Planning commission backs CarMax plan to bring used‑car sales to New York Street, with landscaping trade‑off

The Redlands Planning Commission on June 11 recommended that the City Council approve a proposed CarMax used‑vehicle dealership and ancillary reconditioning facility on roughly 18 acres at New York Street and Brockton Avenue, subject to an amendment negotiated at the hearing that reduces staff’s recommended rear‑yard screen wall from 8 feet to 6 feet and adds a condition requiring the applicant to work with staff on enhanced landscape screening.

Staff planner Ryan Murphy summarized the application, which would add used‑vehicle sales as a primary permitted use within a portion of the East Valley Corridor specific plan and approve related site improvements. Murphy described a 4,958‑square‑foot sales building, a 39,621‑square‑foot reconditioning/service building, an on‑site car wash and quality control structure, employee and customer parking, private fueling infrastructure, and secured outdoor inventory storage. Because CarMax’s business model includes reconditioning vehicles on site, staff recommended enhanced screening for taller vehicles visible from the freeway; staff’s recommended condition called for an 8‑foot decorative screen wall plus additional landscaping.

Brad Loth, the applicant’s development consultant, and Steve Hudak of CarMax described the operation as a retail‑first facility with a secured staging and reconditioning area in the rear. Loth said the site’s topography and existing landscaping—and CarMax’s standard six‑foot wall used at many existing facilities—argued in favor of retaining a six‑foot wall while augmenting landscaping. Hudak and traffic and engineering consultants told commissioners the project would generate approximately 10 truckloads per day for reconditioning operations and that the site plan provides designated loading and circulation to avoid trucks staging on public streets.

Public comment was limited; one speaker from the Western States Regional Council of Carpenters asked that the developer make hiring commitments for local apprentices. CarMax counsel said it was premature to finalize contractor hiring commitments during entitlement review but noted CarMax has used union labor at other locations.

During deliberation commissioners expressed broad support for the project’s design and economic benefits while pressing for stronger visual screening and landscaping. After a motion to recommend approval of the IS/MND, socioeconomic cost‑benefit study, specific plan amendment and entitlements, the commission amended condition of approval No. 19 to require a six‑foot wall instead of eight feet and added a requirement that the applicant work with staff on additional landscape screening. The motion passed and will be forwarded to the City Council as the commission’s recommendation.

“Adding two feet to that wall doesn’t really provide much more in the way of screening the staging area,” applicant counsel said during debate; commissioners said landscaping improvements would be a meaningful trade‑off. The recommendation includes the mitigated negative declaration and mitigation monitoring and reporting program.

The planning commission’s action is a recommendation to the City Council; final entitlements will be decided by the council at a later hearing.