Planning Commission approves Clayton Road retail with variance denied for driveway

The City of Concord Planning Commission on Aug. 15 approved the Clayton Road Retail project at 4390 Clayton Road, granting a use permit for a 2,000‑square‑foot drive‑through restaurant, design and site review for a 2,250‑square‑foot multi‑tenant retail building, a tree removal permit for five protected trees and a minor exception to reduce required parking from 29 spaces to 27. The commission denied a requested variance to allow a 29‑foot driveway and maintain a one‑foot fire‑hydrant clearance; staff said the driveway can be widened to the 30‑foot minimum and the hydrant relocated as part of redevelopment.

Staff planner Scott Watkins told the commission the proposal responds to prior Design Review Board comments by offering two site layouts intended to orient the retail building toward Clayton Road and that staff would support the entitlements if the variance were denied and the driveway widened and hydrant relocated. Watkins said the project proposes designated employee parking and several conditions of approval, including limiting drive‑through hours to 7 a.m. to 10 p.m., requiring on‑site loading outside business hours, and returning the project to the Design Review Board for final landscaping and building architecture (condition of approval 18).

Aaron Elias of the city’s Transportation Division told commissioners the critical movement at the Bel Air–Clayton Road intersection already exceeds the city’s level‑of‑service criteria for the existing condition and that adding project trips increases delay for a key right‑turn movement; he said installing a traffic signal was infeasible due to proximity to another signal and that the transportation team judged the increase did not by itself warrant project denial. Elias and Watkins explained that the traffic modeling initially included an older, incorrect output for an adjacent driveway but that corrected modeling shows the project would add modest trips to an already constrained movement.

Commissioners pressed staff on parking and circulation. Staff said the applicant expects roughly 15–20 employees for the restaurant with 4–6 per shift and that bike‑parking requirements are triggered only for businesses with 25 or more employees. The planner noted the project provides stacking for about nine vehicles in the drive‑through lane and identified three on‑site turnaround spaces intended to prevent vehicles from backing onto Clayton Road.

Applicant project manager Courtney Fogel said the variance request had been submitted late in the review and that moving the hydrant would require coordination with the water district and fire department, an 8–10 week review for encroachment and road permit approvals, and additional roadwork. Fogel said the applicant has not identified tenants and understood tenant‑specific reviews may be required.

To increase transparency and oversight for future tenant changes, staff proposed and the commission adopted additional language to condition of approval 27 requiring individual email notice to each planning commissioner at least 10 days before any staff determination under that condition becomes final, and requiring the applicant to record a notice of that condition with the Contra Costa County Recorder’s Office. The commission also approved a monitoring mechanism (condition of approval 15) authorizing the transportation manager to require a queue‑management plan or other mitigation if, after six months, queues or adjacent‑street impacts exceed expectations.

Commissioner Acario moved to approve the project per the staff recommendation with the additional notice and recording language for COA 27; the motion was seconded and carried on a 3–2 vote. The motion approved the use permit, design and site review, tree removal and minor parking exception, and denied the driveway/hydrant variance.

The commission’s approval includes multiple conditions requiring final Design Review Board review of architecture and landscaping, relocation or mitigation of the fire hydrant to achieve the required 30‑foot throat, limits on drive‑through hours, and operational monitoring. The applicant must merge the two parcels into a single parcel as a condition of approval. If the restaurant’s queuing exceeds expectations in the first six months, the transportation manager can require additional measures or a queue‑management plan.