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Council approves Scooter’s Coffee drive‑through in downtown New Ulm with conditions
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Summary
The City Council approved a conditional‑use permit for a three‑tenant building at 318–326 North Broadway with a drive‑through for Scooter’s Coffee; planning staff outlined ten conditions covering noise, stacking, screening and site improvements and councilors raised concerns about fencing and Broadway-facing aesthetics.
The City Council approved a conditional‑use permit to allow a drive‑through service for Scooter’s Coffee at 318–326 North Broadway as part of a proposed roughly 6,000‑square‑foot, three‑tenant building.
Planning staff told the council the project complies with many downtown drive‑through standards but will need additional work to meet several code requirements; the planning commission unanimously recommended approval with 10 conditions. "The proposed use does qualify as a drive through service according to our zoning ordinance," planning staff said, describing required stacking, noise and landscaping criteria staff will enforce.
Staff said the development would provide 42 off‑street parking spaces, locate the drive‑through entry from 4th North Street with pickup on the Broadway side, and meet minimum stacking requirements (four stacking spaces at the menu board and four at the pickup) for the drive‑through restaurant classification. Planning staff also described proposed landscaping or a block wall to screen vehicle stacking from the public street and advised that voice amplifiers must not be audible to adjacent residential areas.
Councilors asked detailed questions about fencing and the building’s presentation to Broadway. One councilor expressed concern that a fence could obscure a new three‑story building’s Broadway façade and suggested staff use vegetation and careful placement of screening to balance buffering with appearance; staff said the plan calls for vegetation at the sidewalk and a fence starting at the building front that would extend beyond the building and that signage placement would be evaluated for visibility.
A councilor moved to approve the conditional‑use permit subject to the planning commission conditions; the motion was seconded and approved by roll call.
Planning staff will monitor compliance with the listed conditions, including noise restrictions, debris removal and limits on exterior storage, and will return to the council if code compliance issues arise.
