Germantown planning commission approves Starbucks drive‑through at Exeter Village with design exceptions

The City of Germantown Planning Commission on Feb. 4 approved a revised final plan to add a new Starbucks drive‑through at Exeter Village Shopping Center, 2055 Exeter Road.

The vote was 6–2 to approve the 2,450‑square‑foot outbuilding, a requested parking reduction for the overall shopping center and five justified design alternatives under the city’s smart‑code overlay. Chairman John McCreery presided over the meeting; Commissioner Bacon made the motion to approve.

The vote matters because the project is proposed under the city’s Urban Center T5 overlay (the “smart code”) even though the existing center remains zoned SC‑1 (shopping center). Staff said redevelopment must comply with the overlying T5 rules and that Starbucks’ plan requires exceptions where strict code standards do not fit the context.

Planning manager Ms. Goroleski told the commission the building will occupy a former parking area and that the applicant is asking for roughly an eight‑space parking reduction for the center. She said the Starbucks itself is designed at about 2,400–2,450 square feet and will include a drive‑through queuing lane that the applicant’s materials show can hold about 16 vehicles in a stack.

Adam Lightman, who identified himself as the shopping‑center owner, said the tenant and owner had evaluated alternatives for sidewalks and switchbacks but found the cost prohibitive. “It was approximately a hundred thousand dollars, depending on retaining walls,” Lightman said of the pedestrian‑access options he described as deal‑killers for the project’s budget.

Matthew Langham, the site civil engineer with Kimley‑Horn and Associates, said the company verified the store‑design team’s queuing assumptions in coordination with Starbucks. “For this site…16 that they’re expecting,” Langham said when asked about the stack length the tenant anticipates during peak hours. He also described the order‑point location: “the order point at the seventh car,” which the applicant and engineer said is Starbucks’ standard for efficient throughput.

Commissioners and staff focused much of the discussion on three topics: (1) pedestrian access from Exeter Road and the existing sidewalk to the proposed storefront (the smart‑code intent is to provide frontage access to the street); (2) whether drive‑through queuing could spill into the center’s internal access aisles or onto Exeter; and (3) site grade and visibility. Staff said there is about a 7–8‑foot grade difference between Exeter Road and the proposed building footprint and that an existing landscaped berm will screen some views from the street.

Police and engineering comments were discussed but, according to the record, some questions about vehicle sightlines and safety remained unresolved and were to be addressed by the applicant’s engineer as the design advances. Staff told the commission that, if approved, the project would next go to the Design Review Commission and then to the Board of Mayor and Aldermen before construction‑plan review.

The approved justifiable design alternatives (JDAs) addressed five areas that staff said do not fit the strict code interpretation in this context: principal building entrance orientation (fronting the interior shopping center rather than Exeter Road), facade transparency (opaque spandrel glass permitted along frontage because of back‑of‑house uses), the conditional nature of the drive‑through, an outbuilding setback reduction (code requires 40 feet; proposed setback is roughly 20 feet), and modification of the street‑screen requirement because a landscape berm and grade change provide screening. The commission’s approval authorized those exceptions as part of the final plan.

The formal action listed in the record: motion to approve a revised final plan, Phase 4 (Exeter Village/Farmington Shopping Center) for a new outbuilding Starbucks (approx. 2,450 sq ft), a parking reduction for the overall center, and the five requested JDAs, “subject to the conditions, general requirements, tax comments listed above, and the plans and documents submitted with the application.” Commissioner Bacon moved the motion; a second was recorded as “not specified” in the meeting minutes. Roll‑call votes recorded in the meeting transcript were: Clark (yes), Sisson (yes), Bacon (yes), Levy (yes), Sloan (yes), Jacobs (no), Alderman Salvaggio (no), Chairman McCreery (yes). Tally: yes 6, no 2.

Commissioners who voted no cited pedestrian‑access and public‑safety concerns related to sightlines and the drive‑through stacking; those voting yes said staff and the applicant had studied several alternatives and that the proposed design fit the site context and smart‑growth goals for the area.

Next steps: the applicant will proceed to Design Review Commission and the Board of Mayor and Aldermen for additional approvals and construction‑plan review. Staff and the applicant must provide the additional engineering detail referenced in staff comments ahead of BMA review.

Votes at a glance

• Revised final plan to add a Starbucks outbuilding (approx. 2,450 sq ft), parking reduction for Exeter Village Shopping Center, and five JDAs — Approved, 6–2 (mover: Commissioner Bacon; second: not specified).