Two gas station projects pivot to meet Buellton’s art deco standards

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Under the same ownership for about 30 years, Buellton’s Shell station on Highway 246 is gearing up for an expansion to allow more pumps. But not without a new look mandated by the city.

Owner Peter Hong, founder of the Conico Oil Company, is seeking to demolish the station’s convenience store and other structures on his property to make room for a larger convenience store, a new fuel canopy, and eight additional gas dispensers. 

The new developments need to conform with an art deco architectural design as part of the Avenue of Flags specific plan, adopted by Buellton officials in 2017.

“These boundaries were put in place well after the gas station was established,” contract city planner Irma Tucker told the Buellton Planning Commission at its April 17 meeting.

During the hearing, staff presented the Shell project’s early conceptual plans for commissioners to review. The presentation included renderings of the new convenience store’s frontage, while displaying some proposed designs consistent with Buellton’s art deco guidelines.

The project will return to the Planning Commission after a traffic study and additional conceptual plans come forward. Conico Oil Company representative John Yu told the Planning Commission that the development team was enthusiastic about incorporating art deco themes into the Shell station’s remodel and expansion.

“There’s an aversion in the planning community to gas stations,” Yu said. “I know it’s not sexy like some of the other [development] uses, but it’s still a necessity. … It’s still a needed business.”

Buellton Planning Commissioner Brian Campbell described a specific aversion to gas stations in the Avenue of Flags area at the commission’s March 20 meeting. Campbell made the comment after a review of a proposed Arco station, the subject of multiple submittals and Planning Commission rejections since 2018.

“We have seven existing gas stations within a 1-mile radius of the new proposed gas station, and one next door. I don’t love that,” Campbell said. “But that said, I do really like the design.”

With a 4-0 vote, the Planning Commission granted the Arco proposal a conditional use permit. Planning Commissioner Marcilo Sarquilla said that the project’s consistent failure to meet the area’s art deco mandate over the years was the main issue holding it back for so long.

“I’m glad you guys finally came up with a very nice art deco plan,” Sarquilla said. “The previous plan was pretty generic for Arco dealerships throughout the U.S. But this is unique and it’s a nice way to come into Buellton.”

The project site is located on Avenue of Flags near the city’s first southbound freeway entrance.

Alex Cuevas of AGC Design Concept—the architecture firm behind the Arco project— described the path toward the conditional use permit as frustrating. He blamed the multi-year delay on several back-and-forth requests and proposed modifications between city staff and Arco’s corporate office.

“I think you guys know me very well by now. We’ve been here many times,” Cuevas said. “I can’t tell you how difficult it’s been for us because we’ve been the middle person.”

This article appears in Apr 24 – May 4, 2025.