Another Domino’s Pizza restaurant is coming to the Juneau area soon, despite opposition from some residents.
The city’s planning commission unanimously granted a permit to build the restaurant — which will be on Clinton Drive near Safeway in the Mendenhall Valley — during an online meeting Tuesday night.
Some neighbors wrote letters of opposition, and the board of the nearby Vintage Park Condominium Association asked the commission to deny the permit, citing concerns about traffic.
Hilliard Lewis, who lives across from the proposed Domino’s, said at the meeting that he’s worried about noise and light pollution.
“Most of that area is shut down by 6 p.m. or 7 p.m., and a Domino’s Pizza is going to be open to 9 p.m. at the earliest and probably midnight,” he said. “I don’t think that we’re going to have any sort of peace with traffic going through all of that time.”
He said the restaurant would be out of character for the neighborhood and urged the commission to vote against the permit. He also asked if there was a way to block headlights from shining toward the condos.
Rob Worden, the applicant with R&S Construction LLC, said the site’s lot doesn’t allow them to change the drive-through. But he said he isn’t concerned about light pollution because of the condominium’s layout.
Planning Commissioner Travis Arndt agreed and said the application fits the area’s zoning.
“The intention of our zoning district is commercial applications. So to say this is not a proper use for the area is incorrect — this is exactly what the area is zoned for,” he said.
This will be Juneau’s third Domino’s — there’s already one near Foodland IGA, and another in the Valley near Pipeline Skatepark.
The developer did not share a timeline for the new restaurant’s construction and did not respond to requests for more details.
