Walnut Creek council approves Porsche dealership plan development district with neighborhood mitigations
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Summary
After presentations from city planning staff and the developer, the council introduced a plan-development rezoning and adopted related entitlements for a new multi-level Porsche dealership at North Main Street/2nd Avenue, approving CEQA Class 32 infill exemption, design review, tree permits and sign exceptions with conditions to reduce neighborhood impacts.
The Walnut Creek City Council voted unanimously Tuesday to introduce a plan development (PD) ordinance and adopt related resolutions to permit a new three-level Porsche dealership and service center at the corner of North Main Street and 2nd Avenue.
Senior planner Simar Gill presented the staff recommendation, describing the project scope: consolidation of three parcels into a modern, multilevel dealership with showroom, service areas and internal vehicle storage (about 123 internal spaces and 48 surface stalls), frontage improvements, sidewalk replacement, and the removal of 19 onsite trees (15 recommended for removal by the city's consulting arborist). Staff said the project qualified for the Class 32 CEQA infill exemption and recommended PD zoning, design review approval, tree removal permits and a sign-ordinance exception.
Steven Scanlan, representing the applicant (Fletcher Jones), and architect James Spence described the "Generation 5" Porsche dealership design and operational consolidation, saying the build would retain the dealership in Walnut Creek and modernize operations. The applicant's presentations included neighborhood mitigation measures: an 8-foot split-face CMU sound wall on the west elevation, high-STC precast shop walls, roll-up service doors designed to remain closed during most of the day, photometric lighting designed to produce zero foot-candles at the west property line, and wayfinding signage to discourage right turns onto 2nd Avenue when exiting the site.
Planning Commission had recommended a condition prohibiting right turns onto 2nd Avenue from the site exit; staff and the applicant described alternative mitigations such as directional signage and preventing employees and test-drive routes from turning onto 2nd Avenue. The project team also described preliminary technical studies indicating no significant impacts for air quality, noise, vibration and water during construction and operation, and outlined pest-control and construction-phase mitigation commitments.
Council members asked detailed questions about sight lines, tree retention and sound-wall placement, construction phasing (the applicant said the sound wall would be installed early), fire-lane constraints that limit curb modifications at the 2nd Avenue entrance, and plans to retain the existing dealership site under lease during construction. After discussion, Mayor Pro Tem Francois moved to adopt the CEQA exemption, introduce the PD ordinance and adopt the resolutions for design review, tree removal and sign exceptions; Councilmember Darling seconded and the motion passed unanimously.
The approvals will allow the applicant to move forward with final entitlements and building permits subject to the conditions approved by the council and the PD zoning set by the ordinance once enacted. City staff said replacement landscaping would include 21 new trees and that the applicant will be required to pay tree valuation as a condition of approval.