A new drive-through coffee shop and ice cream shop are in the works for a busy stretch of South Carolina Highway 160 near Tega Cay, following a first-reading vote by York County Council on Monday night that advanced a rezoning request for the roughly 1.8-acre site.
The two businesses would occupy a parcel at the intersection of Highway 160 and Vandor Springs Road, adjacent to an existing Goodwill store. While the applicant has not made a formal public announcement, planning staff confirmed during the April 6 council meeting that the proposed tenants are Dutch Brothers Coffee and an ice cream shop. The property would be divided to accommodate the two drive-through-centric operations, with the businesses sharing a single access point onto Highway 160 rather than creating multiple curb cuts on the already-busy corridor.
Dutch Brothers, the Oregon-based drive-through coffee chain that has rapidly expanded across the South in recent years, has developed a devoted following that sometimes generates lines stretching well beyond its properties. One York County Council member noted observing at least 15 vehicles backed onto Selenise Road waiting for Dutch Brothers at another nearby location just the evening before the council vote. “I can’t imagine that happening on 160,” the council member remarked, raising the traffic question as one the county will need to address before final approval.
What’s Being Requested
The rezoning request, Case 26-06, would move the 1.776-acre parcel from a Planned Development established in 2008 — part of the Stoneacres commercial and retail park that never fully developed — to General Commercial zoning, which is consistent with surrounding development along the Highway 160 corridor. The York County Planning Commission unanimously recommended approval, and planning staff concurred, noting the old PD designation holds the property to 2008 standards that no longer reflect modern commercial development requirements, including regulations for drive-through bypass lanes.
The application was submitted by Molly Kilpatrick, who represented the property owner before council. She said the site plan includes an eight-foot privacy fence and landscape buffer between the commercial property and the neighboring Fieldstone residential community, and a photometric lighting plan designed to ensure zero light spill across property lines. Access and driveway design are being coordinated with the South Carolina Department of Transportation, and the applicant is working to meet all SCDOT requirements for the Highway 160 entrance.
Monday’s vote was only the first of three required readings before any rezoning is finalized. Council members asked planning staff to return with answers to several outstanding questions before the second reading, including traffic impact data from Dutch Brothers locations at comparable sites, whether deceleration lanes should be required at the Highway 160 entrance, and confirmation that the proposed driveway meets minimum separation requirements from Goodwill’s existing curb cut immediately to the north.
Neighbors Raise Concerns
The announcement drew immediate pushback from residents of the Fieldstone community, whose townhomes directly border the rear of the proposed site.
Jacquelyn Alby, who lives at the end of Gentle Winds Court just steps from where the businesses would be built, told council she is opposed to any non-residential development on the property. She cited traffic congestion on Highway 160, potential food odors directed toward homes from exhaust fans, noise from drive-through operations, lighting pointed into the neighborhood at night, and concerns about trash management potentially attracting pests. “I don’t know if you guys would like to live in something like that,” she told council, “but I know my neighbors and I would not.”
Her neighbor Justin Murray offered a cautionary tale from the same community’s experience with the adjacent Goodwill. When that store was built, he said, residents were promised a fence and a tree buffer — promises that were kept on paper but resulted in the clearing of the existing tree line. “We see lights all day. That trash compactor from Goodwill runs all day,” he said. “I’m at the end of the street. It’s a nuisance.” He urged council to examine that history before approving another commercial neighbor and to ensure any buffer requirements are meaningful and enforceable.
Both residents acknowledged that growth along Highway 160 is inevitable but asked council to make protection of existing residents a genuine priority rather than an afterthought.
What Comes Next
Planning staff have committed to providing council with detailed traffic information, driveway separation measurements, and a comparison of buffer protections under GC versus the existing PD zoning before the second reading. Council members indicated they will want to see the traffic impact analysis for the site before final approval, and at least one member raised the possibility of requiring a deceleration lane on Highway 160 to prevent vehicles queuing into live traffic — a scenario that has played out at other Dutch Brothers locations in the region.
The rezoning still requires two additional readings before York County Council, meaning residents of Fieldstone and surrounding areas will have additional opportunities to weigh in before any decision becomes final. Those wishing to comment can attend future council meetings or contact York County Planning and Development Services directly.
If approved, the development would join a growing line of drive-through and retail uses along the Highway 160 corridor — one of the most heavily traveled commercial stretches in the Tega Cay and Lake Wylie area, where rapid residential growth in recent years has fueled steady demand for new dining and retail options.
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