Planning commission gives conditional approval to 7 Brew drive-through near Thorne Drive roundabout

The City of Green Planning and Zoning Commission on May 21 recommended conditional approval for a 7 Brew drive-through coffee shop proposed at the Thorne Drive roundabout, contingent on variances for a canopy encroachment and front-yard accessory structures and on the applicant recording a plat to assemble the site.

John Walsh of GBC Design, the project’s engineer and architect, described the plan as a compact, mostly drive-through coffee shop located on an approximately 1.03-acre assembled parcel and said the team had addressed design-review comments including screening rooftop HVAC and changing an entrance to ingress-only. Planning staff told commissioners the use is permitted in the V1 zone but requires a conditional use certificate for a drive-through and noted the project needs variances for the canopy that protrudes into the setback and for accessory structures in the front yard (a dumpster and a cooler). Staff also said stormwater will be managed with underground storage and that the vacation/plat must be recorded to legally assemble the property.

Matthew Weymouth, representing Motley Brew, told the commission the chain operates primarily by servicing cars and bringing orders out to vehicles rather than using traditional drive‑through windows. “Our average time to get through the queue is 4.5 minutes from order to when you leave,” Weymouth said, citing company data from multiple locations to explain the operation’s throughput and how staff direct traffic within the stacking lanes.

Commissioners asked about vehicle queuing, nearby truck traffic tied to a distribution facility, landscaping buffers to mitigate headlight glare, and whether the proposed stacking would overflow into the public service road. Planning staff and the applicant said the design stacks about 22 vehicles, exceeds the code requirement for the site, and places the stacking off the main thoroughfare by using the CVS frontage; the applicant also said he expected the plat to be recorded the following week and that a maintenance agreement with adjacent property owners covers the conveyed parcel.

A motion for conditional approval — made contingent on the applicant obtaining the needed variances and recording the plat — passed on a roll-call vote with all commissioners present voting in favor.

Next steps: the variances referenced by staff must be granted and the plat recorded before the conditional use certificate is finalized; the commission’s action was a recommendation to the city’s permitting process.