The City of Cottage Grove Plan Commission gave its go-ahead last week to a drive through Caribou Cabin coffee restaurant, to be built just east of the Kok Funeral Home at the intersection of Hinton Avenue and 80th Street near Crestview Elementary School.

The Caribou Cabin, 7702 80th St., will feature drivethrough service, a walkup window and some outdoor seating.

The planned building is 583-square feet in size, Cottage Grove Senior Planner Emily Schmitz told the plan commission at its Feb. 22 meeting. The plan commission unanimously recommended approval of the site plan, a conditional use permit and the preliminary plan of the restaurant. The proposal will be reviewed by the city council at its March 17 meeting.

The building has been vacant for years and is currently owned by the Kok Funeral Home.

A report from Schmitz states, “The building located at 7702 80th Street was built in 1976, and throughout the 1980s and 90s the building house business such as realty, chiropractic and orthodontist offices. In the early 2000s, a dance school and insurance agent occupied the building. For approximately the last five years, the building has been vacant… The only activity that has taken place on the property since the last business left in the early 2000s is overflow parking for Kok Funeral Home. The overflow parking is only on an ‘as needed’ basis. The developer plans to continue to allow for overflow parking for funerals when needed.”

The current building on the site will be removed to allow for the new Caribou Cabin. Street access will be off of Hinton Avenue and there is pedestrian access on that side also, which links into the extensive city trail system.

Schmitz told commissioners that plans were sent to the South Washington County School District for review because of the proximity to the elementary school, but the city did not hear anything from them.

“City staff has provided the Washington County School District the project plans for the site given the location near Crestview Elementary School. The school district provides crossing guards at the Hinton Avenue and 80th Street intersection during high-traffic school times. It has also been noted the signal at 80th Street and Hinton Avenue is set to protect red, meaning at any time the pedestrian signal is engaged, all directions of traffic receive a red light, therefore no traffic is coursing the intersection when pedestrians are crossing,” Schmitz wrote.

Plans show that the site would allow for “stacking” of nine vehicles in the drive-throuogh lane, which exceeds city requirements.

The conditional use permit is required for a drive-up window in the city.

The development is being proposed by Java Companies. Mark Krogh of Java Companies said, “We’re excited to get rolling on this project.”

He credited city staff for being excellent to work with.

The Plan Commission also recommended approval of a plan for a second drive-through order lane at the Culver’s restaurant at 7998 Hardwood Ave. South.

The nearly 4,000-square-foot restaurant opened in 2008.

“The applicant has indicated their desire to support the continued business within Cottage Grove by providing an additional drive-through lane. Over the past year with the COVID-19 pandemic, the applicant has noticed an increase in drive-through traffic, which he does not suspect will subside,” Schmitz reported to the plan commission. “There have been times over the past year the single drive-through lane is backed up into the Kohl’s parking lot. The applicant has indicated that the addition of the second order lane will assist with keeping the drive-through flowing, shorten wait times and avoid potential backed-up traffic.”

In a report to the planners at the close of the meeting, City Councilmember Steve Dennis said that the city wants to work with restaurants to help with things like drive throughs.

“In the current time period with COVID-19, a lot of habits have changed,” he said, noting that drive through service has become more in-demand.

“We’d like to be as business friendly as we can for these investors,” Dennis said.