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Temecula Planning Commission denies request to keep unpermitted gray paint at Town Center
Summary
The Planning Commission voted to deny PA25‑0137, which sought to preserve an unpermitted gray paint scheme on 13 buildings at Temecula Town Center, after staff documented years of noncompliance and $27,500 in unpaid fines. The applicant was not present.
The Temecula Planning Commission on Nov. 19 denied a request to retain an unpermitted gray paint scheme on 13 buildings at Temecula Town Center, concluding the color palette conflicts with the center’s approved design and municipal standards.
Staff planner Jaime Hyman told the commission that the 50‑acre Temecula Town Center was approved with warm earth‑tone colors in a 2005 modification and that the current gray tones were applied without required approvals. Hyman cited the General Plan’s Goal 2 on design excellence and Temecula Municipal Code section 17.08.0.07(b)(2), saying the gray tones are not complementary to the site’s brickwork and tile roofs. “Gray is not supported,” Hyman said, summarizing staff’s repeated guidance to the owner and the planning commission subcommittee’s advice.
Hyman outlined a multi‑year enforcement timeline that began with a complaint on Jan. 31, 2023, multiple code‑enforcement contacts and several modification applications that staff deemed incomplete or inconsistent with the subcommittee’s recommendations. City records show code enforcement issued multiple civil penalties beginning Aug. 11, 2023; Hyman said the city assessed a total of $27,500 in fines, none of which have been paid and which have been sent to collections.
The applicant did not appear at the meeting. Commissioners said the owner repeatedly missed hearings and declined staff’s alternatives, which included reverting to the 2005 approved palette (no modification required), proposing colors within the previously approved family, or pursuing an off‑white centerwide scheme in coordination with other property owners. Hyman said staff would accept a resubmittal under the subcommittee’s enumerated options; staff requested a prompt resubmittal within 30 days, with the expectation of a commission review within 90 days, and warned that failure to comply within 120 days would result in referral to the city attorney.
Commissioner Hagel moved to deny planning application PA25‑0137; Commissioner Watson seconded. The commission voted in favor and the motion carried. Chair Shirley Trejo thanked staff for their work and noted the commission’s expectation that the 2005 approved colors be reapplied if the denial is upheld.
The denial leaves in place the city’s finding that the 2005 palette applies and that the owner must return the center to approved colors or follow the redesign pathways outlined by staff. The commission also noted that unresolved fines remain with the city and that legal remedies are available if resubmittal and corrective measures do not occur.
