(Atlantic, Iowa) – The five members of the City of Atlantic’s Planning and Zoning Commission, Tuesday evening, approved the site plans for a new McDonald’s restaurant where the current one is located. The commission heard from Casey Thompson, Design Engineer with Bishop Construction in Des Moines – the civil engineering and land surveying firm tasked by McDonald’s Real Estate Company based in Elk Horn, Nebraska.

Thompson told KJAN News the building and site will look very similar to the more modern McDonald’s restaurants in Des Moines, Omaha, and other, larger cities. he said those locations have straighter lines on the buildings, and an updated look. The actual lot size will be smaller, but the building size will not change.

A sample of the latest McDonald’s designs (Photo via McDonalds.com)

He said a secondary drive-thru will be added to the new building in Atlantic when it’s built next year, with two side-by-side order points instead of one, as is the current situation today. It’s hoped that the site design will free-up circulation around the side so that traffic will flow more smoothly. Thompson says “The theory in that is, that they will be able get people through the line faster to get their food faster.”

Since he’s a design engineer and not an employee of McDonald’s Corporate, Thompson couldn’t comment on what would happen with the persons currently employee by the Atlantic franchise, when construction is underway. Work on demolishing the current building is slated to begin February 22, 2022, and completed by June 22, 2022.