Toyota of Poway Meeting Draws Small, Vocal Crowd

A neighborhood meeting drew a small, yet vocal crowd that questioned Toyota of Poway’s proposed relocation and expansion plans to move the dealership to a vacant lot across the street from its current location. 

About 20 community members and stakeholders discussed the company’s plans during the informal presentation and question and answer session in the City Council Chambers Monday night.

Many of the attendees expressed concerns about the impact on parking and traffic along nearby roads. Several said current dealership employees park their vehicles in nearby neighborhoods.

“The employees should somehow understand that our neighborhood is where our kids play; it’s where we live,” said a woman who said she lives on the corner of Gate and Fairgate drives. “All the cars parking in there, and it happens so often, take up the spaces and we can’t park in front of our own house. It adds a lot of traffic, and it’s just a real inconvenience.

“It’s not that we don’t like the employees or we don’t want the taxes from the car sales, it’s just noise, air pollution and being downright inconsiderate.”

Poway resident Joe St. Lucas, who is also leading the NO on Walmart Expansion (No WE) effort, said he has known of some instances where new vehicles were parked in employee parking spaces.

“That’s why the employees were coming into our neighborhood,” he said. “Even though they had designated spots, they weren’t being used for the employees. That’s one of the issues.”

Toyota of Poway owner Vincent Castro said a memo would be sent to all employees to inform them that parking on Midland is “not for their use.” He added that his employees would either park on the premises, or possibly use the co-op lot located in the Poway Business Park.

Toyota representatives informed the crowd that the site would have adequate onsite parking for its employees. There will be 70 employee parking spaces, they said. Toyota of Poway has about 90 employees at its current location.

Jason Martin, the city’s senior planner, added that city staff worked with the company to make changes to the proposed site plan in response to concerns brought forth from the public at a neighborhood meeting held last summer.

“The city was looking at ways that we could get Toyota to develop their site that would build in some assurances that we’re not going to have some of the problems that we’ve experienced at some of the auto dealers,” Martin said.

He explained that the site currently has three driveways along Poway Road and two driveways along Midland Road. He said three of those driveways will be closed so that only one driveway off Poway Road and one driveway off Midland Road would remain open. Delivery trucks will only be allowed to use the access point off Poway Road, he said.

Toyota will install a fence and add trees and plants along Midland Road to deter employees from parking on the street. The company will also extend the existing median along Midland Road so traffic can only turn right, Martin said.

Other attendees were concerned about delivery truck traffic.

Martin noted that Toyota of Poway cannot accept deliveries on the street, but they can accept deliveries onsite between delivery hours.

Still, Castro said he intends for products to be delivered at the site and vehicles to be delivered at the co-op lot.

Because the current conditional use permit does not include those requirements, Martin said he would need to further discuss the issue with Castro.

“If that’s something that Toyota feels they can live with, we can put that in the permit. But when it’s in the permit, it’s in the permit, and so you would not be able to accept any deliveries on the site,” Martin said. “And when it occurs, it’s going to be a violation of your permit.  We’ve got a lot of people watching.”

Other issues brought forth at the meeting included air, drain and light pollution. Martin said that the Development Services Department wanted community members to have an opportunity to ask questions and share comments before the project is brought before the City Council for final consideration and action.

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