Issues

For over 50 years the old Dairy Queen at SE 55th and Division was a much loved gathering space in our neighborhood. Some years ago the long-time owners sold the property. The new owners demolished the existing DQ building and said they intended to create a new two-story DQ with indoor seating. The previous DQ did not have any indoor seating.

​

The City of Portland has adopted Zoning Code regulations that do not allow new drive-through facilities in the Mixed Use Commercial 2 (CM2) zoning that applies to the old DQ property. The Code is attempting to discourage auto-oriented uses in favor of more pedestrian-oriented uses and to reduce the effects of noise and air pollution from idling cars. The Code does allow prior drive-through facilities to continue to be used when a property is redeveloped if the project meets certain criteria--including redeveloping the property within three years of the end of the previous use. 

​

BACKGROUND

​

In May 2025, the MTNA sent a letter to the current owners of the former DQ property at the address listed in the City's property records. The MTNA let them know that community members were interested in finding out what the plans were for the site and invited them to come to an MTNA meeting. We didn't hear back from them.

​

​In early July 2025, a community member reached out to the MTNA and raised a concern that the City appeared not to be applying the three-year time limit for grandfathering in continued use of a previous drive through. The three-year limit appeared to have expired. ​The community member noted that the property is on the FX2-Division high-capacity transit corridor--a major public investment intended to support walkability, reliable transit service and a shift aware from car dependency. They asserted that allowing the drive-through would reintroduce auto-oriented design to a major transit corridor, create new conflicts between turning vehicles, pedestrians, and buses, and would set a damaging precedent of allowing expired nonconforming uses elsewhere in the city. They also asserted that reintroducing a drive-through would be out of alignment with adopted City policy, threaten years of community advocacy for a more walkable, transit-supportive Division corridor, and appear to violate the Portland Zoning Code. The community member argued that the City should formally substantiate that the drive-through is legal before allowing the project to move forward. The community member asked the MTNA to ask the City to enforce the three-year limit regulation.

​

Subsequently, an MTNA board member found an article online that provided a description of the proposed new Dairy Queen including a proposed site plan that showed the proposed two-story DQ and drawings of the proposed drive through lanes and on site parking. (See "A Dairy Queen Grows in Portland: An Opening Update," Dec. 16, 2024.)

​

The MTNA discussed the request to oppose the proposed DQ drive-through at the regular MTNA meeting on July 16, 2025. The MTNA Board members voted to send a letter to the City opposing the drive-through without a formal determination that the drive-through met the legal requirements in the City Zoning Code. (You can view the August 1, 2025 MTNA letter here.)

​

On November 14, 2025, the DQ property owner, Mohan Grewal, attended the MTNA regular monthly meeting and shared his hopes and concerns with the MTNA. Mohan shared that he manages other DQs in the Portland region and had been approached by the former DQ owners who agreed to sell him the property if he would continue to operate a DQ on the site. Mohan described frustrations he had with the City about the high cost and slow progress of the permit process. Mohan asserted that the drive-through was needed for the DQ to succeed at this location and that the City had not raised the issue about the three-year time limit until late in the process after Mohan had spent a significant amount of money on the project.

 

Mohan argued that the project would provide great benefits to the community. Mohan described a traffic study that he commissioned. He noted that the current drive-through proposal would be able to accommodate 9 to 10 cars in line on the site, instead of the 2 cars under the old DQ operation. Mohan said this would reduce the likelihood of cars lining up on Division St. and reduce the likelihood that DQ customers would park in the neighborhood. Mohan suggested that if the DQ project doesn't move forward the site might be redeveloped with another type of restaurant or multi-story building that would lead people to park in the surrounding neighborhood and would not solve the traffic concerns. He also said that the project would create 25-30 jobs and generate revenue for the City, county, and the states. Mohan said he's had a number of neighbors approach him saying they were looking forward to having the DQ back in the neighborhood.

 

​On November 25, 2025, Paul Leistner and Alex Roy (representing the MTNA Board) met with Mohan at the DQ property. 

​

On December 1, 2025 the City of Portland sent out a public notice inviting public comment on the question of the legality of allowing the drive through as part of the proposed DQ project. (See below for more info.)

​

Click here to read a letter, apparently prepared by Mohan, asking neighbors to support the DQ redevelopment project. This letter appeared on Nextdoor on December 12, 2025.

​

On December 12, 2025, neighbors on SE 55th contacted the MTNA to share their concerns about the potential for the proposed DQ redevelopment to increase in traffic on their otherwise quiet street. They would like the City to consider:

1. a left turn only sign as folks leave the DQ site [and exit onto SE 55th]

2. a barrier in the street that prevents right hand turns [on SE 55th as people exit the DQ property]

3. a crosswalk to make it safe for students and others to cross Division [to reach the DQ]

4. speedbumps on 55th to slow traffic (if other options aren't available to mitigate traffic) 

​​

MTNA POSITION

​

The MTNA has not taken a formal position either in support of, neutral on, or opposed to the overall DQ project.

​

The MTNA has heard from community members that really want the DQ to come back. We've heard from others that are concerned about traffic and parking impacts, pedestrian safety, and the precedent of allowing the reintroduction of an otherwise prohibited auto-oriented use on Division.

​

The current formal MTNA position continues to oppose the drive through without a formal determination by the City that the drive through meets the requirements in the Portland Zoning Code as stated in the MTNA letter to the City from August 1, 2025.

 

OPPORTUNITY FOR YOUR PUBLIC COMMENT TO THE CITY-- DEADLINE 5 P.M., MONDAY, DEC. 22, 2025

​​

The City of Portland is the formal decision maker on how the DQ project moves forward.

​

On December 1, 2025 the City of Portland sent out a public notice to the MTNA and to 14 addresses of neighbors around the DQ property and others inviting public comment on the question of whether the property owner has the legal right under the Zoning Code to include the drive-through in the proposed DQ redevelopment project. (Click here to view the public notice the City sent out on Dec. 1, 2025.)

 

Anyone can submit public comment on this matter.

 

The deadline for community members to submit their comments is 5 p.m. on Monday, December 22, 2025. NOTE: City staff are looking for input from community members on whether the proposed drive-through meets that legal requirements in the City Zoning Code related to non-conforming drive throughs. (Click here to view a document that excerpts the relevant sections of Portland's Zoning Code.) ​

​

If you want to submit public comments about the legality of the DQ project proposed drive through, please email your comments to City staff Andrew.Gulizia@portlandoregon.gov.

 

Be sure to your email includes the Case File Number: LU 25-083003.

 

You also can reach Andrew at: 503-823-7046.

​

CONTACTS AND USEFUL DOCUMENTS

​

You can reach City planner Andrew Gulizia at:  Andrew.Gulizia@portlandoregon.gov; 503-823-7046

​

You can reach the property owner, Mohan Grewal, at:  dairyqueen5605@gmail.com

​

You can reach the MTNA at:  contact.mtna@gmail.com

​​

Useful documents:

​

• ​Online article about proposed Dairy Queen redevelopment

• City of Portland formal request for public comment sent out on Dec. 1, 2025

• Letter of support for DQ, apparently from Mohan Grewal (posted on Nextdoor on Dec. 12, 2025)

• MTNA letter opposing drive-through without determination that it meets City Zoning Code (Aug 1, 2025)

• Zoning Code sections relevant to proposed DQ project

​

​

​

​

​

                   

​