Atascadero planning panel approves sales-lot permit allowing existing 6-foot fence at East Front Street

The Atascadero Planning Commission on Nov. 4 approved a conditional use permit (USE-250060) for an outdoor sales lot selling prefabricated accessory structures at 97 East Front Street (APN 056-081-036), allowing the site’s existing 6-foot chain-link fence to remain and requiring a 10-foot landscaping buffer and other conditions of approval.

Planner Will Daniels told the commission the project occupies about 0.64 acres of a 1.97-acre parcel adjacent to the post office and a Chevron and was established without the entitlements required under the Atascadero Municipal Code. He said about 14,000 square feet of the site would be used for storage and roughly 7,000 square feet for loading, unloading and parking. Daniels said the code does not set a minimum parking requirement for this use and staff found the applicant’s proposal of four parking spaces plus one ADA-accessible space appropriate. The project also includes an ADA-accessible portable restroom and an ADA-accessible office, Daniels said.

The application requested two deviations from standard development rules: retaining the existing 6-foot chain-link fence along the East Front Street frontage instead of replacing it with the decorative 4-foot fence the staff recommended, and a screening modification in lieu of the code’s usual requirement for a 6-foot solid block wall along interior property lines. The municipal code allows chain-link screening only if it is vinyl-coated and accompanied by evergreen landscaping; staff recommended a decorative 4-foot frontage fence with additional security wire on the interior side and vinyl-coated chain link with planting for the interior screening.

Applicant Dallin Borboa urged the commission to allow a 6-foot fence for security, saying, “I’ve woken up transients in our sheds before,” and that permanent surveillance cameras are planned but currently cost-prohibitive. Adjacent building owner Ted Jacobson said the existing fence cost “over $5,000 to put up” and had reduced transient migration across the lot. Drew Lewis of California Meridian Insurance, a neighboring business, told the commission he and other nearby businesses support the project.

Commissioners discussed aesthetics, public safety and long-term maintenance. Staff clarified that if the applicant installs a new fence the municipal code requires it to be set back about 3 feet from the sidewalk as part of the 10-foot landscape buffer, but that trees and some landscaping could be planted even if the existing fence remained in its current location. Staff also told the commission the applicant was given six months to apply for required building permits for accessibility and parking upgrades and would have additional time after permit issuance to complete installations; staff recommended tying landscaping and fencing work to the building-permit process rather than relying on post-approval enforcement.

A commissioner moved to adopt the draft planning commission resolution approving the conditional use permit and making the findings that site characteristics make the required fencing or screening unnecessary or ineffective and that the existing fencing is consistent with neighborhood character and does not impair site distance for vehicular traffic. The motion, which allows the existing 6-foot chain-link fence to remain and includes the 10-foot landscaping buffer and the conditions in the resolution, was seconded and passed on a roll call vote, Keane—yes; Anderson—yes; Farrell—yes; Heath—yes; O’Malley—yes (5–0). Two commissioners were excused.

The permit runs with the land for sales lots of small accessory structures; staff said a separate conditional use permit would be required for materially different future uses that are not allowed uses under the municipal code. Conditions of approval include the findings in the resolution, required building permits for accessibility and parking work, and landscape standards for the 10-foot buffer. The resolution number and effective date were not specified on the record.

The commission’s planning manager also reported on the general plan process and said the city has received a preliminary application from Chick-fil-A that will return to the commission for review.