Worries that the new Chick-fil-A in Auburn Hills would cause traffic chaos appear to be unfounded.

City Manager Tom Tanghe gives the credit to Steven Cohen, the city’s community development director, for standing firm on traffic tactics.

“It’s interesting how many communities make the opening of a Chick-fil-A such a controversial issue,” he said. “It’s been smooth sailing.”

The city requires space for at least 11 cars to fit on a site with a drive-through window. Chick-fil-A, at 2111 N. Squirrel Road, has space for 23.

The city uses the square footage of a restaurant to determine how many parking spaces are needed. In this case, 51. But Chick-fil-A designed a site with room for 96, including four for people with disabilities and two with EV charging stations, according to city documents. There are two routes to the parking lot and drive-through lanes.

Tanghe said those standards are why traffic hasn’t been a problem since the restaurant opened on April 17. He happened to drive by on the way to a meeting and he was so impressed he pulled over to make a video that he shared with the council.

“There were a lot of cars in line but it was orderly … nothing spilling out (onto North Squirrel Road),” he said.

Tanghe said he’d heard the traffic management plans were the most-extensive of any Chick-fil-A in Michigan.

A company spokeswoman could not confirm that.

“As a privately held company, Chick-fil-A, Inc., doesn’t share this type of information,” she said, adding, “We’re grateful for the outpouring of support from the community.”