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ZBA clears coffee shop drive-through variances at North Campbell and 12 Mile despite parking shortfall
Summary
Royal Oak ZBA approved parking and drive-through variances for a planned small coffee shop and closed-door pharmacy at 1821 North Campbell, waiving five required parking spaces and granting limited stacking/escape-lane exceptions after members cited practical difficulty from an existing non‑retail pharmacy and prior bank drive-through configuration.
The Royal Oak City Zoning Board of Appeals voted to approve several variances for a proposed coffee shop with a drive-through at 1821 North Campbell Road, allowing the change of use in a building that currently houses a closed‑door (delivery-only) pharmacy.
City staff told the board the change of use increases required on‑site parking from 15 to 20 spaces (5 spaces short of the ordinance requirement) and that the approved site plan shows drive‑through stacking and escape‑lane dimensions that do not meet zoning width provisions. The petitioner seeks a variance to waive five parking spaces and an exception related to drive‑through stacking lane access that could otherwise block off‑street parking spaces.
Architect Steven Kwasnick and owner Wes described the pharmacy as a closed‑door operation serving senior homes with three employees and said the coffee shop component would be small (about 900 square feet) and focused on drive‑through service. They told the board they had negotiated an agreement to lease three parking spaces from a neighboring gas station owner but that the gas station expansion had not yet furnished those spaces in a manner the petitioner could legally rely on at the time of the hearing.
Board members focused on operational details: number of staff, hours (owner said the coffee shop would initially operate roughly 6 a.m. to 2–3 p.m.), transaction time (owner estimated under two minutes using ready-to-go coffee equipment), the location and removal of a dumpster, and whether staff parking could be designated to reduce stacking conflicts. Staff advised against tying approval to an enforceable staff-parking covenant because the board lacks an effective enforcement mechanism for on‑site staff-designation requirements.
A motion to approve the variances was made (the movant initially included a proviso to explore designated staff parking but later rescinded that condition after staff guidance) and the board approved the variances "as read." Several members cited the practical difficulty presented by the pre-existing building configuration and the non‑retail pharmacy use, and noted the site had been reviewed previously by the planning commission with input from fire and engineering divisions.
The petitioner may still need to secure engineering approvals, move the dumpster to a permanent enclosure and complete any lease arrangements for off-site parking if those are used operationally. The board congratulated the petitioners on the approval.
