The Costco Wholesale store in Danville could be on track to getting a major upgrade — a Costco gas station, across the street within the San Ramon city limits.
The proposal calls for tearing down the Office Depot building in San Ramon and replacing it with a 32-pump Costco service station, which will be associated with the Costco store directly across Fostoria Way within the borders of the town of Danville.
The San Ramon Planning Commission discussed the gas station project for about an hour during its regular meeting Tuesday night, but continued the matter over to its next meeting due to time constraints caused by a lengthy discussion on an earlier item.
Located at 3111 Fostoria Way in San Ramon, the 2.88-acre lot includes an approximately 30,000-square-foot building occupied by Office Depot that was built in 1996. The parcel is situated among the Extended Stay America hotel, the CMG Financial office complex and the Magnolia Square Shopping Center.
The site’s parking lot also includes stalls being used by Costco employees for parking, according to city associate planner Shinei Tsukamoto.
In April, consultant firm Barghausen Consulting Engineers, Inc., filed applications to city planners in San Ramon on behalf of Costco to build a service station at the 3111 Fostoria Way, according to Tsukamoto. The proposal went through an initial review by the Architectural Review Board one month later, resulting in modifications that were integrated as part of revised plans resubmitted by the consultants in July.
The Costco warehouse store and tire center at 3150 Fostoria Way in Danville does not currently have a gas station.
The proposal on the San Ramon side of the street calls for demolishing the Office Depot building and constructing a 32-pump Costco gas station with a 12,663-square-foot canopy and signage, a 200-square-foot control facility, and associated site and landscape improvements. The proposed operating hours would be 5:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. seven days a week.
A majority of the existing parking lot at the site will remain intact, to be used primarily as Costco employee parking or customer overflow parking if needed.
The project plans also include adding a traffic signal for vehicles and pedestrians on Fostoria Way between the store and gas station in the future under a separate permit.
A gas station is allowed with a minor use permit at the site, which is located within the commercial mixed-use of the North Camino Ramon Specific Plan, according to Tsukamoto.
San Ramon city planning staff is recommending approval of the architectural review, development plan, minor use permit and master sign program applications for the Costco gas station. The commission is expected to continue its hearing on the matter on Nov. 17.
For San Ramon Valley members, the nearest Costco gas stations are at the warehouse stores in Livermore or Concord. The retailer has pursued building a new store with a gas station in Pleasanton on Johnson Drive adjacent to Interstate 680, but that project has been caught up in litigation.
As for the status of the proposed Pleasanton Costco, “The gas station is part of what has been approved. We have not been informed of any changes by Costco regarding the gas station at this time,” city spokeswoman Cindy Chin said last Friday. “There is a court hearing on the litigation scheduled for the end of the month.”
