The public hearing on the proposed service station reconstruction project was continued to a future meeting at the end of the May 15 Planning Commission meeting. The proposal includes adding a convenience store to the gas station at PCH and 13th Street.
Planners voted unanimously to continue the hearing. Monday’s meeting lasted about 2 hours and 42 minutes. The majority of seats in the Chambers were filled with residents.
Planning Commissioners requested more information about traffic and noise impacts of the proposed project. Residents of 13th Street and other Seal Beach neighborhoods expressed concern about traffic, crime, noise, and the possibility that in the future the convenience store would include the sale of alcohol.
(None of the May 15 hearing requests from the applicant included a permit application to sell alcohol. Near the end of the meeting, city staff confirmed that if the property owner files such a request in the future, the permit would have to go through another public hearing before the Planning Commission.)
City staff originally recommended approval of the project.
There were several issues before the Planning Commission:
• A request for a conditional use permit to allow the reconstruction project.
• A request for variances from the city’s service station requirements.
• A request that planners recommend Zoning Code changes that can only be approved by the City Council: to change 328 13th Street from RHD-20 to GC, and to change the zone of 324 13th Street from RHD-20 to RHD-33. “This rezoning would effectively allow one more residential unit to be built by right at 324 13th Street and replace the lost capacity to build one residential unit at 328 13th Street,” according to the staff report by Planning Manager Shaun Temple.
• A request that the Planning Commission recommend that the City Council to amend the city’s General Plan to change 328 13th Street from Residential High-Density to General Commercial.
Before the public hearing began, District Three Commissioner Richard Coles said the air quality data was based on Anaheim. He expressed doubt about applying that model to Seal Beach. Coles also questioned the noise data. Coles said he didn’t know what time of day the sub-consultant took the measurements, what kind of equipment the consultant used, he didn’t know if the equipment was calibrated, and he didn’t know if the consultant was qualified, and he didn’t know what degree of accuracy the data had.
Later, Coles and District Five Commissioner Margo Wheeler both indicated they wanted more data. Wheeler specifically wanted more information about traffic specific to a gas station with a convenience store facing a state highway between two one-way streets.
Thirteenth Street residents raised concerns about traffic safety on the narrow one-way street, the possibility of increased crime, and expressed long term concerns about the proposed convenience store. Multiple individuals expressed concern that the convenience store would eventually become a 24-hour store and that eventually the convenience store would apply to sell alcohol.
“The hours of operation for the proposed convenience store would be limited from 6:00 a.m. to 12:00 a.m., and the applicant is not proposing the sale of alcohol,” Temple wrote in his staff report.
“Public Works reviewed the project and stated that signage should be posted on the 13th Street exit prohibiting a right hand turn onto 13th Street, which is a one way street that flows south,” Temple wrote.
Background
“G&M Oil Company, the owner of the Chevron gas station located on the southeast corner of the Pacific Coast Highway and 13th Street, is proposing to demolish the existing gas station and to reconstruct it,” Temple wrote in the staff report.
“The State of California, through Senate Bill (SB) 445 (enacted in 2014), is requiring that the underground single wall storage tanks of this site be dug up and replaced by the year 2025,” Temple wrote.
“The proposal includes removing five gas pumps (10 stations) and installing three new gas pumps (6 stations), thereby reducing the intensity of the gas service use. The existing kiosk station is proposed to be removed and replaced with a new 1,200 square foot convenience store,” Temple wrote.
“In order to accommodate the addition of a convenience store in place of the kiosk, the applicant is proposing to include the abutting property to the south, located at 328 13th Street, as part of the project site,” Temple wrote.
“This second parcel, also owned by the applicant, is currently developed as a seven-space parking lot. It is located in the RHD-20 zone and the residential high-density land use category of the General Plan. A zone change to General Commercial (GC) and General Plan amendment to change the land use category to general commercial would be required to use it as part of this project,” Temple wrote.
“However, SB 330, also known as the Housing Crisis Act of 2019, prohibits legislative actions that modify zones or zone standards which would effectively reduce the capacity to develop residential units that were previously allowed. Thus, to avoid the reduction of residential capacity by rezoning 328 13th Street from RHD-20 to GC, the applicant also proposes to upzone a third parcel that they own, the next abutting property to the south, located at 324 13th Street, from RHD-20 to RHD-33,” Temple wrote.
“This third parcel is developed as a single-family residence. This rezoning would effectively allow one more residential unit to be built by right at 324 13th Street and replace the lost capacity to build one residential unit at 328 13th Street,” Temple wrote.
According to the city staff report, service stations are allowed but because Old Town lots are small, the project site is smaller than current Seal Beach zoning standards allow. According to the report, a zoning variance would be required.
The convenience store would have seven parking spaces, according to the staff report. According to the city staff report that is four more than required.
