McLean County Times

The Bloomington City Council met on April 10 and approved a site plan and zoning variance to create a drive-thru Starbucks coffee shop.

The restaurant is proposed to be located at 1609 West Market Street. City Manager Tim Gleason shared that the city’s planning commission had already gone over the development and set it back to work with the developer on various issues.

“This is not development for development’s sake,” said Gleason. “The planning commission receives this first and they did their due diligence and saw some issues, or some concerns, that was passed onto the developer. The developer was very supportive and heard those concerns that came out of the planning commission. Melissa and her team took this and turned this into a project that’s before council this evening with the recommendation to adopt.”

The staff was confident in the proposal, which was brought to the council by Economic and Community Development Director Melissa Hon. Hon discussed some of the updates the developer made to the plan to be in line with the city’s wishes. This included removing parking spaces on the west side of the lot to allow for improved exit flow for vehicles, as well as adding a drive-thru bypass lane. They also added a pedestrian connection from Locus Street into the site area and added a six-foot-tall wooden fence on the eastern side of the site that will serve as a barrier and separation from an adjacent residential area.

“As the city manager mentioned, the reason this item is on the regular agenda is that it did not receive a positive recommendation from the planning commission how it was originally presented,” Hon explained. “After that planning commission meeting, the petitioner went back and provided some modifications to the site plan to address the concerns that they heard from the planning commission. And with all of these modifications that they have implemented, the planning commission has been notified and we've received no opposition expressed from the planning commission members. And then I will just say that approval of this ordinance will result in continued private investment on our west side that we're excited to see.”

The new development will be one of the first coffee shops in Ward 7. It will be 2200 square feet and will have proper stormwater management and drainage.

Council member Donna Boelen recommended removing more parking spots to create more green space. There were also concerns about traffic flow around the coffee shop. Council member De Urban echoed the concerns of Boelen, saying she would like a Starbucks but preferred an amendment.

Boelen made a motion to amend, saying the primary purpose is to have a drive-thru near the highway. She said even people going into the restaurant to just get a coffee will most likely not be sitting down. The motion was to amend to remove additional parking spots near the entrance, and this be replaced with green infrastructure, for this reason.

“I am more of a fan of parking minimums,” Boelen said.

In the end, the amendment was not passed and the proposal instead passed as presented.