Minnehaha Parkway Drive-Thru Controversies
Oct.21, 2007 in
Caribou Coffee, Minneapolis
The Minneapolis Issues List has a discussion going about the approval process for drive-thrus along Minnehaha Parkway. The two in question are the new Caribou at Minnehaha Parkway on Cedar vs the Dairy Queen on Minnehaha Ave across from Minnehaha Falls.
The DQ’s request to add a drive-thru was denied while Caribou’s was approved.
Apparently, the ‘bou spot was already zoned for a drive-thru, so that was a pretty simple decision. The DQ’s spot would need to be rezoned. And the city had problems with the pedestrian friendliness of adding a drive-thru at that spot, where pedestrians would have to dodge cars looping in and out with their sugar fix.
October 21st, 2007 at 8:49 pm
Apple Valley was recently talking about this as well. There was a request to change the zoning ordinances to allow drive-through service for small neighborhood restaurants (delis, coffee shops, etc) which are designated as not having a fryer and are not more than 1000 feet from residences.
October 21st, 2007 at 9:56 pm
Since I live almost exactly equidistant from each spot, I am quite familiar with the pedestrian/driving issues facing each site. The configuration is totally different and that DQ has several sidewalks and a traffic circle to contend with. The Caribou is on the other side of the parkway from the bike paths, and the access is off of Cedar, not the parkway. Both decisions seem logical and safe to me.
October 3rd, 2009 at 7:54 pm
[...] was quite a bit of debate a couple years ago regarding whether the new DQ should include a drive-thru. I don’t believe that was approved [...]