Barnstable Town Council Votes Down Starbucks Drive-Thru Plans

BARNSTABLE, MA — The Barnstable Town Council on Thursday turned down allowing developer Stuart Bornstein to put a Starbucks drive-thru window at the airport rotary.

The proposal would have seen Bornstein's company, Air View LCC put the drive-thru window in a new building at 451 and 467 Iyannough Road, next to Walgreens. The council voted 7-5 against the proposal.

Bornstein's attorney Michael Princi said the three-building, 6,000-sqaure-foot retail complex had no tenants when his client built it. He said Bornstein "showed foresight" by building two drive-thru windows, one of which already existed for Walgreens.

"There is kind of a new normal developing," Princi said. "People are still reluctant to go into establishments."

Planning Director Elizabeth Jenkins said the complex is located in the Hyannis Gateway Zoning District. That particular district forbids drive-thrus, so a waiver would have had to be granted by the council.

Air View offered to pay the town $100,000 for traffic mitigation, but most of the council said the proposal would make the traffic at an already busy area worse.

Precinct 7 Councilor Jessica Rapp, who voted against the proposal, said it was "presumptuous" for Bornstein to already have built the drive-thru. She said the traffic is already a problem along Route 28 and Iyannough Road and couldn't support a waiver for that reason.

Councilors that voted for the proposal included Eric Steinhilber, Nikolas Atsalis, Jeff Mendes, Paul Neary and Jennifer Cullum. They said the proposal would have relieved traffic at the Christmas Tree Plaza Starbucks at 655 Iyannough Road.