City Board Finally Approves Chick-fil-A Plan to Open First Pasadena Location

The Pasadena Board of Zoning Appeals voted 3-2 Wednesday to allow Chick-fil-A to open a fast-food restaurant on Colorado Boulevard across from Pasadena City College despite objections from the college administration and students who oppose the restaurant’s corporate stance on gay rights.

The Pasadena City College Courier reported Student Trustee Simon Fraser as saying, “I’m exceptionally disappointed. I’m deeply concerned that every concern that I raised and every PCC student that was here raised fell completely on deaf ears.”

The board’s approval opens the door for developers to begin converting a former Burger King at 1700 Colorado Blvd., into Pasadena’s first Chick-fil-A. Developers have been trying to open a Chick-fil-A in Pasadena since 2007.

While the PCC Board of Trustees has not issued an official position on Chick-fil-A, the Courier reported Senior Vice President Robert Miller as saying that the administration opposes the franchise because of its responsibility to respect the views of the college’s student body, which includes homosexuals.

Chick-fil-A became the focus of controversy following a series of comments made in June 2012 by chief operating officer Dan Cathy opposing same-sex marriage after it became public that his company had given millions of dollars to several organizations that oppose gay rights, in particular same-sex marriage.

The controversy pitted proponents of gay rights and same-sex marriage against those who believe that the First Amendment protects Chick-fil-A’s right to publicly oppose homosexuality.

Since its inception in 1946, Chick-fil-A has promoted itself as a company governed by Christian values, which Cathy said includes a belief that homosexuality is a sin and marriage is a “Christian covenant” between men and women.

“For me, Chick-fil-A is more than a corporation expressing their opinion,” PCC student Bernard Noi told the Courier. “For me, it is a symbol that has supported an organization that tells me that I should not be happy with who I am.”

The restaurant’s previous attempts to open a store near PCC failed to gain the board’s approval for various reasons, most recently in January when District 7 City Councilman Terry Tornek opposed developers’ proposal to add a second drive-thru to the Colorado Boulevard location.

That plan was approved by the Zoning Board’s hearing officer, but was thwarted when Tornek appealed the decision on the grounds that more drive-thrus on Colorado Boulevard are not “what we aspire to in Pasadena.”

Developers removed the second drive-thru plan from their latest proposal, and thus, removed the final obstacle to approval.