PLANNING AND ZONING COMMISSION AGENDA ITEM
ACTION REQUESTED:
title
Conduct the public hearing to consider the requested entitlements for a drive through coffee shop at 1230 S. Naper Blvd. (Dutch Bros) - DEV-0068-2025
body
DEPARTMENT: Transportation, Engineering and Development
SUBMITTED BY: Anna Franco, AICP, Community Planner
ENTITLEMENTS REQUESTED:
1. Major change to the Market Meadows Planned Unit Development (PUD).
2. Deviation to Section 6-9-6:2.2 of the Naperville Municipal Code to eliminate the required bypass lane.
3. Deviation to Section 6-9-3:4&6 of the Naperville Municipal Code to reduce the required parking spaces in the PUD from 1,100 spaces to 887 spaces.
4. Approval of a preliminary/final plat of subdivision.
BOARD/COMMISSION REVIEW:
Official notice for the public hearing for DEV-0068-2025 was published in the Naperville Sun on Sunday, August 3, 2025.
BACKGROUND:
The subject property consists of approximately 1.3-acres and is located just north of the Naper Boulevard entrance to the Market Meadows Shopping Center, which is located at the northwest corner of 75th Street and Naper Boulevard. The property is zoned B2 PUD (Community Shopping Center District Planned Unit Development) and is currently improved with a US Bank and a triangular-shaped parking area north of the bank. The property is uniquely shaped with the widest portion of the property along the Naper Boulevard entrance to the shopping center and the narrowest portion at the north end of the property.
Adjacent uses include Jewel-Osco to the west and McDonald’s to the south (both located in the Market Meadows Shopping Center and on property owned by the petitioner), and the Fox Run Square shopping center across Naper Boulevard to the east.
DISCUSSION:
The petitioner and property owner, SDG Market Meadows LLC, is requesting approval of a major change to the Market Meadows PUD, deviations to eliminate the required bypass lane and reduce the required parking spaces in the PUD, and a preliminary/final plat of subdivision to construct a Dutch Bros drive-through coffee shop on the triangular shaped parking area north of the US Bank. Dutch Bros is a popular drive-through coffee chain with 900+ locations nationwide. Staff’s understanding is that this location would be the first Dutch Bros in the Chicagoland region.
Preliminary/Final Plat of Subdivision
The petitioner is proposing to subdivide the 1.3-acre property into two lots. Lot 1 would include the existing US Bank and total approximately 0.86-acres (37,345 square feet) and Lot 2 would include the proposed Dutch Bros and total approximately 0.46-acres (20,174 square feet). The preliminary/final subdivision plat is included for reference only and is not reviewed by the Planning and Zoning Commission. The proposed subdivision meets all technical Code requirements.
Major Change to the Market Meadows Planned Unit Development
The petitioner is requesting a major change to the Market Meadows PUD to construct the Dutch Bros coffee shop on Lot 5 of the PUD. The Market Meadows PUD consists of six lots and includes a variety of uses, including but not limited to restaurant, self-storage, grocery store, retail, office, and service uses, and contains approximately 189,500 square feet of gross floor area. The Market Meadows final PUD plat was approved in 1977 with Ordinance 77-67 and was last amended in 2021 with Ordinance 21-022 for construction of a self-storage facility, bank drive-through, and multi-tenant building.
Per Naperville Municipal Code Section 6-4-6:1 (Changes to a Final Planned Unit Development: Major Change), a major change to an existing PUD is required when significant changes to the PUD are being requested and when the requested changes increase the extent of a previously granted deviation to underlying Municipal Code requirements. The proposed changes to the approved site plan, including a new use, building, and site circulation related to the Dutch Bros proposal, along with the requested parking deviation (discussed further below), trigger the need for a major change to the Market Meadows PUD.
The Dutch Bros coffee shop is a permitted use in the B2 zone and is permitted in the Market Meadows PUD. Dutch Bros has a small footprint of approximately 1,179 square feet with minimal parking requirements, allowing it to be accommodated on the small, uniquely shaped, subdivided lot. The building is comprised of a neutral brick veneer and Nichiha in custom Dutch Bros blue and complies with the Citywide Building Design Guidelines. Dutch Bros will offer a drive-through and walk-up services with a patio for customers but will not offer any dine-in options inside the building. The existing north-south drive-aisle between Jewel and the subject property will provide vehicular access to the Dutch Bros dual drive-through lanes and the six on-site parking spaces.
