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CP levies charges for coffee stand By Buffy Pollock CENTRAL POINT � As the first Dutch Bros. coffee stand was being established in Central Point on Thursday night, the City Council was trying to determine how much the new-to-town business would be charged. Specifically, the council was trying to fit the stand into a category so that it could be assessed a Systems Development Charge (SDC), the fees used by the city to maintain roads and utilities affected by the traffic such a business creates. Ty Sullivan, owner of the new stand on East Pine Street, says the city gave him a preliminary assessment of $4,100 in fees. After reviewing the situation, however, the City Council decided to group coffee stands in the same category with pharmacies and charge them $958.64. Sullivan will receive a refund for the difference. Sullivan also said he felt the council was fair in their decision. He said he had no problem paying his fair share of the fees, but felt with the increasing popularity of coffee stands like his, the city needed a specific formula to decide fees in the future, so there would be consistency. "I think they�re a good idea, but there should be some kind of formula," Sullivan said. With the council�s decision, Central Point becomes one of the first cities to place the popular drive-through stands in a specific category. Sullivan owns five coffee stands in Medford, but has never been charged an SDC because Medford considers the businesses non-permanent. Phoenix classifies them as general retail; Grants Pass used to charge them an SDC, but discontinued the assessment; Ashland only charges stands that existed before 1994; and Jacksonville doesn�t charge them at all. As for businesses outside city limits, the Jackson County does not require businesses of less than 5,000 square feet to pay such fees. At the council meeting, Mayor Phillip Walton said Central Point should consider the coffee stands a �permanent business� and they should be charged fees accordingly. Sullivan agreed his business was somewhat permanent, but said that he should pay less because he was unable to receive certain benefits of being a sit-down establishment, such as sewer and water. "By law," Sullivan said, "a mobile business must be able to pull away within 30 minutes, and I can do that." Alma Adamson, owner of the Koffee Klatsch, a coffee shop within a building on East Pine St., said she felt the coffee stands should have to pay what other permanent businesses do because they create "as much, if not more" traffic. "If they never move, they are permanent," Adamson said. "Sit-downs have to pay all these fees for licenses and street stuff. Why should I have to pay and they get to be considered temporary? I don�t want to put them down. I think it�s a wonderful idea, but it�s competition." Adamson approved of the council�s decision to charge the stands. Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2000 Mail Tribune, Inc.