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Planning Commission approves Booth Street Starbucks drive‑through with conditions to limit queuing
Summary
The Planning Commission approved a conditional use permit for a drive‑through Starbucks at Booth Street and Foster Drive, imposing conditions requiring an operations plan to prevent queuing into parking areas and removing a redundant enforcement clause.
The Reno Planning Commission unanimously approved a conditional use permit April 2 for a drive‑through Starbucks at Booth Street and Foster Drive, but tightened the permit language to require an operations plan to manage vehicle queuing and struck a redundant enforcement condition.
Staff presented the item, noting the property lies within a neighborhood commercial zoning district and that the proposed drive‑through meets code stacking requirements for the lane length behind the order kiosk. Staff recommended conditions requiring an operations plan to manage queuing and measures that allow the city to address recurring backups. "The queuing analysis estimated a maximum queue length of six vehicles assuming a five‑minute transaction time," staff said; condition 8 (as modified) requires an operational plan and on‑site staff deployment if vehicles begin to block parking circulation.
Brook Oswald, the applicant's representative, said the store will include walk‑up options and plazas, additional bike parking, and a landscape buffer to improve pedestrian safety near Reno High School. She asked that condition 8 be reworded to require a standing operating procedure and objected to condition 9 as written on due‑process grounds; city staff and the applicant agreed to revised language for condition 8 and to remove the duplicative condition 9. "The operator has industry standard operating procedures for queue management," Oswald said, adding that the drive‑through lane as designed can hold 11 vehicles without blocking circulation.
Commissioners discussed school‑hour pedestrian safety and whether a new crossing recommended by the school district should be imposed as a condition. City staff said pedestrian crossings require a separate safety study and that the city could initiate such a study independently; the planning commission declined to require an immediate crossing installation as part of the CUP. Legal counsel confirmed condition 9 was duplicative of existing code enforcement tools.
Commissioner Miguel Becerra moved to approve the CUP with modified language for condition 8 and striking condition 9; Commissioner Alex Jochamann seconded. The motion passed unanimously.
