Council Denies Rehearing Request for Auto Body Shop Permit

The City Council on Tuesday night unanimously denied a rehearing request for an approved auto body shop permit despite several arguments from concerned business owners and other community members. 

Opponents told council they weren't concerned about competition with Chrome Collision Auto Repair—which received a conditional use permit at the council's May 3 meeting—but unfair advantages over auto body shops along Poway Road. Representatives from local auto body shops were among those who addressed the council in favor of a rehearing.

“I’m sympathetic to the arguments, but I don’t see where it rises to the level of new material and information,” Councilman John Mullin said.

John Tyczki of claimed other auto body business applicants have been turned away from the area. John Baratta of said that he believed that the business would have to use vehicles outside even though city codes require auto body shops in the Poway Business Park to conduct their operations inside a building.

At the May 3 meeting, several speakers said they attempted to establish auto body shops, or they knew of others who attempted to establish auto body shops in the business park, but were turned away.

Director of Development Services Bob Manis explained Tuesday night that prior to 2002, auto body shops were only allowed in the commercial zones in the business park with conditional use permits. In 2002, he said, the council amended the plan to allow auto body shops in commercial as well as industrial zones.

“But even before and after 2002, the standards were the same that the business had to be conducted inside of the building unless you were in a designated outdoor storage area, which again, there’s very few of those,” Manis said. “That tends to scare a lot of people away because there’s not a lot of opportunities to operate that whole business inside of a building."

Manis said the city has received a number of inquiries about the use throughout the years, but the city has received only one other application specifically for auto body use in 2002. He said the applicant went through a pre-development conference and “received a favorable response from the council,” but ended up not pursuing the space.

According to the staff report, the new business floor plan will include 12 service bays, three “tear down” areas, a paint spray booth, a paint preparation area and indoor storage areas for approximately 83 vehicles, all within the 33,000-square-foot building.

Manis said the applicant has an existing facility in Miramar that is operated indoors.

“They’re feeling very comfortable that they can operate the same type of business in a 33,000-square-foot building because they’re operating it with less area right now,” he said.

While the development of Chrome Collision saw support and opposition, Poway resident and businessman Kevin McNamara said the council “made a mistake” when it approved the conditional use permit.

“As hard as that may be to believe, this City Council, for the first time in the history of the city, lowered the bar,” McNamara said. “The one thing I think we’ve all been proud about Poway is the bar has always been raised on every applicant, on every use, on every project ever brought forward to this town. This time, you ducked underneath it.”

He said adding an auto body shop to the business park “was like getting a zit at the end of your nose on prom night.”

Councilman Dave Grosch said he recently visited the business park and saw other businesses that didn’t “fit” the original plan for the area.

"I understand their concerns," Grosch said. "I understand that the auto business doesn’t kind of fit with the business park, but the business park is changing."

The council voted 4-1 for the resolution during its May 3 meeting. Councilman Jim Cunningham voted against the resolution.

Cunningham said he voted against the conditional use permit because he needed more information to make his decision.

“The new information we received from the auto body uses in the business park has now flushed it out, but indeed, new information was not sufficient enough to probably warrant a reconsideration and a new vote on that specific or particular issue,” Cunningham said.

In other council business:

• The City Council discussed updating the city’s alcohol social host ordinance and scheduled an adoption of the ordinance at the next council meeting on June 21. The council approved the city’s 2010 Urban Water Management Plan and Rescinding Resolution. 
• Council members also approved an amendment to the 2010 Regional Transportation Improvement Program. The resolution added three new overlay projects to the TransNet Local Street Improvement List of Projects for the city’s Fiscal Years 2011-15.
• At the start of the meeting, the council presented a Certificate of Recognition to Robert “Rory” Herman for notable achievements in hockey.
• After the meeting, the council held a closed session with legal counsel regarding the Tartre vs. City of Poway case.