Mooresville board approves three variances for proposed drive‑through coffee shop on South Indiana

The Mooresville Board of Zoning Appeals voted March 12 to grant three variances for a proposed drive‑through coffee shop at South Indiana (case 25‑162), with each approval made contingent on the Planning Commission’s approval of a lot division.

Bill Terry, who identified himself as the applicant’s representative, told the board the proposal is a drive‑through coffee shop with no indoor seating and seven off‑site parking stalls for employees. “We are here for 3 variances,” Terry said, listing a reduced building size, a frontage encroachment and increased lot coverage. He said the project would convert some existing asphalt to grass, reducing on‑site impervious area in parts of the lot.

The board considered each variance separately. On the first, members approved reducing the local ordinance minimum building size cited by the chair (described during the meeting as 1,200 square feet) to 758 square feet for this project, contingent on Planning Commission approval to divide the parcel. The chair framed the motion around the planning division: the approval depends on the lot being split as proposed.

On lot coverage, the chair noted the ordinance allows a maximum of 45% coverage while the plan before the board showed roughly 83% after construction. The board approved a variance increasing the lot‑coverage limit to 83% for this project, again contingent on the Planning Commission’s lot‑division approval.

For the third variance, the board considered a request to reduce the front setback by 7 feet (from the 40‑foot figure referenced at the meeting to about 33 feet). The board approved that reduction as well; during the vote one board member stated opposition. The approvals were recorded as contingent approvals tied to the Planning Commission’s action to divide the parking lot into a separate parcel.

Chair opened the meeting and the board also approved minutes from the December 2025 meeting and voted to keep the same officers for 2026 before taking up the variance case.

Next steps: each variance approval is contingent on the Planning Commission approving the proposed lot division; the board did not record detailed roll‑call tallies in the transcript beyond a single stated opposition on the front‑setback vote.