|
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
The Pleasanton City Council is set Tuesday to review zoning staff’s approval of new signage for the gas station at the corner of First Street and Vineyard Avenue that recently rebranded from Shell to Gulf.
The business owners’ proposal for changes to the pricing, canopy and pump signs went through multiple rounds of discussion before the city’s zoning administrator endorsed the final revised plans on Jan. 30. Councilmember Julie Testa later triggered a full council review of the signage application – even though the new signs have already been installed at the property.
“I believe there is value in discussing the high standard set in Pleasanton’s planning constitution. Pleasanton’s General Plan identifies ‘high quality finish materials … a reduction in or elimination of some corporate signage when … excessive’,” Testa told the Weekly on Monday. “Also gives guidance to ‘minimize’ and ‘discourage’ bright and franchise elements in signage.”
“Our GP is a tool to maintain Pleasanton high standards of community character. This is not a cost to the city but the responsibility of an applicant that I would like to see upheld,” Testa added.
Consultant Guy Houston – the former state assemblymember and Dublin mayor – first submitted the sign design review application on behalf of the owners of the gas station at 4212 First St. in December, and while city staff was generally supportive, they pushed back on plans to intensify the canopy signage and increase the height of the monument pricing sign, according to city senior planner Eric Luchini.
After four or five more conversations between the applicant and city staff, the zoning administrator approved the application with a few final stipulations, including requiring all canopy lighting to be turned off daily between 10 p.m. and 7 a.m. and keeping the main pricing sign the same size as the prior one, Luchini noted.
The City Council is informed of decisions made by the zoning administrator on its consent agenda with the option for one or more members to call for a review. In the case of the Gulf signage, the item was listed on the council’s March 4 consent calendar, more than a month later and after the public appeal period passed without any challenges.
Testa that day initiated a full council review, leading to Tuesday’s hearing that is occurring after the staff-approved signage has already been installed at the gas station.
The council can confirm the zoning administrator’s decision as is, approve the plans with modifications or overturn the staff-level approval and deny the application. City staff recommend the council support the application with the existing conditions of approval, according to Luchini – whose staff report does not call out that the signs are already put up.
The gas station signage is the lone discussion item on the agenda for the regular council meeting, scheduled to start at 7 p.m. Tuesday (April 15) in the council chambers at 200 Old Bernal Ave.
In other business
* The council will present proclamations in support of National Crime Victim’s Rights Week, Fair Housing Month, and Arts, Culture and Creativity Month.
* Councilmembers will consider an 11-item consent calendar, a collection of items deemed routine and voted upon at once unless a subject is pulled for individual discussion.
Tuesday’s consent list includes an ordinance designating fire hazard severity zones, approving annual street closures for 2025, a maximum $1.2 million contract with DPI, Inc. for the Puri Court storm drain improvements project, and authorizing City Manager Gerry Beaudin to execute an agreement for post-collection of recyclable materials processing and diversion with Greenwaste Recovery, LLC.
