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Council favors consolidated driveways and asks staff to study protected bike-lane setbacks on Highway 246
Summary
Buellton City Council gave staff policy direction favoring a consolidated-driveway design (option 2) for the southern Highway 246 corridor to reduce turning conflicts and improve the chances of Caltrans approval; the council also asked staff to further study building setbacks to accommodate a future protected bike lane.
The Buellton City Council on July 9 reviewed two staff-proposed policy options for driveway alignments along the southern segment of Highway 246 and weighed whether the city should plan building setbacks to accommodate a future protected bike lane.
Planning Director Andrea Kiefer and consultants presented two options: option 1 would generally preserve driveway locations proposed by the two pending development projects, while option 2 consolidates access points with shared driveways to reduce adjacent turning conflicts. Staff and the consultants said option 2 would reduce the number of driveways from five to three in the studied segment, decreasing conflict points and better aligning with Caltrans' preferences.
Council conducted a straw poll: a majority favored option 2 (consolidated/shared driveways) and most members supported directing staff to investigate setback standards and the feasibility of a protected bike lane in coordination with Caltrans and traffic consultants. Councilors asked staff to be cautious not to prejudge pending development applications and to return with formal amendments only after further analysis.
Legal counsel reminded members to avoid detailed project discussion in this policy session to prevent appearance of prejudgment of pending applications. Staff will return with a proposed specific-plan amendment or other codified guidance if the council confirms a policy direction.
The council's direction does not itself change approvals for the two development projects currently in review; any project-specific traffic studies and Caltrans approvals will still be required.
