Olive Garden will soon be coming to Blue Springs.
“I am excited about this,” said Blue Springs Planning Commission member Alan Franklin. “This is going to be a very nice facility.”
The Planning Commission approved the site plan for Olive Garden at Monday’s meeting.
The Italian restaurant chain will be to the west of Adams Dairy Parkway on Coronado Drive, across the street from Home Depot. The 7,440-square-foot building will seat 246 people and will be constructed in the Tuscan farmhouse-concept that is new to Olive Garden. Only one of these newer-style restaurants, in Liberty, has been constructed in the Kansas City area.
The restaurant, which is set to open sometime next year, will join the Independence and Liberty location as well as others in Kansas City and Overland Park, Kan.
“I think this building is very nice,” said commission member Susan Culpepper. “I like to see the variety in the buildings, and I think this new concept will appeal to a lot of people.”
The commission also approved revisions to the site plan for Adams Dairy Landing, specifically for the line of shops east of Kohl’s. The shopping center is on the east side of Adams Dairy Parkway, across from Home Depot.
The buildings in the revised plan have been reconfigured in order to address the need of potential clients as they come into the shopping center.
One building has been reconfigured for multiple tenants to accommodate a single tenant while another building has been reconfigured to allow for two or more tenants.
James Holley, assistant director for community development, said the reason for the changes is due to potential tenants changing from what was previously planned.
Although, no new tenants were announced, there was some discussion among commission members over the color purple on one of the proposed signs.
“I have no problem with purple,” Culpepper said. “But when I look at these plans it is very ‘in your face.’ It doesn’t work with the rest of the project.”
Planning Commissioner James May disagreed, saying the color choice is a personal preference.
“It comes down to the fact that it is their (a potential tenant) brand, so either you want the tenant or you don’t,” he said. “It is still aesthetically correct to that building.”
