Map courtesy of city of Hoover
Dutch Bros. Coffee wants to build a drive-through coffee shop at 1855 Montgomery HIghway in the parking lot of the The Plaza at Riverchase shopping center in Hoover, Alabama.
The Hoover Planning and Zoning Commission on Monday voted 8-0 to recommend the City Council give Dutch Bros. Coffee permission to open a drive-through coffee shop in The Plaza at Riverchase parking lot, despite opposition from a nearby coffee shop.
Dutch Bros. Coffee is proposing to build a 988-squre-foot coffee shop in the parking lot between Hobby Lobby and Jersey Mike’s Subs at 1855 Montgomery Highway. It would have two drive-through lanes and walk-up service but no seating inside for customers, said Bob Easley, an engineer representing the owner of the shopping center.
The coffee shop lot would take up about 142 parking spaces, but most of that area of the parking lot is vacant the majority of the time, Easley said.
Once the coffee shop is built, the shopping center still would have at least 70 more parking spaces than required under current regulations, and the coffee shop would have 15 more parking spaces than required on its property, Easley said.
Nathan Parvin, one of the owners of the Baba Java Roaster & Café coffee shop immediately across U.S. 31, and Brad Haynes, the vice president of operations for Baba Java, asked the zoning board to deny the application, saying a drive-through restaurant doesn’t fit the character of that area and would create traffic congestion.
Parvin said Dutch Bros. Coffee is a great coffee company that can add value to Hoover but said this isn’t the right location for it. Other businesses chose to locate there because of the lack of drive-through restaurants, and this will negatively impact traffic patterns, as well as the Baba Java coffee shop, he said.
“We just think all around this is a really bad idea,” Parvin said. “We really implore you to keep it like it is so there is no drive-through in this area.”
Haynes said Dutch Bros. Coffee is unnecessary competition for a home-grown business like Baba Java.
Easley noted that there are multiple entrances to The Plaza at Riverchase and traffic lights already in place on the north and south end of the shopping center. There is great access to U.S. 31, he said.
The expected peak hour of business for Dutch Bros. in the morning would generate only an additional 42 vehicles in and out, Easley. The drive-through lanes are being designed to allow 22 vehicles in the drive-through queue and space for another 20 vehicles stacked on the Dutch Bros. lot, he said. There also are contingency plans to make changes if demand exceeds that, he said.
Zoning board member Becky White said she thinks a drive-through coffee shop is a different business model than Baba Java, which is designed more as a gathering place for people.
City Planner Mac Martin, upon questioning, said while there are not drive-through restaurants currently in The Plaza at Riverchase, there are drive-through restaurants in other parts of the Riverchase business district, including Taco Bell, Arby’s, Panda Express and a soon-to-be Guthrie’s chicken finger restaurant.
Martin recommended approval as long as the coffee shop uses lighting similar to the rest of The Plaza at Riverchase and meets the landscaping and signage requirements of the Riverchase Planned Unit Development. Also, he added a condition that The Plaza at Riverchase needs to restore its landscaping to meet requirements, noting that over the years, some required landscaping has been removed from islands in the parking lot.
Easley said the owner of the shopping center is willing to bring its landscaping up to requirements again.
The request for Dutch Bros. Coffee now goes to the Hoover City Council for its consideration on March 9.
In other business Monday night, the Hoover zoning board:
- Approved preliminary plans for 42 single-family residential lots, about 40 or so condominiums and 100-120 apartments for people age 55 and older in Phase 1F on the Everlee community off Alabama 150
- Approved final plans for 22 single-family residential lots in Phase 12 of the Blackridge South community
