Can’t get through the day without an Iced Toasted Vanilla Oat Shaken Espresso?*
Take heart. Seattle-based Starbucks, the biggest multinational coffee chain in the world, with over 33,833 stores in 80 countries, is setting up shop in Warman.
Warman City Council voted at its April 25 meeting to approve the plan for a proposed subdivision at 110-920 Centennial Boulevard. The property will be the site of a Starbucks restaurant, according to documents tabled at the council meeting by the city’s planning department.
The Warman Starbucks is one of 300 new locations for the company that feature a “convenience-led” format with drive-through and curbside pickup, as well as a dining area. The recent expansion of drive-through locations comes after the company shut down about 400 coffee house-style restaurants in the United States and Canada during late 2020 and early 2021.
The entrance to, and exit from, the new Starbucks location will be off Pebble Beach Boulevard via a driveway shared with the adjacent McDonalds restaurant.
Construction on the Starbucks will begin this spring, with the restaurant expected to be open for business in the fall.
The intersection of Pebble Beach and Centennial Boulevard is already a magnet for morning commuters looking for their caffeine fix from the existing Tim Hortons and McDonalds drive-throughs at that location.
*This is not a made-up name.
PRAIRIE OASIS PARK CONCESSION CONTRACT
Warman City Council voted at its April 25 meeting to award a one-year contract to Happy Heifer Ice Cream Company to lease the concession building in Prairie Oasis Park. The small building, which at one time was the main post office in Warman before it was moved to its present location, is situated between the softball diamonds in the central area of the park.
Happy Heifer operated an ice cream stand during the summer of 2021 adjacent to Zak’s Home Hardware in Warman.
The ice-cream company is relocating to the concession building in Prairie Oasis Park this summer, and will sell cold drinks, ice cream, and snacks. It will not sell items like burgers and french fries. The concession building has coolers but no cooking facilities. The concession building also has washroom facilities for the public.
TRAFFIC ASSESSMENT
Council also voted at its April 25 meeting to award a $15,500 contract to Stantec Consulting to conduct a traffic safety study on three intersections in the Traditions neighbourhood. The intersections include: 1st Avenue and Clubhouse Boulevard; 1st Avenue and August Boulevard; and Augusta Boulevard and Centennial Boulevard.
The study will focus on pedestrian safety and traffic congestion on the roadways leading to and from Traditions Elementary School and Holy Trinity School. Council has been wrestling with the problem of periodic traffic congestion at the intersection of 1st Avenue and Clubhouse Boulevard since the schools opened.
While work on the Augusta Boulevard extension west of Centennial Boulevard that will eventually connect to 1st Avenue was begun last year, it was not completed as expected last fall. It is slated to be finished this summer.
The traffic study, however, will be undertaken before the present school year ends in an effort to collect traffic data during peak periods. The consulting firm will make traffic projections based on computer modelling for the as-yet uncompleted intersections.
The traffic count study will be done in May with a final report completed six weeks after the data is collected.