JEFF B. FLINN
Managing Editor
Developers of a planned Starbucks Coffee Shop on Herff Road Tuesday received a special use permit from City Council, clearing the way for the project to proceed.
The addition of a deceleration lane to the coffee chain’s site plan met one of eight criteria the city asked project developers to meet, after council tabled the SUP request at its June 10 meeting.
“I think with the right-in, right-out with the deceleration lane on a fourlane road with a median, I think that’s pretty efficient at moving traffic safely,” Councilman Ty Wolosin said.
The Starbucks design shows available stacking of up to 26 vehicles from the drive-through pickup window to the proposed “right-in, right-out” entry point off Herff. Project developer Justin Hobson spoke to council about the effectiveness of the right-turns into and out of the property.
A rendering of the Starbucks planned for Herff Road was presented at Tuesday’s Boerne City Council meeting.
Courtesy photo “From my experience as a developer and from talking to traffic engineers ... it’s a very good tool for serving traffic flow and making it fast and efficient for people getting out,” Hobson said. “It’s a very good tool for getting traffic flow back out onto the street, and those are things that were not brought up previously.”
The deceleration lane adds room for seven more cars to the 26-deep stack of vehicles on the Starbuck property. It was one of eight stipulations spelled out by the city. Others include adding two more handicap parking spots, using an HVAC condensation-rainwater harvesting collection system and enhanced landscaping along Herff.
Another of the eight is the creation of a second access point, a stipulation added at previous meetings.
“Nothing can happen until that cul-de-sac connection at Gallant Fox is complete,” Councilman Joe Macaluso said. “There can be no occupancy, there can be no business there until that back entrance connection at Gallant Fox complete and operable.”
The 2,400 square-foot Starbucks building is one of two on the 6,300 squarefoot property. The other will be a 3,900 square-foot retail facility to the east of Starbucks. Both will have a feeder access to the rear of the property, which ties into the Gallant Fox cul-de-sac.
Mayor Frank Ritchie opened discussion Tuesday by voicing his opposition to the plan.
“I just do not think this is a good fit for a heavy traffic road that was designed to hold 9,000 cars now has 13,000 cars on it, daily,” Ritchie said.” Especially with this type of business that’s going to increase the traffic flow there considerably at the most high-time traffic points in the morning.”
Councilman Quinten Scott said the property owner and project developer have been more than hospitable to the city’s requests.
“I think we’ve asked for a number of concessions from this developer. He jumped right on a deceleration lane, which I thought was probably one of the biggest asks of them,” Scott said. “I think this developer has done just about everything you could possibly do to make that a sustainable quality business for Boerne.”
With that in mind, Scott made the motion to grant the developer of the Starbucks location a special use permit, as long as the eight revised stipulations are met. Council voted 5-0 in support of the measure.
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