The Salina Design Review Board voted 3-0 to approve Certificate of Compatibility 25-15, allowing the City of Salina Engineering Division to redesign and reconstruct the parking lot serving the Temple at 336 South Santa Fe Avenue. The approved plan includes resurfacing, narrowed concrete entrances to provide deeper adjacent stalls, 12 landscape islands along the Seventh Street and Santa Fe frontages, six new light poles and pavement re-striping; the finished lot would provide 100 regular spaces and 4 ADA spaces for a total of 104 off‑street parking spaces.

Planning staff told the board the project is funded with money accumulated through the downtown STAR bond district and that the proposal retains the existing one‑way circulation pattern and orients stalls at a 45‑degree angle. “The proposed parking lot design conforms with the downtown design guidelines and Salina zoning ordinance,” a staff member said.

The filing for Certificate of Compatibility 25-15 was submitted July 10 on behalf of the City of Salina Engineering Division. Staff recounted site dimensions — about 250 feet deep east–west and about 160 feet along the South Seventh and South Santa Fe frontages — and the lot’s current context: Sonic Drive‑In to the north, South Santa Fe to the east, South Seventh to the west, and the Temple building to the south. The existing lot has 108 regular spaces plus four ADA spaces for 112 total; the redesigned layout would reduce that to 100 regular spaces plus four ADA spaces (104 total) while adding planting islands and lighting.

Under the city’s landscape regulations (Section 42‑65), parking lots with more than 50 spaces must provide islands equal to 5% of the paved area. Staff explained the lot is a preexisting, nonconforming parking facility constructed before the 1994 landscape rules; the project does not trigger the ordinance’s retrofit thresholds because the work does not exceed 50% of appraised value nor increase building gross floor area by more than 30 percent. As a result, the proposed interior islands are voluntary and not required by the code, although the project proposes 12 landscape islands along the public frontages.

Staff recommended approval subject to a condition that development services staff be notified if there are significant changes to the project so staff and the board can determine whether additional review is needed. There were no public comments at the meeting, and board members asked no substantive follow‑up questions before moving to a vote. A motion to approve the proposal based on staff suggestions and conditioned on notifying staff of significant changes passed 3‑0.

The board’s approval allows the engineering division to proceed with the specified exterior modifications; any materially altered scope will be returned to development services or the Design Review Board for further review.