WALNUT CREEK — Plans for a new Chick-fil-A at a Walnut Creek shopping center have erupted in an intense fight between hundreds of neighbors and city planners — and caught one of the last tenants there in the crossfire.

Residents and public officials are divided over whether replacing a vacant bank at the Citrus Marketplace Shopping Center with the fast-food chicken chain will breathe new life into this sleepy Walnut Creek plaza, or further flood traffic along the busy Ygnacio Valley Road commuter bypass nearby.

Rica Zaharia opened her bakery, European delicacieson the property two years ago, and it has become a beloved hidden gem for finding specialty croissants, brioche, pavlova, strudel and other internationally inspired pastries baked from scratch.

Now surrounded by 10 vacant properties on the lot, the 63-year-old Transylvania native has welcomed the idea of ​​a new Chick-fil-A with open arms — not for its menu or conservative politics, but for its potential to help generate much-needed foot traffic to protect the square’s small businesses that she says are currently “dying every day.” The quiet square’s current tenants include a BevMo, Panda Express, small ice cream shop, youth gym, post office and a barber shop.

Despite the city’s intention to help bring more businesses into the lingering vacant spaces, Zaharia has been the lone Walnut Creek resident to voice support for the initiative.

“Please don’t hate me,” Zaharia said at the May 21 City Council meeting, addressing the backlash against her stance on the Chick-fil-A proposal. “More than any other mall in Walnut Creek, this place feels like a ghost town.”

The approval of Chick-fil-A’s initial permit has angered dozens of neighbors in the affluent Woodlands neighborhood down the street, who fiercely argued that the planned Chick-fil-A, located at 2290 Oak Grove Rd., would increase vehicle traffic to already congested and dangerous roads in the northernmost corner of the city, reducing property values ​​and attracting vagrants and criminals.

Despite concessions from the city’s elected officials — including barring the 5,363-square-foot Chick-fil-A project from building a through lane, forcing the restaurant to close at least 10 p.m. and requiring traffic, odor and other mitigation measures — neighbors were still upset by The municipal council’s approval in May.

Now, Zaharia says she’s faced backlash from angry neighbors — including threats of a boycott — for her belief that a Chick-fil-A would help the entire square as well as her own business, which has taken a steep financial decline since the fried chicken fight started first. She had to cut back on the bakery’s hours at the end of July, after the slowest month of sales in the two years she’s been operating Citrus Marketplace.

“When people start telling me and others how to think and what to do, it’s not allowed,” Zaharia said in an interview. “I have been working 17 hours almost every day – starting at 3 in the morning – for the past two years. I’m not tired, because I do everything out of passion and to make my customers happy, but we can’t find enough people to sell our products to.”

After five hours of intense public testimony — entirely against Chick-fil-A, other than Zaharias’ comments — The Walnut Creek City Council unanimously denied the appeal to the restaurant’s draft plans.

City staff said any increase in traffic triggered by the fast-food chain would be minimal, citing their finding that Chick-fil-A would add just seconds to average wait times at the busy intersection. The project will now return to Walnut Creek’s Design Review Commission for final design review of the future restaurant’s proposed architecture, landscaping and signage.

During public comment on the project, opponents rejected the data from months of research by Walnut Creek city planners and traffic consultants and demanded that the city deny or at least delay approval of Chick-fil-A’s plans, arguing that the city was unnecessarily prioritizing chicken over the nature of their neighborhood and quality of life.

“The city council has been trying to create a culture, a charm and a small-community feel for a number of years,” said Corban Porter, an attorney and Woodlands resident who appealed previous project approvals. “We submitted 200 signatures from Woodlands residents and nearly 700 surveys, most of which identified health and safety concerns … to allow this to continue without a more comprehensive study of the neighborhood is unconscionable.”

While a handful of public speakers raved about the delicious pastries at European Delights and expressed support for similar small businesses, Woodlands can’t have their pastries and eat them too.

First, city officials argued, there was no legal reason for Walnut Creek to outright deny the project during its May 21 meeting because it conforms to the city’s zoning and general plans for development. Second, construction of the Chick-fil-A could have been quickly approved months ago, if the company hadn’t chosen a conditional use permit to allow takeout.

In addition to safety concerns for many young people who walk and bike to nearby schools, many residents were also wary of the Atlanta-based chicken restaurant’s conservative reputation and history of financial support for anti-LGBTQ groups.

Chick-fil-A “does not reflect the inclusive and diverse values ​​of our community,” said Jessica Hunt, a 40-year Woodlands resident, local small business owner and the incoming PTA president of Valley Verde Elementary.