Council to Hear Appeal from Auto Shop

The owner of Steve's Auto Care at 11820 San Pablo Ave. is asking the El Cerrito City Council to overturn the Planning Commission approval of an auto-related business next door.

A public hearing and possible council action on the appeal are on the agenda for tonight's regular 7 p.m. council meeting.

Steve Kahn says in his appeal that the new business next door "will erode my business model. The proposed development will not be harmonious and compatible with my property."

In a report to the council, the city planning staff disagrees with Kahn and recommends that the council uphold the Planning Commission decision. The report is attached to this article.

On Aug. 15, the Planning Commission approved a conditional use permit for Xiao Yi Zheng to establish a business for consignment sales of autos and repair service on the adjacent lot to the north of Steve's Auto Care. The two parcels formerly were one lot that was an auto dealership from 1975 to 2008, first by Honda and then by Mitsubishi.

The new business would serve primarily as an auto sales lot, with owners of the vehicles parking their cars on the lot on a consignment basis, and secondarily as a repair business, with repair service for the vehicles on the site and for the general public, according to the staff report.

"Both businesses operate under different business models," the report says. "The subject lot (for the new business) is primarily an auto sales (consignment) business with ancillary auto service for those cars being sold on the lot and for some public customers. Steve's Auto is primarily an auto service repair shop with ancillary automobile sales."

Kahn objects in particular to the new business's auto repair bays, which he says will cause noise and visual disruption to the layout and use of his business.

"The most concerning is the total upset of the layout and use of the front of my business by competing with visual and audible activities of the proposed auto repair bays," his appeal says. 

The staff report says, "The site configuration, size and building orientation of the two properties are opposite of each other," with the building in the front of the new business' lot and with the building in the back of the lot holding Steve's Auto Care.

Other objections by Kahn and the planning staff responses can be found in the attached report.

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