Starbucks plan partially approved

Planning Commission rejects concept over drivethrough, traffic concerns

A proposal for a Starbucks location in Chardon got mixed reviews from the city Planning Commission this week.

The chain seeks to locate at 255 Center St., at the corner of Cherry Avenue.

The project, proposed by Greg Sommers of Chardon-based Sommers Development Group, received conditional-use permit approval on Nov. 16 for a drivethrough on a 2,213-square-foot building.

In addition, the commission supported three variances for the project:

To reduce the minimum rear parking setback from 10 feet to 6 feet along the south property line

To reduce the minimum lot size required for a drive-through from 1 acre to 0.6061 acres

To reduce the minimum number of stacking spaces for a drivethrough lane from six to two

However, the concept plan was denied 4-3. Concerns included stacking of vehicles impeding traffic in the parking lot and potentially on Cherry, left turns onto Cherry and the drive-through being visible from a major thoroughfare.

“A drive-in window should not be facing a principal street in the city,” Commission Chairman and Councilman Andrew K. Blackley said. He advocated turning the building 90 degrees. “This is an overarching planning consideration of how we want this building to look to the public.”

Community Development Administrator Steve Yaney addressed the traffic and stacking concerns, noting that Starbucks representatives say it isn’t comparable to coffee shops in Concord and Mentor.

“They do not anticipate it to be as crowded as those other stores,” he said. “Those are primary

stores, and the Chardon location is the type of store that is like a secondary location that is built and designed to take pressure off of their other stores in the high-traffic areas.”

He acknowledged that the pandemic has increased backups at area drivethroughs.

“We’ve got that right now, because of COVID, at almost every fast-food restaurant we have,” he said, mentioning Wendy’s and Taco Bell. “Especially with these corner lots, there’s not always a 100 percent ideal

layout for the parking.”

“Every orientation of the (Starbucks) building creates either a traffic-flow issue or an exit and entrance issue, or a stacking issue,” he added.

Sommers agreed, but said his team already has thoroughly studied the project from every angle.

“It’s going to be a very

attractive-looking building even on the drive-through side,” he said. “And I think the most important thing is we’ve taken the time to come up with what we are highly confident is the bestcase scenario.”

The commission scheduled another meeting for Dec. 7 to hear more about alternative layouts.

The option presented required the fewest number of variances, Yaney said.

Sommers submitted an application for the project in August and has been working with the city on it ever since. He purchased the site at auction in July 2019, and the rundown vacant home and barn on the property were demolished.

“We recognize and appreciate that the city of Chardon has a thorough process and are also appreciative of the variances and conditional use that were approved, and look forward to working with the city and administration to address any remaining concerns regarding the final concept plan approval,” he said.