Blizzards are due to the north suburbs.
But these will come from a drive-thru window, as the East Bethel City Council on April 13 unanimously approved plans for a Dairy Queen in the city, including an amended planned unit development, site plan review, and preliminary and final plat.
The application was submitted by P. Magnus Inc. and EB Commercial LLC, City Planner Eric Johnson said. The restaurant will be built south of the city’s KwikTrip near the intersection of 187th Lane and Sand Hill Parkway NE.
The 2,554-square-foot restaurant will include a drive-thru, indoor and outdoor seating, and related site improvements.
The property is guided for mixed use in the city’s 2040 comprehensive plan and is zoned mixed use, making the proposal consistent with current zoning and land-use plans, Johnson said. The site had previously been planned for a daycare as part of the Elevage First Addition development and was included in a 2021 planned unit development agreement.
“When these are conceptualized, certainly it doesn’t lock anybody into one specific form,” Johnson said. “These are shown as representative only, and if you ever look back at these things in very small detail, that was shown, the possibility of a daycare, but certainly a commercial use was what it was intended for.”
The Planning Commission recommended approval March 24 following a public hearing.
The proposal would replat the property from Outlot B into Lot 1, Block 1, DQ East Bethel, Johnson said. He said the project is generally consistent with the city’s architectural standards, with the only requested deviations involving a signage package that would increase the maximum sign area from 144 square feet to 209 square feet, as well as the location of the freestanding sign.
Johnson said the development also includes final trail and sidewalk connections to the east that would be completed as part of the project.
Council Member Suzanne Erkel said she liked the larger sign because the restaurant would sit some distance from Highway 65 and otherwise could be hard to see.
“I’m still frustrated that I can’t see the gas prices at KwikTrip,” Erkel said. “And I’m excited because Dairy Queen is one of my favorite drive-thrus.”