Committee keeps 7 Brew drive‑through application in committee, asks solicitor to tighten traffic and police‑detail language

The Urban Affairs Committee on Sept. 29 reviewed a special permit application by Boston Bruins LLC to operate a drive‑through‑only 7 Brew coffee shop at 2 Mount Royal Avenue and decided to keep the application in committee to allow staff and the applicant to craft specific conditions addressing traffic, police detail for openings and promotions, signage, noise and stormwater controls.

Attorney Christopher Flood introduced the applicant’s team; Nicholas Salison of Stonefield Engineering and Design represented the site plan and operation details. Flood and Salison presented the draft special permit and said they would incorporate management and engineering comments. Chair read department feedback that recommended added landscaping, drainage improvements, and stormwater measures to meet DEP standards.

Councilors pressed the applicant on hours, noise, and what happens during promotional events that draw large crowds. The applicant provided a proposed schedule and described operational mitigations; Salison supplied hours and said staff would limit menus at opening and can hire third‑party traffic managers for high‑demand events. "05:30AM to 10PM, Sunday through Thursday, and then 05:30AM to 11PM, Friday and Saturday," Salison said when asked for operating hours.

Because committee members feared promotional giveaways could produce large surges in cars that might back up onto Route 20 and the I‑495 ramp, they asked the solicitor to draft a condition, modeled on past special permits, requiring a police or approved traffic detail during an initial monitoring period (committee consensus favored 60 days for initial oversight, with police involvement on special events) and to clarify whether the detail must be city police or a private contractor if the department is unavailable. The solicitor will return a revised draft to the committee for review before the item is reported to the full council.