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After clashing with the Delano Business Association, Spangles Inc. co-owner Dale Steven says he's dropping plans to build a new $1 million restaurant near Douglas and Seneca.
Steven and the association don't agree on how the restaurant could be built within architectural design standards the association says are meant to protect the historic character of the area.
"They wanted to make it like a fastfood restaurant in the 1890s," Steven says. "Well, they didn't have fast-food restaurants back then. It's so stupid."
Tangling with Spangles hasn't made the association happy, either.
"They thought they could have it all their way and then they found someone in their way," says Ray Rancuret, who is retired and president of the Delano Neighborhood Association. "I guess they're not used to it."
While Steven is fuming about the restrictions, members of the association say they're standing their ground. They've worked hard, they say, to rejuvenate Delano while preserving "its unique character and heritage."
What they're doing, Steven says, is putting up obstacles to development that could help keep Delano alive.
"It's the biggest joke," he says. "I'm just blown away. It doesn't make any sense."
New rules
Steven wanted to build a branch of the hamburger chain on the west side of Seneca, across the street from Joe's Car Wash and just south of First Street.
The 3,000-square foot business was to be set on a 30,800-square-foot lot owned by his father, Joe Steven, who also owns the car wash.
Dale Steven wanted to make the restaurant, which would have been the Wichita chain's twentieth, like the others: with a big red-and-white sign and a 1950s diner motif. But the business association would not agree to that.
Steven says members of the Delano Business Association are on an "ego trip" with their new rules, which call for sign restrictions and traffic guidance. The rules, which apply to new construction, are being finalized and are still under public discussion. A planning commission meeting on them is scheduled for Sept. 26.
The rules will take in the Delano "overlay district," which runs from Kellogg on the south...