Idle and shuttered since 2020, Buellton’s former movie theater—Parks Plaza on McMurray Road—will be demolished to make way for a new three-story Cottage Health medical office thanks to a recent Planning Commission vote.
The 20-day period for the public to formally appeal the commission’s decision to the City Council kicked off on Feb. 19. At the same project site, the commission approved a final development plan in 2023 for a new In-N-Out drive-through, which the council overturned while reviewing an appeal of that decision.
The council’s primary concerns at that time with bringing an In-N-Out to McMurray Road were related to increased traffic congestion, an issue current city staff doesn’t expect to carry over with the Cottage Health proposal.
“The project is consistent with the city’s general plan circulation policies and would not create any significant transportation impacts,” Buellton Associate Planner Cara Miralles told the Planning Commission during its Feb. 19 meeting.
Based on the results of a traffic study, staff predicts that the most impact the proposed Cottage Health facility will have on city traffic levels will occur daily between 4 and 6 p.m., specifically on a left-turn lane of Highway 246, near a southbound onramp for Highway 101.
“That one lane would very infrequently extend beyond the lane capacity by just one vehicle,” Miralles explained, “and this would only be expected to happen 5 percent of the time, in the p.m. peak hour, which is 4 to 6 p.m.”
During the hearing, Planning Commissioner Shannon Reese asked staff about one of the medical office proposal’s conditions of approval that was directly left over from the halted In-N-Out project.
“I saw the condition, … for tribal consultation. Did they request consultation this time?” asked Reese, who was referring to protocols in the project’s conditional use permit regarding the role of a Santa Ynez Band of Chumash Indians tribal monitor.
The condition, identical to a previous condition of approval for the In-N-Out development, states that a representative of the tribe will have access to monitor any “ground disturbing construction activities associated with the project, including but not limited to demolition,” according to the staff report.
If any suspected cultural resources are discovered by any person during construction activities, the tribal monitor would be immediately notified, and an archaeological advisor would determine if work should stop within 50 feet of the discovery.
Reese asked if staff had recent communications with the tribe about the Cottage Health project.
“We did send an informal email to the tribe. They have not responded as of yet,” Miralles said. “But we’ve applied the same conditions of approval on the previous In-N-Out project because it is the same site. So, we’re anticipating that they would have the same conditions.”
With a 3-0 vote (Planning Commissioners Brian Campbell and Daniel Contreras were absent), the Planning Commission approved the Cottage Health project’s final development plan and conditional use permit.
This article appears in February 26 – March 5, 2026.