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Drive through coffee shop gets OK from planners

Photo

Photo by Bill Olmsted

This building at 1009 N. Washington (N. Washinton and W. Memorial Dr.) is being considered for partial use as a drive-up coffee shop.

JANESVILLE — Janesville’s west-siders will be able to feed their coffee fixes and see a vacant neighborhood building occupied when Java Joys opens at 1009 N. Washington St.

The plan commission gave the proposed coffee shop a nudge forward Monday, approving, 6-0, a conditional-use permit for a shop with a drive-through window. Commission member Tim Wellnitz was absent.

No one spoke at the public hearing.

Java Joys will fill part of the empty building at the corner of North Washington Street and West Memorial Drive, across the street from the Mercy Health Mall.

The drive-through window will be located on the West Memorial Drive side of the building, with cars exiting onto North Washington Street.

At their Nov. 19 meeting, some plan commission members asked whether the drive-through could wrap around the rear of the building. They also wanted information on peak drive-through traffic at other coffee shops.

Planning staff observed traffic at Mocha Moment, 1121 Center Ave., and Starbucks, 2980 Deerfield Drive. At peak morning hours, three vehicles were stacked up at Mocha Moment and six at Starbucks, said Vicky Miller, a city development specialist.

Staff recommended that Java Joys’ drive-through lane be long enough for four cars, with two extra spaces reserved for customers awaiting orders.

Java Joys has 32 parking spaces in its site plan—more than enough based on observations of the other drive-throughs, Miller said.

Wrapping the drive-through lane around the rear wasn’t possible because of trees and air conditioning units in the way, she said.

The shop’s owner, Bethany Conway, is required to landscape areas between the sidewalks and parking lot by June 1.

Miller said the shop’s opening date hasn’t been set because interior renovation plans are still in the works.

Also Monday, the plan commission recommended, 6-0, that the council rezone property at the southwest corner of Sandhill Drive and North Wright Road from R1 residential to R3 general residence district. Real Estate Equities proposes building a senior housing project on the five-acre site.