Planners approve development plans for Scooter’s Coffee

BENTONVILLE — Scooter’s Coffee will provide a caffeine and pastry outlet on the west side of the city when it opens on South Walton Boulevard.

Besides Kennedy Coffee’s second location in First Western Bank on South Walton Boulevard, most coffee-centric businesses are located downtown or on the east side of Bentonville.

Planning Commissioners approved 7-0 development plans for Scooter’s Coffee at 206 S. Walton Blvd., the current location for Pho Thanh.

The restaurant is moving south on South Walton Boulevard on Jan. 15, according to employees there Tuesday afternoon.

The coffee shop will have indoor seating as well as a drive-thru.

Don and Linda Eckles founded Scooter’s Coffee in 1998 in Bellevue, Neb. The franchised company has 174 stores throughout the country and another 135 franchisee commitments for new locations, according to the company’s website.

The closest Scooter’s is in Tulsa, Okla. There are two in Springfield, Mo.

The applicant for development plans is 206 Walton LLC, a company whose registered agent is Jeb Joyce, a lawyer in Springdale.

Plans for the Bentonville location include renovations to the existing building and making improvements to the site.

“The interior layout and finishes will be renovated entirely, and the exterior facade will receive new materials and a taller parapet,” Billy Kimmons, with HoodRich Architecture, wrote in a memo to commissioners. Hood-Rich Architecture is a Springfield, Mo.-based firm working on the project.

Exterior materials will include fiber cement siding, brick veneer and metal coping, according to the planner’s staff report.

There will be 13 parking spaces and a sidewalk installed along Southwest Second Street on the property’s north side.

The project also will include closing the north curb cut on South Walton Boulevard and reducing the width of the curb cut on Southwest Second Street, which will increase motorists’ safety and access to and from the site, according to the planner’s staff report.

Commissioners also approved four waivers dealing with buffers and landscaping for the project, as the site was too small or its existing conditions prohibited the developer from meeting the regulations.

Commissioners did express concern over the possibility that the pylon sign would continue to be used.

“If we could talk you into even going with a monument sign, that would go a long way,” Scott Eccleston, commissioner, told Kimmons, explaining that the tall signs have given a less-than-pleasing look to Walton Boulevard.

Jon Stanley, city planner, said the applicants will have to request a variance from the Board of Adjustments if they wanted to use the existing sign.

“We don’t discuss signage because it’s not part of our process,” he told commissioners.

The City Council approved changes to the sign ordinance that requires pylon, or pole, signs to be removed when a site is redeveloped Nov. 28. The ordinance went into effect Dec. 28.