Wildwood is inching toward allowing drive-through restaurants along Route 109 and Highway 100, a significant shift for a city that built its identity around walkability and controlled growth.

The Economic Development Committee discussed pre-zoning select properties for quick-service restaurant uses at its April 20 meeting, according to the city's published agenda. Under city procedure, the Planning and Zoning Commission would hold a public hearing before any zoning changes take effect. No hearing date has been set.

The groundwork is already in place. The City Council previously approved a new sub-district within the Town Center's Workplace District that allows drive-throughs on up to 10 properties fronting Route 109 and Highway 100. That vote came at a Dec. 8 council meeting, though the exact year could not be confirmed from available records. Each facility will require a conditional use permit and must screen drive-through lanes from residential areas with a garden wall or landscaped berm.

The push comes after years of commercial lots sitting empty along the corridors.

"While Town Center has become more of a residential hub than a mixed-use community it was envisioned to be, properties retained for commercial use have not developed as quickly," said Joe Vujnich, the city's director of planning and parks.

Wildwood was incorporated in 1995 specifically to control growth. A year later, the city adopted a master plan by nationally recognized firm Duany Plater-Zyberk & Company that restricted all commercial development to a 1,200-acre Town Center. Drive-throughs were limited to the downtown district around Main Street and Crestview Drive, plus bank branches in the Workplace District.

That framework kept out conventional strip retail for decades. But in January, the Development and Zoning Review Committee discussed a design concept for a fast-food restaurant with a drive-through and a stand-alone car wash at 17191 and 17194 Main Street, at the Route 109 intersection. The two lots total about 4.4 acres.

The P&Z meets monthly at City Hall, 16860 Main Street.