “The food landscape has something to do with it, but dietary habits and income are the largest causal factor.”
The Planning Commission will hold the Public Hearing at 7:00 p.m. in Council Chambers at City Hall. Residents are able to give public comments in-person. The public will also be able to watch on the City’s social media accounts.
This will mark the first meeting for the new District 1 Planning Commissioner Carolyn Fowler who played an integral role in getting Gloria Gray elected as the new council member for the area.
1 Comment
So now the government is imposing itself on people’s dietary habits? Just restrict how many restraunts are in the city. That’s all.maybe tell business the have to figure something out so that their drivethru isn’t blocking traffic. The government makes things difficult for no damn reason