Alpharetta planning commission recommends Seven Brew drive‑thru with conditions after traffic concerns

On April 2, 2026, the Alpharetta Planning Commission voted to recommend that City Council approve a conditional use permit and a variance allowing Seven Brew Coffee to operate a drive‑thru restaurant at 11378 State Bridge Road, subject to 14 staff‑recommended conditions and two staff edits to the conditions.

The project would convert a 0.7‑acre parcel containing a former medical office into a primarily drive‑thru coffee stand with a 510‑square‑foot primary building, two drive‑thru lanes and stacking space designed for 12 cars, and 10 on‑site parking spaces. Staff said the Unified Development Code requires six parking spaces for the use. The applicant requested a variance to reduce the front setback from 65 feet to 35 feet so the building can be placed between the street and the drive‑thru lanes.

Michael, the city planner who presented the item, told commissioners the applicant’s trip generation report projects 88 AM‑peak hour trips and 30 PM‑peak hour trips and that staff observed a comparable Seven Brew location in Johns Creek where the maximum observed queue during the AM peak totaled eight cars. David Moore, a franchisee with Piedmont Beverage Company, said the site’s expected daily traffic (358 trips referenced during the hearing) is similar to other stands the company operates.

Neighbors and some commissioners urged caution on traffic and access. Richard Warick, who identified himself as a resident at 3366 Carverton Lane and representing several adjacent parcel owners and the Shell station owner, opposed the application and presented photographs of morning congestion near the Kimell Bridge/State Bridge intersection. “When cars are coming here and they turn in, if there’s a car trying to come out … that car is going to turn. You can only get like one to two cars and then you’re blocking the intersection,” Warick said during public comment, urging denial on safety grounds.

Commissioners repeatedly asked whether the proposed exit and short distance to State Bridge Road could allow cars to back up onto the main road. George, the staff transportation representative, said the 50‑foot separation cited by a commissioner is a national minimum for certain driveway designs but acknowledged that the queue‑validation memo required by condition 11 is focused on drive‑thru storage length and would not by itself resolve every exit spacing concern. The motion approved by the commission included staff’s recommended condition requiring a supplemental vehicle queuing estimation memo at the land development permit stage to validate storage lengths.

Staff recommended approval subject to 14 conditions that cover: limiting the conditional use to Seven Brew Coffee only; a 510‑square‑foot building size cap; hours of operation (Sunday–Thursday 5:30 a.m.–10 p.m., Friday–Saturday 5:30 a.m.–11 p.m. as presented); a 35‑ft front setback; final design and DRB approval with no neon lighting; foundation and perimeter planting and a minimum 20‑ft landscape strip with a berm or knee wall to screen drive‑thru lanes; sidewalk and pedestrian lighting improvements (staff recommended changing an earlier streetscape requirement to a minimum five‑foot sidewalk); required “do not block the box” pavement markings at the drive‑thru exit; dumpster enclosure materials matching the building; and that outdoor drive‑thru speakers not be audible offsite. Staff also proposed adding the phrase “except as approved by staff” to the landscape condition to allow work around an existing sanitary sewer easement.

The applicant, represented by Alice Price, said the business model is drive‑thru focused but that a walk‑up window will be available and that the operator is willing to install pavement markings and coordinate queuing validation. “We don’t anticipate there being a huge number of cars stacking on a regular basis,” Price said, citing observations at other franchise locations where operations moved customers through the line quickly.

After deliberation — during which several commissioners said they were sympathetic to neighborhood concerns but would rely on staff and engineering review — an unnamed commissioner moved to approve the conditional use and variance with the staff conditions and the two edits to conditions 8 and 9 as read by staff; another commissioner seconded. The commission voted by voice/hand; the chair declared the motion carried. City Council will have final consideration of the application on April 27, 2026.

The commission record includes required follow‑up items that city staff expects to verify at the land development permit stage (including the queuing memo and final DRB review); commissioners asked the applicant to come to City Council prepared to address the congestion and exit‑spacing concerns raised by neighbors and by multiple commissioners.