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 northerly property line to provide screening and noise abatement for adjacent residences.

Environmental consultant Sarah Spann of Stantec Consulting Services said the project’s air-quality appendix demonstrates the project’s emissions fall below South Coast Air Quality Management District thresholds. “The appendix to the report did clearly show that the emissions were below the stated thresholds,” Spann said, and that an apparent misreading of the initial study led to a question from AQMD that was addressed in the technical appendix.

Council members pressed staff and the applicant on neighborhood impacts. Councilwoman Vallejo asked whether anyone currently lived in the single-family home proposed for demolition; Perez relayed the applicant’s statement that no one was living there. Councilman Corona asked about notification; Perez said public notices and the CEQA document were circulated and no adjacent neighbor had submitted correspondence or appeared at the hearing.

Applicant Alabasi said his company has owned and operated the existing Chevron since 2008 and described roughly $20 million in planned investment in the upgraded, alternative-fuel facility. He also said the owner and project team met with nearby neighbors and that three adjoining neighbors had visited his office and voiced no objections.

After a public hearing with no outside speakers, Mayor Pro Tem Rab moved and Councilman Corona seconded introduction of the ordinance and approval of the modification. The motion passed 5-0. The vote constituted introduction of the ordinance and approval on first reading; the item will return for a second reading and final action at a later meeting.

Council and staff said they will work with the applicant on final canopy materials, color and other design conditions the Planning Commission recommended. The project record also includes a mitigated negative declaration (MND) and a mitigation monitoring and reporting program, both referenced by staff during the review.

The council recorded no changes to the project’s mitigation measures on the dais; the applicant confirmed he had reviewed and agreed to the conditions of approval before the motion was made and seconded.

Clarifying details from staff and the applicant in the hearing record: - Expansion site: 4063 Webster Avenue (behind the existing convenience store and fueling island). - Residential overlay (to offset the demolished home): portion of 855 West Markham Street; staff said that overlay area is outside the March Air Reserve Base APZ‑1 zone. - Fueling equipment: one canopy (CNG and diesel) with six dispensers on three islands; one canopy (hydrogen) with four dispensers on two islands; mechanical equipment enclosed within a walled enclosure; decorative masonry wall 8–12 feet tall with heavy landscaping for screening and noise abatement. - Environmental review: Planning Commission recommended adoption of the mitigated negative declaration (listed in the project record) and accompanying mitigation monitoring and reporting program. - Project financing/scale: applicant stated an approximate $20,000,000 investment in alternative-fuel infrastructure for the site.

The project record will return to the council for the second reading of the ordinance and final action. If adopted on second reading, the project will move forward subject to the conditions the council affirmed at introduction.