Montgomery gives final OK for drive-thru Starbucks off Hill Avenue at Route 34

A drive-thru Starbucks coffee shop has been approved for development off Hill Avenue at Route 34 in Montgomery.

In a 6-0 ballot Monday, April 24, the Village Board passed a package of variances to the village’s design standard, setback, parking and landscaping ordinance requirements that will allow for the construction of the coffee shop along the west side of Hill Avenue in the Ogden Hill shopping center.

Sonya Abt, the village’s community development director, told the board the variances were necessary in part due to the small size of the building lot which is situated between the Mavis Tires & Brakes and the Earthmover Credit Union buildings.

Joseph Development LLC of Chicago is the project developer.

The Starbucks will feature a drive-thru lane and the front of the shop will face toward the shopping center parking lot. Traffic access to the shop will be off of an internal access drive in the shopping center.

The shop is proposed for construction near the center, south portion of the lot, with parking spaces along the east side of the building and the drive-thru pickup window on the building’s west side.

When questioned by board member Theresa Sperling during a April 10 meeting, Abt said the Starbucks will be one of the firm’s smaller shops with coffee and other beverages served to patrons in vehicles using the drive-thru lane or from an indoor counter.

The shop will not offer indoor seating, Abt said.

According to village documents, the shop will have 1,500 square feet of total floor space.

The Planning and Zoning Commission voted unanimously April 6 to recommend board approval of all of the requested variances.

The Starbucks will be the second to locate within village limits. The first Starbucks to locate in the village opened off Orchard Road just south of Route 30 more than a decade ago.