The Lafayette Planning Commission on Thursday continued, to a future meeting, consideration of a land-use permit that would allow a Circle K convenience store to occupy a vacant commercial space at 3667 Mount Diablo Boulevard.

The commission voted 3-1 to continue the item to the May 6 hearing and asked staff to return with both a resolution approving the project (with conditions) and a resolution denying it, giving commissioners further time to weigh competing concerns about parking, deliveries and the store’s ADA access arrangements.

Staff presentation and project scope

Anna, the project planner, told the commission the application is a land use permit to allow a conditional convenience market use in a 2,066-square-foot street-level space currently configured as an office. "This is a land use permit to allow the conditional use of a convenience market activity at an existing commercial building at 3667 Mount Diablo Boulevard," she said.

The applicant proposes operating hours of 5 a.m. to 1 a.m., two employees per shift, off-site alcohol sales (pending any required ABC license), four bike parking spaces at the front, and an ADA lift at the rear to connect employee/delivery parking with street level. The site is in the West End commercial district and is within a half mile of the Lafayette BART station.

Why the decision matters

Commissioners and nearby business owners said the project’s traffic and parking effects are the key issues. Staff and the applicant noted that state law (Assembly Bill 2097) limits a city’s ability to require minimum off-street parking for new uses within a half-mile of high-quality transit, which staff said applies here because of proximity to BART. That state rule was central to commissioners’ debate about whether the city can or should require more on-site parking.

Public comment and competitors’ concerns

Bill McGrath, who identified himself as a member of the family that owns the neighboring Diamond K business, urged the commission to deny the permit. "The bottom line is this is the wrong location for a convenience store," McGrath said, citing a concern that the store would push dozens of daily customer trips onto public curb spaces that Diamond K uses.

Staff, applicant responses

Anna said the project’s traffic study estimated up to about 50 net new trips in the morning peak hour and 39 net new trips in the afternoon peak hour and concluded impacts at nearby intersections would be less than significant. She also noted the city’s Mount Diablo surface-seal project would establish three angled public parking spaces and one accessible angled space in front of the building; those curb spaces are in the public right of way and would not be reserved for the store.

Architect Mufen Ebrahim, representing the applicant, told commissioners he expects most customers to arrive on foot from nearby residences and downtown. "The majority of the customer that gonna come to this proposed Circle K, they're gonna be pedestrian," Ebrahim said, and he added the applicant seeks short-duration curb parking (he proposed 10‑minute meters) and said deliveries would be staged in the rear lot.

Key points of contention

Parking: Commissioners and the public debated how many vehicles will seek the curb spaces and whether on-street angled parking will function safely with bicycles and delivery activity. Staff noted the rear lot has about 25–27 spaces (two designated ADA/EV in prior counting), but the applicant and staff said the public-right-of-way curb spaces cannot be reserved for store customers.

Deliveries and enforcement: Staff recommended limiting delivery hours and posting signage directing delivery drivers to park in the rear lot; one condition staff proposed would limit deliveries to 7 a.m.–7 p.m. Several commissioners and the neighboring business owner questioned how effectively the city can prevent or enforce double-parking by delivery trucks.

ADA access: The applicant proposes a rear lift to connect employee parking to the store; the commission asked whether the lift is sufficient for emergency egress and for employees who use wheelchairs if the lift is inoperable. The applicant said the adjacent office building (owned by the same property owner) has an elevator that could be used in an outage; staff said code requirements and fire-district review would apply.

Regulatory and procedural notes

Staff recommended that the commission find the project exempt from CEQA and adopt Resolution 2024-03 approving the land-use permit subject to conditions. Commissioner Haising moved to approve the staff recommendation with additional suggested conditions (including window tinting restrictions, limiting trash staging to after hours, and signage prohibiting certain turns from the driveway); that motion failed on a 3–1 vote (Commissioner Haising voted yes; Commissioners Mason, Radnich and Chair LaBonge voted no).

Outcome and next steps

After additional deliberation the commission voted 3–1 to continue the item to May 6 and asked staff to prepare both an approval resolution (with conditions) and a denial resolution for the commission’s consideration. The commission recorded that, absent a majority vote in favor of approval, the project would remain unapproved; the continuation gives the applicant and the neighboring parties additional time to negotiate potential mitigations.

What remains unresolved

The commission did not adopt the staff’s approval resolution and did not finalize conditions. Outstanding issues that staff will return with at the continued hearing include the precise hours of operation, whether and how the city can or will require signage limiting driveway maneuvers, parking-meter timing and enforcement, delivery-hour limits and enforcement language, language about window/tinting and storefront advertising, and how to ensure reliable ADA access if the rear lift fails.

The commission’s next formal opportunity to act on the item will be May 6, when staff has been asked to present both an approval and denial resolution and any additional proposed conditions or materials the parties supply.