Planning commission approves Retro Junkie patio and on-site food truck with lighting condition

The Walnut Creek City Planning Commission voted unanimously to approve Retro Junkie’s special use permit and design review (Application Y24-027) to add roughly 1,200 square feet of outdoor patio space and allow one on-site food truck at 2112 North Main Street.

Assistant planner Gerardo Victoria told commissioners the project is in the North Downtown specific plan and noted that food trucks are permitted with a special use permit. Victoria told the commission the proposal keeps the business’s current interior hours and plans food truck hours Tuesday through Saturday from 6 p.m. to midnight, and that the application includes 2–3 security guards and high-definition cameras for the new outdoor space.

The applicant, co-owner Enrique Montero, said the food truck will be for patrons only and will require wristbands: "We plan to designate the food truck for patrons only, and they'll have to have a wristband, to be inside, and we'll police it or monitor it…especially at the end of the night at midnight." Montero said the rear door will be an emergency exit only and that staff and security will shepherd patrons to the front entrance for re‑entry and screening.

Commissioners questioned site circulation and pedestrian/vehicle interactions in the alley and rear parking. Architect Robert Lyman explained there is an accessible sidewalk connecting the rear parking to the front entrance, two accessible stalls in the rear, and a circuitous but ADA-compliant path where utility poles and equipment constrain a straighter route. Lyman said the photometric study supplied to the city covered the existing streetlight but not detailed on-site lighting, and the design concept envisions string and landscape lighting to keep the route safe.

Vice Chair Knighting proposed and the commission added a condition requiring the applicant to revise the adopted site plan to include "adequate lighting along the ADA path of travel from the front to the rear." The applicant confirmed on the record that they and their designer will provide lighting along the path and coordinate permission with the neighboring property for wall‑mounted fixtures.

After brief public comment — one neighbor who raised alcohol‑use concerns and Cathy Hemmenway, executive director of the Walnut Creek Downtown Association, who read a letter of support — Commissioner Kwok moved to approve the resolution with the added lighting condition. The motion was seconded and carried on a unanimous vote.

The approval authorizes the food truck and outdoor dining under the findings in the draft resolution and adds the revised site-plan requirement to the planning conditions; the commission recorded no dissent and no additional public hearings were scheduled.