Council approves 7 Brew development plan for 400 NW 7 Highway with two alternative standards

The Blue Springs City Council unanimously approved a general development plan and associated ordinance for a 7 Brew drive-through at 400 Northwest 7 Highway on April 7.

Christopher Willis, associate planner for the city, told the council the subject property is 0.41 acres and the proposal is for a single-phase development featuring a 510-square-foot pad-site building with a two-lane drive-through and no new sidewalk construction as part of the project. Willis said the applicant will demolish the existing building before construction and that the site lies in the city’s General Business zoning district.

The plan calls for an egress at the southwest corner onto Highway 7 and a second exit to the north that will route vehicles briefly through an adjacent shopping-center parking lot to return to northbound Highway 7. Willis said an engineer-surveyor must confirm whether existing gravity sewer invert elevations can be used, and that no separate stormwater detention study or installation is proposed for the site.

Willis said the landscape plan includes a western buffer of sod, mulch, trees and shrubs intended to screen headlights from stacking vehicles in the drive-through; the plan provided 33 buffer units where 21 are required, and two street trees. He said the building exterior materials proposed are fiber-cement siding in “midnight” and “shale brown” with blue and zinc-gray metal accents, and that the project meets the city’s nonresidential design standards in the Unified Development Code (UDC).

The applicant requested two alternative development standards: to reduce the required 15-foot buffer along the property frontage to 14.79 feet (measured from the back of curb rather than the property line) and to waive the photometric plan requirement for the general development plan. Willis said staff recommended approval with those two ADS requests and two conditions. The waiver of the photometric plan was recommended by staff because lighting already exists on the developed site and surrounding area and no additional lighting is proposed; staff stipulated that flickering or flashing lights would not be allowed.

Council members asked about circulation and the shared use of the adjacent shopping-center parking lot. Council member Koltepper asked how egress would be handled given that drive-through vehicles would cross another property’s parking area. Willis replied that the property owner will inherit an existing cross-parking easement recorded with prior plats and that the city would require documentation of the access easement during the preliminary and final plat process so circulation across the Hobby Lobby parking area is properly authorized.

Councilwoman Kaitlyn asked whether the establishment previously had a drive-through; Willis said it did not. Willis also traced the building’s prior uses, noting earlier tenants at nearby parcels, and reiterated staff’s plan to document cross-parking rights at platting.

On first reading, a council member moved to approve bill 5299, “an ordinance approving the general development plan with alternative development standards and conditions for the 7 Brew located at 400 Northwest 7 Highway.” The bill passed first reading without recorded opposition. On second reading the council conducted a roll call vote; the ordinance carried unanimously and was assigned ordinance number 5404.

The ordinance approves the general development plan subject to the two approved alternative development standards and the conditions cited in staff’s report. The council record includes the city staff report, attachments, a published affidavit of notice, a 185-foot notification map and copies of notices sent to adjacent property owners.

The city will review final building and site details during the site-plan and design-review process; Willis said the applicant will need site plan-level engineering verification of sewer invert elevations and standard platting and easement documentation to secure the cross-access rights.