Planning commission approves Smith Street market and warehouse with cart-lock and canopy conditions

The Santa Maria Planning Commission approved a conditional use permit to convert an existing warehouse at 621 South Smith Street into a mixed-use market and warehouse, voting to add conditions requiring a shopping-cart containment mechanism and to extend the proposed entry canopy onto the existing roof.

Greg Fine, associate planner for the city, told the commission the project would remodel a roughly 6,200-square-foot building and add about 3,400 square feet for warehouse storage so the combined market and warehouse would total about 9,600 square feet. Staff said the applicant proposes 35 parking spaces where 27 are required, new landscaping (approximately 23% coverage), alley widening to allow two-way circulation, a new loading area on the north side and a six-foot screening and sound barrier adjacent to loading. Hours of operation were proposed as 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily, with loading between 9 a.m. and 2 p.m.

Why it mattered: Commissioners focused on mitigating impacts to nearby residences and on ensuring required frontage and alley improvements would meet city standards. Public works staff said traffic-related upgrades and any required improvements to the alley would need to be completed before occupancy and that photometric lighting plans are reviewed and corrected during building-permit review to prevent light spill onto neighboring yards.

During questioning, commissioners pressed staff on several items: who would maintain the alley (public works said the northern half is city-owned because utilities are present and the southern half remains private), the schedule for traffic improvements (required prior to occupancy and tied to building-permit timing), and the city’s chip-seal requirements for trench repairs in the public right-of-way. Planning staff and public works explained mitigation fees cannot be used for ongoing roadway maintenance and that certain objective municipal-code obligations cannot be waived except by city council action.

Applicant representative Jessica Carlone of RA and Associates said the owner intends to install a cart-containment device that prevents shopping carts from leaving the site and is willing to work with a structural engineer to address canopy framing so the elevation in the plans aligns with the artistic rendering. Carlone told the commission the owner is prepared to meet code-required items and prefers flexibility on discretionary items tied to traffic-study recommendations.

The commission added the cart-lock requirement explicitly to Condition 15 and directed staff to require canopy framing that matches the approved elevations where structurally feasible. An unidentified commissioner moved to approve the conditional use permit U2024-0010 with those additions; a second was recorded and a roll-call vote was taken. Commissioners recorded affirmative votes and the chair announced the motion passed.

The commission’s action approves the permit with the specified conditions; staff and the applicant will complete required plan revisions and any building-permit reviews before occupancy.