- January 8, 2025
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Ormond Beach's first drive-thru only coffee shop has earned a thumbs up from the City Commission.
On Tuesday, Jan. 7, the commission voted 4-1 to approve a redevelopment plan that would allow for the construction of an Ellianos Coffee location at the former Winn-Dixie Parking lot. The plan had arrived to the commission with a 3-1 recommendation of denial by the Ormond Beach Planning Board, due to traffic concerns. But, seeing as the property owner is seeking two waivers — one concerning improving landscaping buffers in the overall parking lot and another to reduce vehicle stacking requirements by one car on each of its drive-thru lanes — and the coffee shop is an allowed use in the current zoning district, the majority of commissioners saw no issue with the proposal.
"I think this is a great project," Commissioner Travis Sargent said. "These two special exceptions, I think, are a no-brainer."
Commissioner Kristin Deaton agreed, adding that drive-thru coffee shops are popping up all over the country and that she's pleased Ormond Beach is hopping on the trend.
"I read the minutes from the Planning Board meeting and their potential concerns — I understand them," she said. "The traffic volume was reviewed by the Site Plan Review Committee and was determined acceptable. I do not believe that a small coffee shop of this magnitude will greatly affect the traffic patterns on Granada."
The Ellianos Coffee proposal reached the Planning Board last November. Board members worried that its construction would worsen traffic conditions on Granada Boulevard at peak travel times.
City Planning Director Steven Spraker noted that no vehicle drive-thru access will be permitted from West Granada Boulevard. To access one of the two drive-thru lanes, patrons will need to drive through the parking lot and loop around.
Ellianos Coffee, to span 800 square feet, will be located next to the existing Taco Bell in the parking lot. An Aldi is set to replace the former Winn-Dixie store.
The Ellianos Coffee franchise started in Lake City and currently has locations throughout North Florida, Georgia and Alabama. Project engineer Christopher Gmuer said Ellianos Coffee has been very successful is revitalizing shopping centers.
"Things have changed," he said. "For some reason, we really like getting our coffee in the morning on the drive coming into it, and with the size and the dual-drive thru, it's worked in some other cities and that was sort of the goal of this sort of franchise coming in and adding additional activity to a shopping center."
Only one commissioner voted against the project. Commissioner Harold Briley said he shared the Planning Board's concerns regarding traffic flow, as the parking lot had previous stacking problems.
"I think it's busy," he said. "You're going to have traffic backing up in these parking spots, and people can't back out of the parking spots in the plaza."
Sargent said he frequented the Starbucks on West Granada Boulevard recently, and there were no people parking at the Aldi next door as the coffee chain was experiencing a rush hour. He expects the same here — an Aldi won't generate a significant amount of traffic during a morning rush hour, and during the times people would frequent the store, the rush at the coffee shop would have dropped off.
A second proposal for a drive-thru coffee shop will arrive to the City Commission soon. Dan Sundell, of SunBros Cafe in Flagler Beach, seeks to demolish the existing building at 14 S. Yonge St. and construct a 250-square-foot standing drive-thru coffee shop. The proposal will come before the City Commission with a 6-0 recommendation to approve by the Planning Board.
