BZA clears Seven Brew drive-thru and approves small sign variance at Franklin Street site

The Michigan City Board of Zoning Appeals voted March 10 to permit Hubru LLC to redevelop the former KFC at 4359 Franklin Street as a Seven Brew drive-thru and to grant a development-standard variance for a slightly larger-than-permitted wall sign.

Applicants explained the concept is a double drive-thru with no indoor dining; orders are taken via staff tablets with service at a pickup window. The proposed building footprint and drive-thru circulation reuse the KFC driveway alignment and routing in the rear; the plan includes reconstructed parking and updated drainage that will continue to outlet through Lake Park Plaza detention facilities.

Planning staff recommended approval of the special exception and supported a modest variance to allow a 36-square-foot wall sign on a narrow south façade that represents 13% of that wall area against a code limit of 10%. Staff said the sign is a standard element used by Seven Brew nationally, that it remains well under the ordinance’s maximum absolute size (100 sq ft), and that the sign improves customer wayfinding and reduces U-turns and unsafe maneuvers in adjacent parking areas. Fire, police and water departments raised no objections beyond standard permitting items; the engineering department asked the petitioner to provide a five-foot sidewalk along Franklin within the site and to coordinate drainage revisions.

The board adopted the planning department findings and approved both the special exception and the sign variance unanimously. Any required sprinkler or fire-suppression system and INDOT driveway considerations, if applicable, will be enforced in the permitting process before opening.

The decision clears the path for demolition of the vacant KFC building and construction of the Seven Brew prototype, subject to final construction permitting, sidewalks and routine fire-department signoffs.