Plans approved to move Subway

Plans were finalized Thursday for a restaurant located inside the Cloverdale Travel Plaza to move from its current location.

The Subway restaurant had recently cited a desire to be a free-standing entity and on Thursday, the Cloverdale Plan Commission granted its wishes via a 5-0 vote.

Civil Engineering Consultant President Garth Hughes, along with the co-owners of the Travel Plaza met with the Plan Commission Thursday, providing final plans for the move. The owners approached the commission in December with plans to move the deli restaurant outside near U.S. 231.

The design of the building was approved by the commission in December, but the board had expressed some concern.

The plans called for the restaurant to be placed in the ravine next to the hill in front of the travel plaza, located off U.S. 231.

However, several officials and board members were concerned regarding semi-truck traffic entering and exiting the plaza.

In addition, Cloverdale Building Inspector Mark Cassida had expressed his desire to see another fire exit for the building.

On Thursday, Hughes and the owners of the plaza presented the finalized plans.

"I don't see a problem with that," Plan Commission President Jerry Acrea said.

Law enforcement officials had also expressed concern regarding parking in the plaza, which had been altered in the final plans, Hughes told the commission Thursday. Hughes added that 32 parking spaces will be available in the plaza following construction.

However, Hughes said he did not change the size of the drive thru on the plans, another concern from the original plans. Hughes told the board Thursday that he was asked to change the size so that a fire truck could fit through. However, he said a standard drive thru was close to 12-feet wide, while the one he had designed for the restaurant was 16-feet wide.

The building will be constructed using brick and EIFS, a synthetic stucco, Hughes said.

"That will make a good looking building," board member Dennis Padgett said.

Padgett also asked why the owners wanted to move the restaurant out of the truckstop, wondering if it was losing money. The owners said the restaurant wanted to stand on its own and wanted to be a non-smoking building.

"A lot of people don't want to go inside (because of smoking in the truck stop)," said co-owner Harb Bains.

Meanwhile, the board heard a proposal from Clay County Rural Telephone Cooperative representative Michael East regarding the company adding an additional building to its current location, 2 Southwest St., Cloverdale.

East informed the board that the company's plans had not yet met state approval so the board could not vote on the issue.

He told the board Thursday that once state approval was met, the company would seek building permits from the town. East said he was at the meeting Thursday to show the commission the plans for the construction.

The plan commission meets regularly on the first Thursday of each month. Its next meeting is scheduled for 7 p.m., March 1.