Garfield Township planning commissioners Wednesday approved plans for Two Brothers Dog Park Cafe and Taphouse to open its doors at the Cherryland Center, with construction on the buildout set to begin next month ahead of a targeted summer opening. Planning commissioners also approved an updated comprehensive development plan for the Cherryland Center that will guide parking, signage, stormwater management, and cross-access drives as the site continues to be developed.

Two Brothers Dog Park Cafe and Taphouse is planned to go in the back of the former Younkers building at the Cherryland Center. The business will occupy 7,000 square feet of the 47,900 square-foot building, including food and drink service areas. In addition to the indoor space, a proposed outdoor dog park will occupy approximately 6,000 square feet of the current parking area. No other uses are being proposed for the Younkers building at this time.

Two Brothers will be a “member-driven establishment” offering a “safe and engaging space for dogs and their parents,” according to the company’s application, with indoor and outdoor off-leash areas, doggy daycare/training/grooming services, local beer/wine/cider/mead, coffee drinks and food, live events and activities, and more. The outdoor yard’s extension into the parking area will expand the building’s footprint and require some outdoor infrastructure and reconstruction work.

Planning commissioners were primarily concerned about the impacts of the outdoor dog park area on the surrounding neighborhood. They added a condition to their approval that bans any amplified music outside after seeing a space designated for a stage on the site plan. Two Brothers representatives said they were fine with that condition, as they only plan to have acoustic music and don’t want to spook the dogs on-site nor disturb neighbors with loud music. Two Brothers also can’t operate any earlier than 9am or later than 9pm outdoors, though the indoor area can be open earlier for doggy daycare drop-offs.

The business model is a new one to Garfield Township, though a similar dog-friendly pub exists in Blair Township at K&A Hop Dogs. “While a dog park is not clearly defined in the zoning ordinance, staff is considering that portion of the project to be defined as a recreational facility,” staff wrote in a memo to planning commissioners. “Approximately 260 square feet of the indoor portion of the facility is proposed for kennel and grooming services. It is assumed that these uses are minor in nature and accessory to the proposed primary uses. Bar and restaurant, without drive-through, and recreational facility are uses permitted by right in the C-P (Planned Shopping Center) district.”

Some planning commissioners said they were initially skeptical of the business concept, with Molly Agostinelli saying it seemed “crazy” to her. However, several people expressed excitement about the project to her, she said. Planning Commissioner John Racine had similar feedback after his concerns about issues like sound, hours of operation, fencing, and addressing dog waste management through the county’s Environmental Health department were attached as conditions to the project approval. “I thought this was going to be a disaster,” he said wryly, adding however that he later found examples of many similar dog park cafes and bars operating successfully in urban areas. “It looks like it’s doable,” he said.

Neighboring businesses also offered support. Traverse City Philharmonic Executive Director Dr. Kedrik Merwin said in an email shared with planning commissioners that his organization would welcome Two Brothers as a new neighbor. “As a family-oriented organization, we would be delighted to welcome another business to the complex that would extend the family to our pets,” he wrote. He added that Two Brothers needn’t be worried “about any sound from pets – we have put a lot of soundproofing in our buildout and at this point aren’t even hearing airplanes as they go overhead.” Lowell Gruman of the CLEAR Center (former Kmart), which houses the Traverse City Curling Club and TC Phil, also recently told The Ticker the facility would “welcome Two Brothers. It’d great to increase the foot traffic and have more revitalization and renewal activity at the mall.”

Township planning commissioners previously delayed review of Two Brothers’ application by several months as they worked with three different entities that own various parts of the Cherryland Center to create a new plan to guide overall mall growth. As numerous uses have come online in recent years – including the CLEAR Center, K1 Speed, multiple drive-thru coffee shops, hair salon TC Man Cave, restaurant Taquiera Las Lagunas, and a theater space for Mashup Rock & Roll Musical – township officials requested that mall owners modernize their mall plan to guide any further redevelopment of the property in a cohesive way.

Planning commissioners approved that plan Wednesday, paving the way for Two Brothers to be reviewed and approved later at the same meeting. Township Planning Director John Sych said the comprehensive development plan provides a “baseline” of current mall conditions and outlines standards for signage, parking, cross-access routes, stormwater management, and more. Sych said the plan ensures a “good flow of and access for the various uses” that already exist at the Cherryland Center, and will also be used to evaluated any “future uses or future developments” that emerge at the mall property going forward.