A Detroit school has waged a legal battle against Chick-fil-A with the hope of halting the construction of the fast food chain’s latest location — set to be built mere feet from the school’s playground.
The Giving Tree Montessori School filed a lawsuit against Chick-fil-A and its developer, Verus Development Group, in June, arguing that building the new restaurant next to its school would violate city zoning laws, Detroit Metro Times reported.
City ordinance says fast-food restaurants cannot be built within 500 feet of schools. However, The Giving Tree Montessori School wasn’t officially registered as a school until June 2024 — two months after the Chick-fil-A was approved.
"My concern is the noise, the pollution from the exhaust pipes and, most of all, the safety of our children. It’s really not about the community because there’s a lot of Chick-Fil-A’s around. It’s about it being so close to our school," school owner Renee Chown told Fox.
An emergency motion filed by the school last month to halt the construction, arguing that the developer and Chick-fil-A were violating zoning laws, was denied, and the school’s lawsuit was dismissed, Fox 2 Detroit reported.
Despite “No Chick-fil-A” signs posted outside the school in protest, construction of the restaurant has gone full steam ahead. The eatery is expected to be completed around October.
As construction gets underway, the school says it’s concerned about the chain’s busy drive-thru being so close to where children were supposed to be able to safely play.
"We didn’t think Wayne County would ever approve this, and we were in a total state of shock when they did. And we feel very tricked because we didn’t appeal because we didn’t think they were coming. That’s why all of this has been going on,” Chown said.
The construction has forced the school to fence off and significantly reduce the size of its playground to prevent debris from striking playing children.
The project has also prompted some families to withdraw their children from attending for the 2025-2026 school year. Montessori also had to delay plans to build more outdoor areas for the children, Chown told the Times.
Chown said that the police were called at least twice “because heavy and dangerous construction equipment has been placed dangerously close to students that are playing outside on the school playground.”
“Gaping holes have been left in material bordering the fence which are small enough to allow a child to easily slip through and into an active construction site,” she added.
Despite the backlash, developers say the restaurant will serve up to 1,700 cars a day and generate $10 million in annual sales.
The Independent has reached out to Chick-fil-A for comment.
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