Planning Commission Approves Caribou Coffee Site Plans

At their June 7 meeting, the Oakdale Planning Commission made a motion to approve variance and site plans for a new Caribou Coffee shop. If the Oakdale City Council approves the plans, the coffee shop will take the place of the vacant Kwik Stop gas station located at the busy intersection of Century Avenue and Highway 36.

But the planning commission’s decision didn’t come without dissent from local business owners.

Bill Berger, owner of Gateway Cycle, a neighboring store, thinks that adding a Caribou Coffee along Highway 36 will cause too many traffic issues.

“By 11 a.m., cars are backed up all the way to 50th Street,” Berger said during the planning commission meeting. “We hear so many screeching tires all the time. People driving north on Highway 120 are flying around the bend.”

Lars Carlson, manager of the nearby Salvation Army, shared the same concern. “Adding this Caribou is going to make this intersection less desirable because of the congestion it will bring,” Carlson said. “Just the other day there was an accident at Century Avenue and [Highway] 36. This store is going to cause added confusion.”

Whitney Ridlon, Oakdale’s city planner, said that a traffic study was completed to assess potential traffic issues.

“The study found that traffic generated by a new Caribou Coffee would not adversely impact the roadway network,” Ridlon said, adding that the traffic engineer assessed traffic during a rainy morning between 7 a.m. and 9 a.m.

The Minnesota Department of Transportation also reviewed the site plan and gave it a stamp of approval, noting that southerly access to the site should be closed for safety reasons.

Don Wozniak and Paul Maenner of MW Development agreed to create one entrance and one exit point within the site plan. Drivers would enter the property, turn right and proceed through the drive through lane, park and enter the coffee shop, or exit in the emergency bypass lane.

“Circulation would be set up in a one-way traffic flow,” Ridlon said. “Additionally, lanes would be marked as drivers exit the property, so they can see what lane will be used for a right or left turn out of the site.”

Planning Commission Chair Peter Wetzels shared concerns about safety, but said that if two traffic professionals approved the location, he has to trust them.

“We had a traffic study done, the department of transportation said it is safe, I can’t argue with that,” Wetzels said. “We are not the traffic experts.”

Both Carlson and Berger plan on attending the City Council meeting to voice their concerns.