How about some donuts, eh? The Boundary might once again be on the precipice of getting a Tim Hortons development, but the local city council isn’t thrilled with the location for the proposed development.
Grand Forks council considered granting a development permit to the project at Monday night’s regular council meeting. Planner Ryan Siersma, on behalf of the developer and the landowner, was present at the meeting to do a presentation detailing the design, site plan and other factors, as well as answer questions from council.
The proposed location is in the south end of the existing Save On Foods parking lot north of Central Avenue in Grand Forks, and will have a drive-thru in addition to the 40-seat proposed restaurant and outdoor patio. The drive thru, according to the site plans, will be a “double stack,” or double-lane drive thru.
The owners of the franchise will be Paul and Beryl Stawarz, who own eight other franchise locations in the South Okanagan and have been in business for 26 years, according to Siersma.
Siersma said planners expect 1,200 to 1,500 customers per day, 70 per cent of those through the drive thru. There were no indications in the presentation as to hours of operation or the number of customers expected to be locals versus tourists or drive-through highway traffic.
“We don’t just want it to look like a Tim Hortons. We want it to look like a made-in-Grand-Forks Tim Hortons,” Siersma said. “We believe its consistent with neighbouring development and policy in the community.” Siersma said that concerns from neighbouring businesses would be addressed through agreements with nearby properties for parking, as well as increased signage that the developer would be adding to give visibility to the businesses in the back of the property.
Council also considered the proximity to downtown and the impact on other local businesses, but ultimately several councillors said they did not consider Tim Hortons as a treat to existing coffee shops or restaurants, and were pleased by developer interest.
“We depend on commercial and industrial tax base and the mill rate to sustain us…especially in a time when we have lots of assets to rebuild, and we can’t go back [to residents] and put that burden on them,” Hammett said.
Council voted to approve the development permit for the “40 seat, freestanding restaurant, drive-thru and outdoor patio” to be located at 441 Central Avenue.
