The Modesto Bee: The city of Riverbank, Calif., located about 90 miles east of San Francisco, has drafted zoning law changes to give the city more control over where new fast food restaurants can be built and how they operate.
If the law is approved, quick-serve restaurants would be prohibited within 500 feet of schools and parks and wouldn't be allowed to serve food with trans fats or use Styrofoam containers. The restaurants also would have to follow design guidelines to make them more pedestrian-friendly and visually appealing. Drive-thru windows would be discouraged.
Riverbank's proposed law was inspired by a 2007 study by the California Center for Public Health Advocacy that found that Stanislaus County has almost five times as many fast food restaurants as stores selling fresh produce. Of the state's 24 most populous counties, Stanislaus has the highest obesity rate at 32 percent of residents.
Read also, Calif. signs calorie count law.
