Residents press Titusville council to reroute Dutch Bros access off Hickory Hill Boulevard

Dozens of residents of the Hickory Hill neighborhood told the City of Titusville on Aug. 12 they support the planned Dutch Bros coffee but urged the council and staff to require the developer to provide access from U.S. 1/State Road 50 rather than the entrance on Hickory Hill Boulevard near the neighborhood’s main gate.

Speakers at the meeting said the site’s Hickory Hill access will push drive‑through queues and delivery traffic toward a residential street and the traffic signal that already causes morning backups, increasing the risk of crashes and pedestrian incidents. Several residents cited nearby flooding and the condition of walls and landscaping adjacent to the parcel as additional hazards if parking and circulation patterns change.

City staff and council responses

Brad Parish, the city’s community development staff member who presented the site plan, said the plan was approved through the city’s administrative process after staff found it met the code’s standards for traffic, setbacks, landscaping and other requirements. He said the approved entrance is off Hickory Hill and that the plan had to meet minimum distance standards from a major intersection.

Parish and the mayor also noted that State Road 50 is FDOT‑owned, and the developer would need state approvals to use the curb cut on 50. Parish said he believed the developer likely evaluated options and concluded the current design was the safest of the feasible choices, but he agreed to check whether access from 50 is on the developer’s parcel and to ask the developer about possible alternatives, including a “no left turn” sign or routing more traffic onto US‑1 if technically feasible.

Council members emphasized limits on local authority when property is properly zoned commercial. Member Stoeckle and others noted the parcel is commercially zoned, which means a developer building allowed uses and meeting code requirements may proceed without a council public hearing. Council urged staff to ask the developer whether an access from SR‑50 is possible and whether measures such as signage, driveway geometry or routing can reduce impacts to Hickory Hill.

What residents want and what comes next

Residents asked the city to require driveway access from State Road 50 rather than Hickory Hill, or at minimum ask the developer to design the site to direct traffic away from the neighborhood. Residents also asked the city to look at construction staging, delivery hours and signage that forbid customers from cutting through neighborhood streets.

Mayor Connors said staff will collect residents’ contact information after the meeting and convey concerns to the developer. Parish said staff would follow up with the developer and report back to council and the neighborhood. No formal zoning change or variance request was before council; Parish said the project had proceeded through the administrative site‑plan process and would move next to permitting if it remains code‑compliant.

Ending

Residents left the meeting with a commitment from staff to request more information from the developer about alternative access and traffic mitigation; no change to the approved site plan was made at the Aug. 12 meeting. The council did not vote to overturn the site plan.