Planning commission approves AutoZone ‘mega hub’ at Canyon Plaza North with delivery and design limits

The Cathedral City Planning Commission voted July 15 to approve Conditional Use Permit 250008 for an AutoZone “mega hub” to be built on a vacant pad at Canyon Plaza North, subject to added conditions intended to limit traffic impacts and improve pedestrian and streetscape features.

Dom Camps, the city’s associate planner, told commissioners the proposed building would total roughly 31,600–31,635 square feet, with about 8,000 square feet open to the public and the remainder used for on-site inventory and assisted sales. Based on materials submitted by the applicant, staff said approximately 65% of sales are expected to be to end users and 35% to commercial customers, and that the project meets the criteria for a Class 32 categorical exemption under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA).

The approval includes five explicit additions discussed at the hearing: an accessible pedestrian crossing between the AutoZone front and the adjacent Target storefront; a modification to Condition 3.17 to require that outbound deliveries leave the premises only during normal business hours; a written condition prohibiting distribution to other AutoZone stores (a non-routed usage restriction); the incorporation of the Architectural Review Committee’s recommendations (including adjustments to the stone band and façade articulation); and a requirement to use larger 36-inch-box shade trees where practical.

Neighbors and district residents urged denial, saying the facility functions as a regional distribution center rather than a retail store. Kevin Geraci, who lives about 200 feet from the site, told commissioners the proposal “is not a retail auto parts store. It is a regional distribution hub,” and cited corporate descriptions of AutoZone mega hubs. Several residents also raised concerns about additional daily deliveries, parking spillover onto Jones Road and the safety of children in the adjacent Boomers parking area.

AutoZone representatives and the applicant disputed the characterization that the site will function as a distribution center for other stores. Andres Carbajal, AutoZone’s district manager for the area, told the commission commercial customers place orders by phone or through AutoZone’s commercial platform and receive deliveries from small, company-operated vehicles; he said the site would be a “non-routed” store and that the single daily tractor-trailer shipment from a distribution center is intended only to restock the location. “This location is not a routed location,” Carbajal said, adding that routing to other stores would continue to be handled from existing distribution hubs elsewhere in the region.

Staff also addressed traffic and noise analyses attached to the staff report, saying the traffic impact study found no significant operational impacts and estimated about 13 peak-hour trips on Jones Road attributable to the site. City staff noted that the project will make a fair-share contribution to a future traffic signal at Crewe Road and East Palm Canyon as part of a broader city roadway improvement project that is scheduled to go out to bid.

Commissioners debated whether the use should be classified as retail or distribution, noting the large inventory footprint in the proposal. Staff said the zoning determination is based on multiple factors (sales mix, vehicle trips, square footage, and operation) and that the applicant’s materials and the submitted business description describe operations as excluding deliveries to other AutoZone stores.

After deliberation, Commissioner Lee moved to find the project CEQA-exempt (Class 32) and approve CUP 250008 with the amendments described above; the motion was seconded and carried with "all ayes." The conditions added during the hearing are incorporated into the permit record and will be enforced during plan check and building permit review.

The commission’s approval ends the planning entitlement step; final building permits, plan-check revisions (including the accessible crossing and any landscape adjustments), and construction sequencing — including coordination of the Crewe Road/East Palm Canyon signal — remain to be completed before the store opens.

Votes at a glance • Conditional Use Permit 250008 (AutoZone Mega Hub) — Motion: Commissioner Lee; Second: Chair Mead. Outcome: Approved (motion carried, "all ayes"). • (Also at the meeting: election of vice chair and chair — see separate item.)