Findings of Fact
Staff believes the proposed Dutch Bros coffee shop will generally complement the existing mix of uses with the Market Meadow PUD if off-site stacking can be sufficiently operated (see the “Traffic Management Plan” section of this report), and finds the proposal meets the requirements and standards of the planned unit development regulations. The petitioner’s responses to the Standards for Granting or Amending a Planned Unit Development can be found in the attachments. Upon review, staff agrees with the petitioner’s findings and recommends their adoption by the Planning and Zoning Commission.
Parking Deviation
The petitioner seeks approval of a parking deviation to reduce the minimum number of parking spaces required in the Market Meadows PUD. Dutch Bros is meeting the on-site parking requirement with the provision of six on-site parking spaces, however, as Dutch Bros replaces an existing parking area within Lot 5 of the PUD, the redevelopment results in a net loss of approximately 39 parking spaces from the overall PUD. A total of 887 parking spaces will be available in the PUD after the proposed redevelopment.
Per Municipal Code Section 6-9-3:4&6, the Market Meadows PUD is required to have 1,100 parking spaces based on the current tenant mix and the addition of the Dutch Bros coffee shop. A deviation to reduce the required parking from 1,098 spaces to 926 spaces was approved in 2021 with Ordinance 21-022 in association with the self-storage development. The Dutch Bros redevelopment further reduces the required number of parking spaces within the PUD below the minimum 926 parking spaces previously approved.
To support the requested parking deviation, the petitioner has provided a parking study (available in the attachments) to project the parking demand within the PUD. Parking demand was analyzed for mid-day and evening peak periods on a weekday and on a Saturday, pursuant to the Institute of Transportation Engineering (ITE) Parking Generation Manual, with the highest parking demand projected to be 596 vehicles during the Saturday mid-day peak. The projected peak parking demand was shown to be less than the proposed number of parking spaces with parking utilization predicted to be approximately 70% during the Saturday peak period.
Findings of Fact
Based on the current and projected parking demand outlined in the parking study, staff believes the provision of 887 parking spaces is sufficient to meet the demand of the Market Meadows Shopping Center and supports the requested deviation, subject to the following condition:
If the City's Zoning Administrator determines that the current and proposed Market Meadows Shopping Center tenants’ parking needs cannot be accommodated within the parking as depicted on the Market Meadows PUD Plat, the owner of the subject property (or owner' successors, transferees, and assigns) shall promptly take adequate measures to meet the parking needs of said tenants, including but not limited to formally assigning/reserving parking spaces for each unit, restricting the number of leasable units, or establishing an overflow parking location off-site, as necessary, which measures shall be subject to the review and approval of the Zoning Administrator. Failure to timely take adequate measures to adequately accommodate tenant parking needs on the subject property to the satisfaction of the City's Zoning Administrator may result in the City's revocation of one or more of the PUD deviations approved herein.
The petitioner’s responses to the Standards for Granting a PUD Deviation can be found in the attachments. Upon review, staff agrees with the petitioner’s findings and recommends their adoption by the Planning and Zoning Commission.
Drive-through Bypass Lane Deviation
The petitioner seeks approval of a deviation to eliminate the required bypass lane for the proposed drive-through coffee shop. Dutch Bros’ site plan includes dual drive-through lanes that tapers down to a single lane before the pick-up window. Employees take customer orders early in the drive-through process to ensure orders are ready when customers arrive at the pickup window, or before, and an escape lane permits customers to leave the line if their drinks are delivered by a drink runner before the pick-up window. However, the escape lane does not span the entire length of the drive-through and therefore does not meet the requirements of a bypass lane per Section 6-9-6:2.2 of the Municipal Code.
Strict enforcement of the code requirements would result in the need for a parallel pavement section to be added adjacent to the dual drive-through lane system. Due to the small and uniquely shaped lot, this requirement may inhibit the provision of the pedestrian seating area on the west side of the building and may reduce landscaped areas. The petitioner states that their efficient ordering model along with the dual lane and escape lane layout will provide expeditious traffic flow for stacked vehicles and does not feel that the bypass lane is needed for their operation. It should be noted that the drive through lanes provide at least 20 stacking spaces and well exceed the City’s stacking requirement of four cars per window.
Findings of Fact
Staff finds the proposed site layout and drive-through design to be sufficient and is supportive of the requested deviation given the size limitations of the subject property, the dual lane drive-through design, and the number of on-site stacking spaces provided. The petitioner’s responses to the Standards for Granting a PUD Deviation can be found in the attachments. Upon review, staff agrees with the petitioner’s findings and recommends their adoption by the Planning and Zoning Commission.
