Panel OKs zoning exception for B&B

Benicia Planning Commission has recommended the City Council change its zoning ordinance to allow food trucks by permit in the Benicia Industrial Park.

But the panel also urged the Council to ask staff to find a way to protect food trucks that have operated for years in other parts of the city.

The unanimous vote came Thursday after the panel made minor modifications to the resolution that expressed their endorsement. Permits would be approved at staff level, and would cost $150.

Unless the ordinance is changed, Benicia has no provision for any type of food truck, ranging from ice cream vendors to caterers, to a specific taco truck on a 1-acre parcel at the intersection of Industrial Way and Park Road.

That truck has been operated for more than 20 years by the family of Antonio and Graciela Barragan.

The Barragans’ land is being sought by the city for a bus hub project for which Benicia would receive a Regional Measure 2 (bus toll) grant.

However, city employees failed to tell the Barragans about a key Council meeting during the period when votes on the project were scheduled to be taken.

That delayed some of the decision-making, during which the Barragans said that one condition that must be met before they would consider selling their land is the passage of an ordinance that would allow food vendor trucks to operate legally in the city.

Ed Ruszel, whose woodworking business is in the Industrial Park, told commissioners the Barragans hadn’t been told about Thursday’s meeting, either.

“We need to have this properly evaluated,” he said, urging the commission to delay its decision. “This needs to be brought into the daylight.”

The commission agreed with the ordinance staff has written, and accepted a recommendation from contract attorney Kat Wellman to recommend the Council also ask staff members to develop appropriate regulations to let existing food trucks continue to operate in other parts of the city.

In other business, the commission approved a variance that would let Stephen David build a two-story, 460-square-foot addition to the Inn at Benicia Bay, 140 East D St., and enclose a single-story porch on the rear of the bed and breakfast. The addition would let him expand his kitchen and close in what has been open-air seating for diners.

One neighbor, Meghan Kumisca, said she was worried about her privacy, and said she objected to the variance.

However, much of her objection related to the building’s second-story addition that won’t encroach on the rear setback. Wellman told the commission that portion of David’s project could be built even if the commission denied the variance.

Others spoke in support of the project. Bob Surratt, who said friends stayed at the bed and breakfast under its previous owners, and those friends had described it as “OK, but kind of run-down.”

He praised David’s efforts to turn the building into something nice and up-to-date that still kept some of its old charm.

The commission modified the variance slightly, such as adding verbiage Commissioner Belinda Smith wanted to make sure the enlarged kitchen would meet health and safety standards, before giving it unanimous approval.

Also Thursday, the panel also recommended the Council expand its notification of neighbors about site-specific projects from the current 300-foot radius to one of 500 feet.

Unlike zoning changes, which can impact multiple sites, a site-specific decision affects a single address.

Should the notification radius be increased without other changes, the notification cost would increase from about $370 for 150 letters to be sent to $485 for about 250 letters, Principal Planner Amy Million said.

But the commission has urged even more extensive notification.

Gene Pedrotti, a business owner in Southampton Shopping Center, urged the commission to include commercial tenants, not just property owners.

He said that for some decisions at the shopping center, such as permission for a cell phone tower, only the shopping center’s owner, Weingarten Realty, a Texas firm, received written notification.

City employees posted signs in the center, but a contractor hired to keep the center free of posted bills took most of them down, Pedrotti said.

Commissioner Stephen Young said residential renters, not just commercial tenants, also should be told, though Million said the additional work “would be hard on staff.” Only one employee handles notification, she said.

Interim Land Use Manager Nancy Kaufman said the city could charge additional costs to the applicant, “but that doesn’t increase staff.” Management Analyst Gina Eleccion said the city isn’t “close to cost recovery now,” explaining the fee schedule hasn’t been studied in 10 years.

The commission also examined its current list of priorities, but chose to act on the document at a future meeting.