Chick-fil-A eyeing Chemawa Station for restaurant site

KEIZER – Georgia-based fast food restaurant chain Chick-fil-A has filed an application for a master plan amendment that would permit it to site its seventh Oregon restaurant at Chemawa Station, which is co-owned by the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde and Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians.

Keizer Interim Community Development Director Shane Witham mentioned the restaurant chain’s plans during the Jan. 13 Keizer Planning Commission meeting.

Public comment on the master plan amendment is being accepted and the Keizer City Council plans to discuss it on Monday, Feb. 1.

Chick-fil-A is looking to locate a restaurant in the almost 16-acre Chemawa Station property directly across from Keizer Station. Company representatives filed the master plan amendment on Dec. 17, just a few weeks after a Chick-fil-A Food Truck PDX started making near-weekly visits to the Salem area. The plans filed are only the first in a multi-step process to open a restaurant at Chemawa Station.

There are currently two Chick-fil-A eateries in Beaverton and one each in Hillsboro, Bend, Medford and Clackamas. The restaurant chain specializes in breaded, boneless chicken sandwiches with two buttered buns and has more than 2,400 outlets in 47 states and the District of Columbia, according to its company website.

In January 2020, the Grand Ronde Tribal Council approved a lease with 7-11 Inc. to build a convenience store at Chemawa Station.

The Federal Highway Administration transferred ownership of the 15.7-acre property to the Grand Ronde and Siletz Tribes under the Indian Self-Determination Act in 2002. Ground was officially broken on the site in December 2019.

Includes information from the Salem Statesman Journal