Tim Hortons - and Those Timbits - On Their Way to Rochester Hills

Rochester Hills leaders this week approved a request from Tim Hortons to build a drive-through restaurant on the site of the former Dunkin' Donuts on Rochester Road.  

It will be the first Tim Hortons in Rochester Hills.

The request was a necessary step in the city: drive-through restaurants need a conditional land use permit from Rochester Hills City Council. 

The 1,334-square-foot restaurant will exist mainly as a drive-through; the maximum occupancy of the inside of the restaurant will be nine people.

Mark Kellenberger, a representative of Tim Hortons, said the size of the site, on Rochester Road south of downtown Rochester, lent itself to the smaller, drive-through model of the restaurant, which he called a "cafe." He said it will be open 24 hours and that a timer above the drive-through window will help guarantee that it will take only 25 seconds to get your donuts and coffee.

Resident Scot Beaton expressed his concerns about the restaurant's impact on traffic on that stretch of Rochester Road; he suggested the area be made into a "business speed district," where the speed could be lowered.

City Director of Planning and Development Ed Anzek said traffic engineers looked at the site and anticipate it will generate about the same amount of traffic as was generated by Dunkin' Donuts, which closed last year.

Tim Hortons started in Ontario in 1964. There are more than 3,000 locations in Canada and more than 700 across the United States. The nearest locations to Rochester Hills are on Opdyke Road in Auburn Hills and on Rochester Road in Troy.

Kellenberger said Tim Hortons was also pursuing "several sites in and around Rochester."