On Tuesday, the Brentwood Planning Commission unanimously approved a Conditional Use Permit for a Dutch Bros Coffee location at The Streets of Brentwood.
According to the staff report, the planning commission will discuss a conditional use permit and design review for a new 1,106 square foot drive-through Dutch Bros Coffee and associated site improvements on a 0.86 acre parcel located between Black Angus and Sprouts at the Streets of Brentwood.
Scott Bohrer, CenterCal Properties, shared they are currently under contract to purchase The Streets of Brentwood, they supported Dutch Bros at the site. They believe its an appropriate location for a drive-through and unrealized value in the plaza, public spaces and their goal was to get them to the site and into the center of the Streets of Brentwood.
Commission Discussion
Commissioner Rod Flohr highlighted based on social media chatter, everything he saw for the most part was supportive and positive while not seeing much negativity.
“Unlike some projects we have seen in the past, this one is quite popular,” said Flohr. “The emails that have come in have been quite glowing… this is something everybody seems to like.”
He called this an example of where a drive-through is appropriate and a great looking project.
Commissioner Kristopher Brand asked why this location was open until 11:00 pm. The owner said they are only open Fridays and Saturdays until 11:00 pm.
Brand called the “Dutch Bros brand a treasure within the city” and appreciated the flexibility they had with the design. He liked how the drive-through could bring people from the vehicle to the rest of The Streets of Brentwood.
Commissioner David Sparling expressed concerns over the 27 car stack in line as it could have overflow into the parking lot into the street, but shouldn’t be an issue in the short run but in the long run it could based on future pads. It’s the new vision for the new owners. He also expressed concerns of four coffee shops in The Streets and five if Barns and Noble serve coffee.
“It’s not our job to pick winners and losers but it’s certainly going to create a competitive environment for this commodity in a very small space,” said Sparling. “That is part of business, you have to be willing to compete for your business.”
Chairperson Anita Roberts asked about why they had 27-vehicels stock. The applicant responded during peak hours, they estimate around 21 cars—so the extra 6 cars allow them to stack it on site without impacting neighbors.
Roberts called it a great project and makes The Streets of Brentwood “shine a little brighter” as someone comes off Highway 4. She said with five coffee shops, people now have choices.
The commission approved Dutch Bros in a 5-0 vote.
Background Info
The City of Brentwood staff is recommending the approval.
In February 2024, the Zoning Administrator approved a parcel map waiver to subdivide the vacant 1.87-acre subject parcel into two parcels. The Dutch Bros Coffee project is proposed to be located on the smaller of the two newly created
parcels, directly east of Black Angus.
The applicants, who own the existing Dutch Bros franchise located on Brentwood Boulevard and the one located in Oakley, intend to become the property owners once the parcel map that was approved in February is recorded.
Dutch Bros is primarily an auto-oriented business. The typical hours of operation are 5:00 am to 11:00 pm, seven days a week. There is no interior building area open to the public, which eliminates the need for a larger building; however, there is a walk up window and small seating area consisting of benches on the east side of the building for those who do wish to park and walk-up or bike to the business.
The drive-through consists of two lanes, which funnels down to one-lane after orders are taken, and can accommodate up to 27 vehicles stacking within the queue. The applicant’s written statement indicates that the runner system reduces customer time at the window by 30 to 45 seconds.
The drive-through is also designed to incorporate an “escape lane” (an area adjacent to the pick-up lane) that allows vehicles to leave the line prior to the car in front of them if their order is completed first which helps to alleviate the queuing of cars.
Documents:
Previous Story:
Aug 2 – Dutch Bros Could Open New Location at The Streets of Brentwood
2 comments
More Dutch Bros? How many coffee shops do we need? Nothing is unique, it’s just the same chain restaurants business everywhere.
Hope your planning commission does a better job than the one they recently did in concord, its the worst parking/drive thru setup ive ever seen for a drive thru location.
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