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Taft planning commissioners approve 6,500-square-foot warehouse at 1333 Kern Street
Summary
The City of Taft Planning Commission on March 19 approved a site plan review to add a 6,500-square-foot warehouse for General Production Services at 1333 Kern Street, finding the project exempt from CEQA under the guideline cited in the staff report. The facility will use existing site access and parking.
The City of Taft Planning Commission on March 19 approved a site plan review to construct a 6,500-square-foot warehouse for General Production Services at 1333 Kern Street, voting 3-0 to adopt a resolution and finding the project exempt from the California Environmental Quality Act as described in the staff report.
The warehouse will be located on a 1.47-acre parcel within the Industrial 1 Zone District at the GPS headquarters site. According to staff presentation materials, the GPS headquarters currently contains 21,526 square feet of existing office, shop and warehouse space that supports local oil and gas industry operations; the new building is sited in the southeast corner of the eastern half of the facility behind existing service and warehouse buildings. The applicant and staff said the new building will be used only for storage of equipment and materials; there are no proposed tenant improvements for office or shop use.
Staff told the commission the project has two access points: direct access to Current Street (Highway 33) via the main driveway that serves the GPS site and a secondary access to the south via Wade Avenue. The staff report states the project complies with local development standards for the industrial district and with the local parking requirement in the TAB zoning ordinance, Chapter 14, Table 14A, which requires one parking space per 1,000 square feet of warehouse area. The 6,500-square-foot warehouse therefore required a minimum of seven parking spaces; combined with the existing GPS buildings the total required parking is 45 spaces with two accessible spaces, and staff reported the facility currently has 46 parking spaces on site.
In the staff presentation, planning staff noted the CEQA determination: "it's exempt from CEQA set forth in section 15,301 of the CEQA guidelines related to existing facilities," and the resolution, aerial map and schematic plans were attached to the staff report. The applicant provided colored samples for proposed building colors and noted an exterior overhang shown on plans intended to provide shade at exterior doors. The applicant’s representative, Joseph Engel, said the color samples printed from the metal building manufacturer's website did not look accurate in black-and-white packet copies and that he brought colored samples to match existing on-site buildings.
No members of the public registered other comments during the public hearing; the applicant spoke on behalf of the owner. After closing the public hearing, a motion to adopt the resolution approving Site Plan Review (as listed in the motion) and to make the CEQA finding carried on a three-zero vote with excused absences. Commissioners voting yes were recorded as Commissioner Dowden, Commissioner Johnson and Chairman Livingston; Vice Chairman Churches was noted as out of town and Commissioner Orange was absent.
The approved staff materials attached to the resolution include the project plans and an aerial map. The staff report indicates no new tenant restrooms or tenant improvements are proposed for the warehouse and that no additional lighting was proposed beyond existing site lighting, though the applicant or owner could add lighting later subject to applicable standards.
The Planning Commission’s action was limited to adoption of the site plan review resolution and the CEQA finding as presented in the staff packet; no additional conditions or amendments were recorded in the meeting minutes.
