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Redlands council approves 71,000‑sq‑ft "Redlands Marketplace" with traffic, power conditions
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Summary
The Redlands City Council voted to approve entitlements for Regency Centers’ proposed 71,000‑square‑foot shopping center at Lugonia and Tennessee, including a grocery anchor, pad buildings and a two‑lane drive‑thru; council and staff required traffic and landscaping conditions and noted power access and queueing remain to be resolved before permits.
The Redlands City Council voted unanimously to approve entitlements for the Regency Centers ‘‘Redlands Marketplace’’ project, a proposed approximately 71,000‑square‑foot shopping center that would include a grocery market, a drive‑thru building and four multi‑tenant pad buildings on an 8.5‑acre site at Lugonia Avenue and Tennessee Street.
Staff presentation and council questions set the terms and conditions that must be satisfied before building permits are issued. Director Sean Riley (development services) told the council the project meets the C‑3 development standards, requires a lot merger and includes required roadway improvements and a mitigated negative declaration. “The project is proposing the construction of approximately 71,000 square feet of commercial space within five buildings,” Riley said during the presentation. Staff also noted two conditional use permits will be required—one for off‑site alcohol sales at the grocery and a second for the drive‑thru—and that certain mitigation and design conditions are included in the recommended approval.
Why it matters: the project sits north of Home Depot and east of State Route 210 in a part of the city seeing multiple new residential approvals; councilors said they want the commercial architecture and landscaping to reflect local character while avoiding traffic impacts on an already constrained corridor.
Council members pressed the applicant and the traffic consultant on safety and queuing at Tennessee Street, particularly for left‑turns from site driveways and the potential for vehicles to stack inside the project. Rawad Haney, the project traffic engineer, said peak left‑turn volumes from the two uncontrolled exits were low in the study (on the order of single‑digit to low‑teen vehicles during peak hours) and did not warrant additional signalization under the California MUTCD warrants; he said mitigation will focus on design measures to keep project traffic contained on site and to improve pedestrian visibility. “These exits both are not warranted to have any type of signalization,” Haney said, adding that the design should prevent spillback to city streets.
Applicant representatives told the council they are ‘‘diligently working with Edison’’ to identify an economically viable power supply for the site but had not yet finalized a solution. The council requested the applicant continue to coordinate with staff and Southern California Edison and to return with confirmatory plans before permits move forward.
Staff and the applicant also described design conditions: additional drive‑thru queuing, landscape trellises to break up long facades, and restriping/timing adjustments at nearby intersections as required by Measure U traffic mitigation conditions. Councilmember comments included a request to explore public art and façade treatments on smaller pad buildings so the development ties into Redlands’ character.
The council adopted the staff motion to approve Resolution No. 8752 (entitlements) and introduced Ordinance No. 3001 on its first reading. The motion passed on a recorded roll call of members present. Next steps include recordation of the lot line adjustment required by a condition of approval, any state licensing (for alcohol sales), final engineering to demonstrate non‑spillback of queues and execution of the conditions listed in the council’s approval.
