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Planning Commission approves Lafayette Auto Body exterior spray booth at 3291 Mount Diablo Blvd.
Summary
The Planning Commission approved a land‑use permit and design review to remove an interior spray booth and install a 582‑sq‑ft prefabricated exterior spray booth and mixing room for Lafayette Auto Body; staff found the project consistent with the downtown specific plan and exempt from CEQA.
The Lafayette Planning Commission on Sept. 16 approved a land‑use permit and downtown design‑review application for an exterior spray booth and mixing room at 3291 Mount Diablo Boulevard that will serve Lafayette Auto Body.
Assistant Planner Nicole Zittel presented the proposal, describing a plan to remove the existing interior spray booth and install a 582‑square‑foot prefabricated spray booth and mixing room in the southeast corner of the parcel. Zittel said the site meets the required 13 parking spaces, would keep the current hours of operation and employee levels unchanged, and that the applicant provided a Bay Area Air Quality Management District permit to operate the spray booth.
Zittel told commissioners the project is in the East End District of the downtown specific plan, which allows auto‑related services, and concluded that the “proposal is a small expansion of the existing permitted use” and is “environmentally superior to the existing spray booth,” noting reduced overspray. She said adjacent properties — including the Lafayette Park Hotel and Spa to the east and Tailhaven Hotel and Day Lounge to the west — submitted letters of support and that referral agencies returned only standard comments from East Bay Municipal Utility District and Central Sanitation.
The applicant (the current owner of Lafayette Auto Body) told the commission the business was purchased in October 2023 and that the new booth will let them “update it, upgrade it, and … keep doing what we do.” The applicant said the exterior booth “would only operate when a car was being painted and would not be in constant operation.”
Commissioners asked whether any trees would be removed; staff confirmed no trees on the subject parcel were proposed for removal and that the trees providing screening were on the neighboring Lafayette Highlands Apartments parcel. Commissioners also noted and appreciated the three letters of support from direct neighbors.
Commissioner Heising moved to find the project exempt from CEQA and to adopt Planning Commission Resolution 2024‑09 approving the project subject to standard conditions; the motion was seconded (second not specified in the record) and passed on an affirmative voice vote. The commission chair noted a 14‑day appeal period for the decision.
The approved project replaces an interior spray booth the applicant said could not be modified because of age and insufficient internal height, adds a detached prefabricated mixing room and spray booth to improve operations and environmental controls, and maintains existing parking, hours and staffing. Staff recommended approval on the basis of consistency with the downtown specific plan, neighborhood support, agency referral comments, and the Bay Area Air Quality Management District operating permit.
