After a year of no news on its progress, Oxford’s Waffle House is still happening, but will now reside in a new location.

During their monthly meeting on Monday, the Oxford Planning Commission approved a variance request and a special exception request, resuming the process of bringing the national diner chain to Oxford.

The Waffle House will now be located at the northwest corner of the roundabout at the Ed Perry Boulevard and Sisk Avenue intersection. Last year, a parking variance, administrative site plan and a one-lot subdivision north of the current location on Ed Perry Boulevard was approved.

Drew Joiner, Real Estate Director for Waffle House, told the EAGLE following the meeting that the decision to move closer to the Oxford Commons area was all about location.

“We feel that the location at the corner of Sisk and Ed Perry is more visible and this being our first restaurant in Oxford, we certainly wanted to be more visible to everybody coming into the Oxford Commons development,” Joiner said.

The Planning Commission approved a parking variance that will provide more parking spaces than is required for the size of the building, according to the City of Oxford’s land development code. The Commission also approved a special exception regarding the front yard, build-to line.

Once constructed, the Waffle House will sit directly across from the Tru by Hilton Hotel and the new Mexican restaurant that is still under construction.

Pushback for the new location was received by the city’s planning department, with one resident submitting a letter of objection to the variance requests. Dick Dickerson, who submitted the letter, stated the requests for the variances was a “self-created problem” due to Waffle House’s desire to build the restaurant on a “lot that is too small and irregularly shaped” to meet their needs.

The Commission approved both requests during Monday’s meeting.

Joiner said he was confident the new location will not be an issue and they will be able to meet all the land development code requirements safely.

“We can definitely satisfy all the city codes and all of our internal requirements,” Joiner said.

In 2019, Waffle House announced its plans to come to Oxford with the hope of the restaurant being constructed within a couple years of the announcement. With the COVID-19 pandemic arriving last year, that put a halt to several new construction projects, including Waffle House.

With the resumption of the project, but in a new location, Joiner gave an estimate of the “next couple years” for Oxford to be able to enjoy its first Waffle House restaurant. A site plan is still being designed, which requires approval before construction can begin.