The city of Bristol is considering a temporary ban on proposals for drive thrus in the downtown area. Though there are none on North Main Street now, the city hopes the idea will help revitalize the area.
"It's good idea actually to make it more walkable," said David Barrieau of Burlington. He doesn't frequent drive thrus and says the choice is really up to the Bristol community.
"I know a community like West Hartford has no drive thrus in their downtown area and it doesn't seem to hurt the business at all," he added.
Jay Patel who owns Jay's Wine and Spirits on North Main Street doesn't see the point.
"[Drivers] don't want to step out in the cold weather or some bad conditions so drive thrus actually help the consumer," Patel said.
The no drive through plan is part of the downtown revitalization project to make streets like North Main easier to walk. The first phase of the project is expected to include nearly 200 residential units and up to 60 thousand square feet of retail space.
"I think drive thrus would be good for North Main Street because it would mean more people driving onto North Main and they would see our business," said Lynn Stamatopolous. She owns Milestone on North Main Street.
She says she'd love the foot traffic but feels it's not going to happen.
"There are too many parking lots here and big businesses so nobody is going to be walking up and down, "Stamatopolous said.
The drive thru ban would last 18 months. The city zoning commission is expected to vote on the plan later this month.