No trouble brewing - yet - over coffee-stand request
Who would have thought a drive-through coffee stand in Columbia Falls would produce a tempest in a teapot?
But, with parking and highway frontage at a premium along one of the city's busiest stretches of U.S. 2, Jean To's request to put a new coffee stand in front of her Falls Car Wash and Laundry could put a serious crimp in traffic space for her neighbor, Sundrop Health Foods.
To, filing under the business name Yun-Hong Yan Inc., told the Columbia Falls City-County Planning Board on Tuesday night that she hopes a drive-through coffee stand could bring in a little more income to supplement her newly purchased laundry and car wash.
Ray Negron, owner of a neighboring restaurant to the south who also has plans for a coffee stand, said she had told him about her plans to establish a linen service there, as well.
City Manager and Planning Director Bill Shaw's staff report said the Planning Board should recommend that the City Council approve To's request but require its location to be in the southeast corner of her paved lot.
The problem is, that's exactly where Paul and Sharon Stevens' customers drive in and park when they're shopping at Sundrop Health Foods to the east of the car wash. And Paul Stevens contends that, despite To's best efforts, a line of cars waiting for a cup of java couldn't help but interfere with his business.
The two businesses intrude a bit on each other's properties. It's all amicably handled - so far.
But Planning Board member Trent Miller said that could change if the encroachment hurts business and a fence is erected that would force relocation of the vacuuming island, the coffee stand, or both.
The two parties want to work together so, in the end, planners tabled action until its June 13 meeting to allow time for To and her contractor to come back with a drawing to scale. As they come up with that drawing, they will consider other potential locations and traffic-flow patterns to alleviate the potential problem.
To's request came on the same agenda as a similar one from Ray Negron and Dee Sims, who would like to build an espresso stand at their Cimarron Caf/ on the other side of the highway and a hundred yards or so to the east.
As with the first request, Shaw recommended the building be limited to 200 square feet, anchored to the ground and connected to city sewer and water.
Negron's plan is to make the stand an extension of the restaurant business, with walk-up service and a lounging patio between the two. Drive-through customers would be served from the building's east side. The stand would be in front and just to the east of the restaurant.
He plans to pave the pair of graveled lots they own to the east, extending about 40 feet past their current lot line and running the full north-south width of the block. Only the front half would be paved immediately, covering about 6,000 square feet.
During construction, four existing parking spaces would be lost in front of the restaurant but would be replaced by 15 others in the newly paved lot.
Nobody objected to the request, and it received the Planning Board's unanimous recommendation for approval. It will be on the council's May 15 agenda.
Reporter Nancy Kimball can be reached at 758-4483 or by e-mail at nkimball@dailyinterlake.com