Not long after approving a tiny Biggby Coffee location on Willowcreek Road, the Portage Board of Zoning Appeals approved a Starbucks location across from City Hall.
The Starbucks will be on land sold by the city. The city’s utilities office used to be located there. The clerk-treasurer’s office now handles billing for that service.
Mayor Austin Bonta testified in favor of the request by Deerfield, Illinois-based Core Ventures to build the Starbucks. He spoke in his capacity as president of the city’s Redevelopment Commission.
The process of selling the property began with former Mayor Sue Lynch’s administration, but Bonta is fully caffeinated for it.
The Starbucks will be close to Portage Public Library and the new library garden built at the site of the former police station.
“I just think it’s going to look so appropriate,” Bonta said.
Entrance to the new coffee joint will be on Lois and Irving streets, not Central Avenue, to facilitate traffic flow. During the COVID-19 pandemic, coffee drinkers discovered the drive-through is faster and more efficient, so this design allows for more cars to line up, said Adam Bell, director of development for Core Ventures.
Bell said the tenant is excited to open that location, which will look similar to the one on U.S. 6, and has signed a long-term lease.
The Biggby Coffee location will be at the intersection of Willowcreek and Sunrise Avenue.
The Board of Zoning Appeals also gave its blessing for Belle Tire to open a store on the north side of U.S. 6, across from the Aldi grocery store on U.S. 6.
“We did a long, slow dance with Belle Tire and the city of Portage,” said attorney Todd Leeth, representing KAAP Properties. The company hopes to create a project on about 16.5 acres where Belle Tire is the anchor. Belle Tire would use 2 acres of the property.
Similar uses are nearby, Leeth noted.
An auto service center isn’t technically a permitted use, but it’s one of the seven listed special exceptions allowed for that parcel, which was rezoned two years ago, he said.
“There’s 18,000 vehicle trips per day past this site, so it’s a well-traveled property,” Leeth said. Because there’s a median on that stretch of U.S. 6, vehicles will have to turn right to enter the property and turn right to exit.
A full site plan can now be developed for the property.
The board also allowed a second residence at 2428 Dombey Road, reasoning that it predates the city’s zoning laws.
“We just want to keep our family still there,” Mercedes Pomales said.
Portage Ace Hardware also gave its blessing to keeping U-Haul vehicles in the parking lot, as long as it’s no more than six of them and none is longer than 15 feet.
Doug Ross is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.
