Plans to add a Caribou Coffee at Coborn’s in Clearwater have ben put on hold - at least temporarily.

 

Monday, members of the Clearwater City Council couldn’t come to a consensus regarding the conditions for the drive-through lane for the new coffee business.

 

Planner Kevin Shay of Landform presented two requests from Coborn’s:  a conditional use permit (CUP) for the coffee shop with a drive-through, and a variance to reduce the number of vehicle stacking spaces in the drive-through lane.

 

The new coffee shop would be located in the space formerly occupied by the video rental section on the southeast corner of the building.

 

The drive-through area would be a bit more complicated. There is currently a drive-through lane for the pharmacy on the east wall of the store. The plan is to create a remote pharmacy kiosk to the north and reconfigure the area and build a drive-through window for Caribou to the south.

 

Caribou would have six stacking spaces in the drive-through lane. But because of the length of the building, the area would only allow stacking for four cars at a time for the pharmacy. Coborn’s was asking for a variance to allow stacking for four cars for the pharmacy instead of the six required under the city’s code.

 

Shay said historical data from the pharmacy shows there is rarely any need for more than four spaces.

 

The council discussed at length the potential traffic flow issues that might result for cars entering from and exiting onto Co. Rd. 75. There were suggestions about eliminating some of the parking spaces near the entrance. Another idea was to make a one-way loop around the building. 

 

When it came time to vote, the council approved the CUP for the coffee shop. But the vote was deadlocked, 2-2 on the variance, with Councilman Wayne Kruchten not in attendance.

 

The biggest objection  came from Councilman Richard Petty, who didn’t feel the variance should be approved.

 

Under the criteria for approving a variance, “Practical Difficulty” means the property owner proposes to use the property in a reasonable manner not permitted by an official control; the plight of the landowner is due to circumstances unique to the property not created by the landowner; and a variance, if granted, will not alter the essential character of the locality. Economic considerations alone do not constitute practical difficulties.

 

Shay said because markets change over time, Coborn’s had no idea they would some day be considering adding a Caribou Coffee on the site when the store was built in 2004. 

 

But it was Petty’s contention that the landowner had created the difficulty by constructing the building the way it did, regardless of how long ago it happened. He felt there shouldn’t be a variance, which could eventually affect a future business in a similar situation.

 

His suggestion was to amend the city’s code to allow four stacking spaces for a pharmacy drive-through. That way a variance wouldn’t be necessary and it would set a standard for any future pharmacy drive-through.

 

The council directed Administrator Kevin Kress to set a process to hold public hearings for a code change. To move the process along and not cause too much of a delay for Coborn’s, a planning and zoning meeting is set for July 9, followed by a city council meeting July 15.