Maitland has just three operating food and beverage drive-throughs, and the City Council voted Monday to keep a proposed Foxtail Coffee from becoming the fourth.
The council voted 5-0 on Aug. 24 to reject Ordinance 1460, which would have made room for a Foxtail drive-through and a separate PNC Bank drive-up ATM in the commercial portion of Sails of Trelago.
The three existing food and beverage drive-throughs are McDonald’s at 228 S. Orlando Ave., Starbucks at 131 S. Orlando Ave. and Dunkin’ at 1605 S. Orlando Ave.
That short list reflects years of city planning decisions intended to limit auto-oriented development, protect nearby residential neighborhoods and encourage customers to park and walk among businesses.
The city prohibited drive-throughs at Maitland Concourse North when it approved the development plan in 2013. The planned development adopted in 2016 called for a “human-scale, pedestrian-friendly village environment.”
Sails of Trelago is designed to accommodate 41 tenants with 154,000 square feet designated for retail and restaurant space and 150,000 square feet devoted to office space. The layout includes five buildings, including a stand-alone bank with a drive-through ATM. (Handout courtesy of Real Property Specialists)
Mayor John Lowndes said the same policy drove Monday’s decision.
“We want to make sure that people come here to stay,” Lowndes said. “We want to create a pedestrian-friendly environment where people aren’t dodging cars between buildings.”
One drive-through was a compromise
Developer Alan Charron, representing property owners Maitland Synergy LLC and Corkscrew LLC, previously sought as many as three drive-throughs on Lot 1, the commercial portion of Sails of Trelago on the north side of Maitland Boulevard.
Following neighborhood opposition and council negotiations, Charron’s team reduced the request to one drive-through establishment measuring no more than 5,000 square feet and located within the western 300 feet of the property. The council approved that compromise in a 3-2 vote in Feb. 2022.
The approval was not tied to a particular tenant, although the discussion centered on a coffee drive-through and the development plan showed a 2,562-square-foot drive-through building near Trelago Way.
Charron’s team later committed the drive-through entitlement to a PNC Bank building with a drive-up ATM. Applicant representatives said the bank has signed a 20-year lease. Monday’s vote did not affect that entitlement, so the drive-up ATM remains allowed under the existing plan, subject to any remaining city approvals.
An applicant exhibit shows the proposed location and design of PNC Bank’s drive-up ATM on Building 2 at Sails of Trelago. The ATM remains allowed under the project’s existing drive-through entitlement. (City of Maitland)
Foxtail subsequently expressed interest in leasing Building 4 for a coffee shop with a drive-through, prompting Charron’s team to request permission for a second drive-through at the site.
Ordinance 1460 would have allowed one general drive-through establishment and one separate drive-up ATM, with the two buildings limited to a combined 5,000 square feet. It also would have expanded the area where they could be located from the western 300 feet to the western 450 feet of the property.
An applicant site plan shows one proposed layout for the Foxtail Coffee drive-through at Sails of Trelago, with eight vehicle-stacking spaces between the pickup window and order station. (City of Maitland)
Community Development Director Michael Daniels said the earlier decision was intended to settle the debate over drive-throughs at the site.
“When you constantly … chip away at the requirement, it sort of takes away from the original intent of the policy, which was to require pedestrian-friendly uses at this location,” Daniels said.
Staff also said the proposed coffee drive-through lane would extend 50 feet closer to the Lake Faith residential neighborhood than the location previously approved.
Councilmember Bill Randolph said the developer was free to decide how to use the one drive-through the city allowed.
“The city gave them the one drive-through as a compromise when it was none at all,” Randolph said. “And how they used it, that’s their choice.”
Long-term concerns drove the denial
Meanwhile, Jonathan Martin of Kimley-Horn argued that a drive-up ATM should not be treated the same as a restaurant drive-through because customers would not place orders or wait for food.
Council members, however, questioned whether the coffee shop would always operate as a lower-volume Foxtail.
When Councilmember Scot French asked what assurances the city had that Foxtail would occupy the building, Martin said discussions with the company were solid, but a lease had not been signed.
“I don’t think that we can count on it to be a Foxtail forever,” Martin said.
Former Councilmember Vance Guthrie opposed the amendment Monday, telling the council that residents had initially been promised no drive-throughs at the property.
An aerial plan shows the commercial portion of Sails of Trelago on the north side of Maitland Boulevard between Trelago Way and Lake Faith Drive, near the Lake Faith residential neighborhood. (City of Maitland)
“What we were promised has already been pulled back from us,” Guthrie said. “That building’s going to be there for 40 years. What’s it going to be in 10 years? What’s it going to be in 15 years?”
Randolph moved to deny the ordinance, saying city promises to residents sometimes get “chipped away.” Councilmember Stephen Schoene seconded the motion, saying he was not inclined to depart from the development’s original philosophy.
French, Keith Givens, Randolph, Schoene and Lowndes voted unanimously for denial.
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