One of the first Northern Illinois Dutch Bros. drive-thru coffeeshops will open in Crystal Lake after the City Council unanimously approved plans for the business to move into a former bank building.

Developers are looking to construct a two-tenant building at 5999 Northwest Highway on about 1 acre that would be occupied by Dutch Bros Coffee and a LensCrafters or a similar medical retailer.

The site had previously been approved for a car wash, according to city documents.

With concerns over traffic and the “restrictive” size of the parcel, the Crystal Lake Planning and Zoning Commission voted against recommending the coffeeshop proposal in a 5-2 vote last month.

But Crystal Lake City Council members indicated they trust developers’ traffic mitigation plans, and are enthusiastic that the land will be reoccupied by something other than a car wash.

“I am deadset against any more car washes in this community, so I am pleased to see this,” Mayor Haig Haleblian said.

The plan, which needed a supermajority vote, passed unanimously by the Council Tuesday.

After the planning and zoning meeting, developers revised the Dutch Bros. building elevations by removing the blue tower and replacing it with a slate gray brick to match the rest of the building, according to city documents. Council members appreciated the change, with Haleblian calling the new look “more elegant.”

“This is the only market where I’ve been able to get Dutch Bros. in particular to move away from their blue coloring on the tower, and they’re doing that specifically because they want to be here and we’re trying to make this site work,” Core Acquisitions Vice President of Development Adam Bell said.

The Washington-based national coffeeshop chain has over 1,000 locations across the country, Bell said. Others are lined up elsewhere in the Northern Illinois area, including Oswego.

“This could be one of the first ones to break ground in the Chicago area,” Bell said.

Despite the small site, there will be plenty of space for car stacking, Bell said. The building is planned to be about 4,388 square feet, with Dutch Bros. being just over 1,300 square feet on the 1-acre site. The plan has room for 29 stacking cars and 29 parking spaces.

“Dutch Bros. does a tremendous job about managing traffic, especially during opening periods and peak periods,” Bell said.

The plan’s only access point is off Heritage Drive, but it connects to multiple streets, so city staff predicts there will not be a negative impact on traffic flow.

The city does not want to have an access point at Main Street, and the Illinois Department of Transportation would “never permit an access on Route 14,” Community Development Director Kathryn Cowlin said.

As identified in the city’s capital improvement project plan, a traffic light is planned to be installed at Liberty Road and Main Street at some point in the future, Cowlin said.

Farther east on Route 14, plans were just announced for another drive-thru coffeeshop in Cary at a former Burger King.