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Middletown special hearing approves variance to allow 7 Brew drive‑through on undersized lot
Summary
A Middletown special hearing on April 7 approved variances that allow a drive‑through 7 Brew coffee on two combined parcels at 733 Washington St. and 35 Boston Rd., granting relief for minimum lot area and sign‑size restrictions despite questions about lighting, traffic and landscaping.
A Middletown special hearing approved a variance Tuesday that will let a drive‑through only 7 Brew coffee locate on two combined parcels at 733 Washington Street and 35 Boston Road, the panel announced after a brief public comment period and board deliberation.
The applicant’s attorney, Richard D. Carrella of Updike, Kelly & Spellacy PC, told the board the site is an undersized remnant created when Route 66 was widened in 2010 and that the lot geometry constitutes a hardship for a drive‑through use. "The hardship being the kind of unique lot configuration that's been as a result of the state's taking of the land and the widening of Route 66 and the movement of Boston Road that occurred back in 2010," Carrella said.
Why it matters: The decision grants two variances — one for minimum lot area to permit a drive‑through in the MXC zone and one for sign allowances — enabling a national brand to place façade and directional signage on a small building footprint. The project will next appear before the Planning & Zoning commission, which the board said will handle traffic, photometrics and other site‑specific conditions.
Project details provided by the applicant described the site as a drive‑through‑only coffee shop with two drive lanes, 23 stacking spaces and about 11 employee parking spaces. Project engineer James Vagle said, "With this, we can accommodate 23 stacking spaces, and then we have additionally 11 employee parking spaces." The team said there will be no indoor seating: customers will drive in and drive out.
The applicant presented a reduced sign plan that includes multiple 3‑square‑foot directional signs (which the code exempts from the overall calculation), a 12.57‑square‑foot pylon sign at the street and façade signage totaling roughly 60 square feet; the applicant asked for about a 10‑square‑foot variance to allow the layout. The applicant said directional signs were reduced to comply with code but that many façade signs are standard under franchise branding.
Resident Peter Frank Smith, who identified himself and gave his Middletown address, asked whether a small grove of trees along Route 66 would be removed and whether signs would be lit at night, citing concerns about dark‑sky compliance, vehicle idling and local air quality. "Are they to be removed? ... Would they comply with Middletown's dark skies ordinance? ... cars would presumably be idling while they wait for their coffee," Smith said.
Tom Hazel, who the record identifies as representing the City of Middletown, and other board members told the resident that traffic flow, lighting photometrics and related operational conditions are matters for the Planning & Zoning meeting scheduled for the next evening at 7:30 p.m. The applicant said the landscape plan removes 13 trees and adds 31 in a different configuration, and offered to review planting details at that meeting.
Board deliberations focused on whether the applicant had shown a legitimate hardship and whether signage needs were self‑imposed by corporate branding. The chair said he felt the hardship had been met: "I feel like the hardship has been met, with the restrictions that they have." A committee member agreed the lot‑size hardship was legitimate but said the signage created by franchise requirements felt like a self‑imposed constraint. Nicholas Vaccaro, identified on the record, said the site is tight and that the proposed sign scale is consistent with what is visible along Route 66.
A member moved to approve the request for variance of section 5.6.0.13 (drive‑through businesses—minimum lot area) and the variance of section 4.18.0.4.0.6 (directory signs/number of permitted signs) for the parcels at 733 Washington Street and 35 Boston Road in the MXC zone. The motion was seconded and carried on an affirmative voice vote; the chair declared the motion passed.
The board closed the special hearing and adjourned. Planning & Zoning will consider related traffic, lighting and site‑plan conditions at its meeting the following evening.
