City officials confirmed that a combined demolition and construction permit has been submitted for a Chick-fil-A.

That’s good news for the 16,551 people who in December of 2017 had viewed a one-line mention within four hours of it’s posting on the Manteca Bulletin Facebook page that Chick-fil-A had submitted plans for a Manteca location.

How quickly the project moves forward is obviously up to Chick-fil-A. That said instead of asking for a demolition permit and then coming back to ask for a building permit as happens in most cases, the firm has decided to bundle them up to reduce processing time.

Overall plans for the restaurant have already been approved leaving the nitty gritty details of approval of actual construction plans to be handled.

The Chick-fil-A  is proposed for the northeast corner of East Yosemite and Northwoods Avenue where the Supper Buffet Chinese restaurant now sits next door to the Best Western hotel. The existing restaurant will be demolished and a 4,172-square-foot restaurant built to the rear or the northern portion of the site. It will have 82 seats along with a drive-thru window fed by two ordering queues.

It will have 32 parking lots.

To avoid congestion at the Yosemite/Northwoods/Commerce intersection, access to the parking lot will be from one entrance only off of Northwoods Avenue some 255 feet north of the intersection. Both existing driveways from Yosemite Avenue will be eliminated.

The restaurant being demolished was built in 1976 and originally opened as Brawley’s coffee shop.

The addition of Chick-a-Fil puts three fast food restaurants at the intersection — a first for Manteca. The others are In-n-Out Burger and McDonald’s.

It also cements the three block stretch of the East Yosemite Avenue corridor from Pestana Avenue to just west of Spreckels Avenue as Manteca’s highest concentration of dining options with 29 choices including ice cream shops, and juice bars.

The closest Chick-fil-A — and the only other location in the Northern San Joaquin Valley — is at 2622 March Lane in Stockton.

Just a half block south of the proposed Chick-fil-A site is a new $1 million project that includes four lease spaces along Commerce Avenue where AAA is relocating their Manteca office. One of the other three spots has been leased by a firm that wants to open a restaurant with a drive-up window.

To contact Dennis Wyatt, email dwyatt@mantecabulletin.com