Traffic Management Plan
Staff is cognizant that traditional coffee shop stacking requirements as outlined in the Municipal Code may not accommodate peak stacking for newly opened and popular drive-through coffee shops. Because this is the first Dutch Bros coffee shop in the Chicagoland area, demand is expected to be high in the first months after opening. At staff’s request, the petitioner has submitted a traffic management plan for the Dutch Bros grand opening outlining strategies for managing traffic in the event stacking cannot be accommodated entirely on-site during high demand periods.
According to the petitioner, when the drive-through lanes begin to fill up, Dutch Bros will deploy employees with iPads to take orders from cars ahead of the menu board to expedite the ordering process. As orders are completed, drink runners will take orders out to cars in the queue and allow them to use the escape lane to exit the queue early to help speed up drive-through delivery times and minimize queuing. Dutch Bros will also deploy dedicated personnel to manage vehicular flow during the grand opening to mitigate congestion during high-demand. Staff will direct traffic, regulate queuing, and coordinate customer entry to ensure operational efficiency to prevent disruption to Market Meadows' traffic patterns. When needed, Dutch Bros will hire third-party traffic controllers or off-duty police officers to provide additional traffic management. The “Grand Opening Staffing Plan” in the Traffic Management Plan identifies employee and traffic controller stations.
The petitioner has also provided a stacking and signage plan with the Traffic Management Plan that outlines a route for off-site stacking within the Market Meadows Shopping Center. The route includes over 500 feet of off-site stacking and directs vehicles to use the Naper Boulevard entrance to the shopping center to access the Dutch Bros drive through. The queue will be routed into Jewel’s southern drive aisle where a row of parking will be coned off and customer’s vehicles will be allowed to stack. Traffic controllers will direct vehicles to the drive-through lanes when space is available, with the intent to keep the north-south drive aisle between Jewel’s parking area and Dutch Bros clear for US Bank customers. Vehicles leaving Dutch Brothers will be directed to exit the shopping center via Market Avenue to the north.
Dutch Bros anticipates that demand will stabilize overtime and that these off-site traffic measures will not be regularly needed. Queue management strategies are likely to keep queues from disrupting the flow of traffic within the shopping center after initial demand, per the site traffic circulation information provided in the attached Parking Study.
Recommended Conditions of Approval
While Dutch Bros has provided a detailed traffic management plan and will regularly re-evaluate traffic control measures to minimize the impact on neighboring businesses and public roadways, staff recommends the following conditions of approval for the requested entitlements to ensure optimal management of the site:
• The developer must have a signed agreement with the adjacent property owner(s), and/or tenants, to provide off-site stacking areas for a period of at least 12 months following the opening of the store.
• At least 500 feet of off-site stacking space shall be maintained within the Market Meadows shopping center as approved by the Zoning Administrator and City Engineer.
• The owner of the subject property (or owner’s successors, transferees, and assigns) shall implement the following strategies as provided in the approved Traffic Management Plan:
o Temporary signage and striping as necessary to establish off-site stacking areas.
o Temporary marking tape and movable signs in distinctive colors that can be removed when off-site stacking is no longer necessary.
o Locations and roles of staff that are needed to maintain the queue.
• Modifications to the off-site stacking route as approved in the Traffic Management Plan shall be reviewed and approved by the Zoning Administrator and City Engineer prior to implementation.
• The off-site stacking areas may not impact access to the other businesses in the area or inhibit emergency vehicle access.
• If complaints are submitted to the City of Naperville regarding drive through operations, including complaints regarding vehicles blocking the U.S. Bank entry and exit, vehicles backing up to the Market Meadows Shopping Center entrances, and vehicles backing up onto Naper Boulevard, the owner of the subject property (or owner’s successors, transferees, and assigns) shall promptly take adequate measures to adjust drive-through operations, including but not limited to restricting the hours of operation the drive-through may be used. All measures shall be subject to the review and approval of the Zoning Administrator and City Engineer. Failure to timely take adequate measures to adequately accommodate the drive-through needs on the subject property to the satisfaction of the City’s Zoning Administrator may result in the City’s revocation of one or more of the PUD deviations approved herein.
Key Takeaways
• The petitioner requests approval of a major change to the Market Meadows PUD, deviations to eliminate the required bypass lane and reduce the required parking spaces in the PUD, and a preliminary/final plat of subdivision to develop the subject property with a Dutch Bros drive-through coffee shop on the triangular shaped parking area north of the US Bank.
• Staff supports the requested entitlements subject to the conditions of approval as listed in the staff report.
• The preliminary/final subdivision plat is included for reference only and is not reviewed by the Planning and Zoning Commission.