Council approves first reading for Chevron fueling-station expansion including CNG and hydrogen dispensers

The City Council on March 25 voted 5-0 to introduce the first reading of an ordinance and approve a major modification allowing a 0.98-acre expansion of the Chevron fueling station at 796 Ramona Expressway in the Perris Valley Commerce Center specific plan.

The expansion application would reclassify 0.94 acres from residential to commercial for the fueling expansion and apply a residential overlay to a separate parcel at 855 West Markham Street to “offset the loss of a single-family residence,” senior planner Nathan Perez said during the hearing. Perez said the Planning Commission recommended adoption of a mitigated negative declaration and approval of the requested entitlements, subject to conditions.

The project applicant, Morwan Alabasi, told the council the site will include a compressed natural gas and diesel canopy with six dispensers on three islands and a separate hydrogen fueling canopy with four dispensers on two islands. Perez and the applicant said mechanical equipment for CNG and hydrogen would be enclosed, and an 8-to-12-foot decorative masonry wall with heavy landscaping would be placed along the…