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Board approves reduced driveway spacing for Lyndon Avenue outlot with condition to limit future access
Summary
The City of Riverside Board of Zoning Appeals approved BZA 26-0005 on April 28, 2026, allowing a proposed restaurant at 4740 Lyndon Avenue to reduce driveway spacing from 250 feet to 157 feet, conditioned on a development agreement prohibiting additional drives on the site.
The City of Riverside Board of Zoning Appeals voted to approve a variance that reduces the minimum required driveway spacing from 250 feet to 157 feet at 4740 Lyndon Avenue, allowing a proposed outlot restaurant to have its own entrance.
Nia Holt, presenting staff findings, said the property is in a mixed-development district and that staff concluded the additional drive would have minimal area impact but recommended approval only if the applicant enters a development agreement limiting any future additional access points. "Staff finds that there is minimum impact on the area with the one additional drive because it is consistent with the existing pattern," Holt said.
Applicant Mike Bettencourt, a co-owner of Black Barn Pickleball, told the board the separate entrance would reduce conflicts with a nearby Domino's during overlapping busy periods. "Our peak times are between 5:45 and 6:15, which corresponds with a lot of their deliveries," Bettencourt said, arguing a separate entrance would improve circulation and provide separate access for fire and EMS.
Board members asked whether alternatives were feasible and whether public-works review had cleared the plan. Staff said public works had no objection provided the development agreement and that the city engineer would review engineering details as part of permitting. A board member noted the requirement under UDO section 1105.9C calls for 250 feet between driveways; the requested layout represents a roughly 37% reduction.
After discussion the board moved to approve the variance "based on the staff report, evidence and testimony heard today," with the condition that the applicant execute a development agreement preventing additional access points. The motion passed on a roll call vote with four yes votes.
The action allows the proposed restaurant to proceed toward site-plan approvals and building permits, subject to the development agreement and the applicable engineering reviews.
