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The bill before council would pave the way for a 7 Brew Coffee Shop at Sunshine Street and Jefferson Avenue. 
SBJ file 
The bill before council would pave the way for a 7 Brew Coffee Shop at Sunshine Street and Jefferson Avenue. 

Council mulls 7 Brew in neighborhood 

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A pair of developers want to put a drive-thru coffee shop in a vacant lot across the street from Sunshine Elementary School, against the recommendations of the city’s Planning & Zoning Commission. 

Monday’s Springfield City Council meeting included the first reading of a pair of ordinances that would allow developers Reding Management LLC and Redec LLC to build a 7 Brew Coffee shop, featuring a three-lane drive-thru, on an acre of property at 404, 420 and 424 E. Sunshine St. 

One ordinance would rezone the property from single-family residential to a limited business district with a new conditional overlay, while the other would grant a conditional use permit to allow the business to operate as a drive-thru. 

On April 4, Council remanded the issues back to Planning & Zoning after an unsuccessful attempt to pass them. On both occasions, the measures appeared before council after being denied by Planning & Zoning. The present plan is largely unchanged from the original proposal except for plans to plant 14 trees as a buffer between the coffee shop and the Seminole/Holland neighborhood. 

The business would not be accessed directly from Sunshine Street but would be entered and exited from Jefferson Avenue with cross-access between Jefferson and Roanoke avenues. A second phase of development would require additional egress on Roanoke. 

City Planning and Development Director Susan Istenes told council her staff recommends approval of the measures when they come up for a vote July 25. While the area is zoned residential, it contains a school and a church. She added the site is on the fringe of a large intersection. 

Istenes said the appropriateness of the property for a limited business district is evident when considering development patterns in the area, she said. 

While plans call for the coffee shop to be placed among houses in a neighborhood, restaurants and retail outlets are located roughly two blocks west of the site, and Sunshine Street is a major artery that leads to Bass Pro Shops. 

“In my opinion, I think the main concern with the planning commission really had to do with the drive-thru and the impacts to surrounding single-family residence neighbors,” she said. 

Councilperson Abe McGull agreed that the rub seems to be with the traffic impacts of the drive-thru. He offered a counter example of an establishment in the Pickwick Avenue and Cherry Street area in the Rountree neighborhood, which provides walkup coffee services, and he indicated this might be more appropriate for a residential neighborhood. The proposed 7 Brew would have more impact, he noted. 

Councilperson Richard Ollis said Sunshine Street is mostly a commercial corridor, and he asked why the area in question, roughly between Jefferson and National avenues, is viewed as residential instead of commercial. 

Istenes replied that the city’s comprehensive plan looks at major intersections as areas for high-intensity development, with the attraction to developers being the volume of traffic. These development areas have a tendency to grow over time, she said. 

“The development patterns I’m observing in Springfield is most of your major arterials are stripped out with the commercial,” she said. “The pattern here looks like it is starting.” 

She said she would suggest council look strongly at making the proposed development area a boundary to guard against large expanses of strip development. 

“It is intended to provide neighborhood services,” she said, noting the rub is the drive-thru. 

“I do suggest that the existing residential on Sunshine is an asset to the city.” 

Councilperson Heather Hardinger said having the development right across from a school was concerning to her, as cars would be in the residential streets and could pose a danger to students. 

“I don’t know if this is the appropriate establishment for this neighborhood,” she said. 

A walk-up or bike-up shop would be different, Hardinger said. 

“Generally, I’m open to that idea because it promotes a sense of community and keeps traffic limited in that area, provided there’s enough parking,” she said. “A drive-thru, I just see honestly as being a liability.” 

She added not every student takes the bus, despite Springfield Public Schools offering transportation to avoid having them cross Sunshine, an arterial street, because the school is “right there.” 

Dane Seiler, an engineer with CJW Transportation Consultants LLC, who spoke on behalf of the developer, said his company laid out the site. 

Seiler said the three drive-thru lanes could handle up to 25 cars at a time. 

McGull expressed concern about traffic being blocked by customers waiting to turn in to the store from Jefferson Avenue. 

“My experience with Springfieldians is they will block an intersection,” he said. “What you create then is a stacking up of those who want to turn left into this parking lot.” 

Twenty-one residents signed up to speak at the meeting, with mixed opinions about the proposed development. 

Some concerns expressed included hours of operation, which are 5:30 a.m. to 10 p.m., and noise from cars and outdoor music alleged to be played at 7 Brew shops. Neighbors also worried whether peak hours for the business might coincide with those of school pickup and drop-off, though Chad Zickefoose, an engineer with the city, said that a study showed they would not. 

Another concern was a danger for elementary school students, though Zickefoose said Springfield Public Schools provides busing for all students across Sunshine Street, and walking is not encouraged. 

Not all who spoke at the meeting were opposed to the development. The site would employ 40-45 employees, said Curtis Jared of Jared Enterprises, who said he is attached to the project, and its kiosks are manufactured in Springfield. 

Mark Percival, an elder at Jefferson Avenue Baptist Church, which sold the vacant lot for the proposed development, said the church supports the rezoning and does not see it as having a negative impact on the congregation. 

Some supporters of 7 Brew said disallowing the development would send a negative message to other businesses wanting to develop in Springfield. 

Opponents spoke about preserving the residential nature of the neighborhood and the need to keep excessive traffic out of it. 

Zickefoose noted a traffic count at an existing Springfield 7 Brew facility found 776 vehicles visited the site in a day. Peak hours were 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., with 38 customers during the 7 a.m. hour and 50 in the 8 a.m. hour. 

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