A gas station project with an Avenue of Flags address has continuously raised red flags with the Buellton Planning Commission, which halted the proposal from moving forward in 2018, 2020, 2021, and 2022.
Periodically revised and resubmitted for review, the plan to build a new ARCO station in Buellton finally gained positive traction from planning commissioners during their July 20 meeting.
Planning Commission Chair Patty Hammel, who criticized AGC Design Concept—the design firm behind the ARCO proposal—for consistently ignoring the art deco style standards required by the Avenue of Flags Specific Plan during the project’s last hearing in September 2022, praised the company’s latest resubmission as “a job well done.”
“OK, I am going to issue a ‘wow.’ This is so much better than the last time,” Hammel said at the Planning Commission’s July 20 meeting. “I’m not going to give you the ‘awesome’ yet, but maybe next time you’ll get the ‘awesome’ out.”
During a preliminary review of the project’s newly revised concept design, Buellton Planning Director Andrea Keefer outlined ways in which AGC Design Concept addressed some, but not all, of the previous issues raised by the commission.
“There have been substantial revisions to the architecture, and staff, in our review, has felt that, in general, they [AGC Design Concept] have addressed many of the previous comments related to architecture,” Keefer said.
While new ornamentation and architectural detailing on the gas canopies and the proposed convenience store and fast food restaurant tied to the gas station meet the art deco design requirements, the project’s overall earth tone color palette remains unchanged, despite the Planning Commission’s previous directive to incorporate colors associated with art deco architecture.
Hammel suggested that AGC Design Concept consider incorporating blue and orange, since the two colors are both art deco-friendly and prevalent in the ARCO corporate logo.
“Maybe we could throw some of that orange and blue in somewhere … just for a teeny bit more ‘wow’ and a little bit more art deco style,” Hammel said.
As a newcomer to the project, Planning Commissioner Laura Romano DeFazio, appointed in December 2022, said the ARCO proposal was “very interesting to go through because I was unaware how long this had been in process.”
“I don’t have a problem so much with the color scheme. … I’m more concerned with the issue of the lighting,” said DeFazio, who was worried about the project’s LED lighting and its potential impact on the residential areas near the property.
Hammel agreed.
“We do want night-friendly skies, and we want night-friendly skies especially for that residential behind [the project site] because we want to have a good neighbor policy with everyone,” Hammel said.
According to the staff report, further specifications on lighting, including the project’s photometric lighting plan, will need to be provided by AGC Design Concept in the future and must “show consistency with dark sky-friendly requirements of LED and 3000 Kelvin or less.”
Comments made by the Planning Commission and city staff during the July 20 preliminary review will be summarized into an “incomplete letter” for the AGC Design Concept to consider before the project moves forward with a public hearing.
“We look forward to the next round,” Hammel said.
This article appears in Jul 27 – Aug 6, 2023.