Council Sends Auto Shop Back to Drawing Board

It’s back to the drawing board for a property owner who wanted to start an auto repair business at 603 S. El Camino Real.

The council voted 4-1 to send the project, Paramount Tires, back to the Planning Commission to add more architectural improvements and get more answers about how the business would impact the neighborhood.

The applicant is Soul Kitchen Industries. Robert Friedman is the principal in the firm and spoke before the council in favor of the project. He and his architect Michael Luna argued that the building was now empty and run-down.

If permitted, they said, it would house a new business and bring more jobs to the city.

Some residents said they didn’t want the project permit approved because the zoning plans in development for South El Camino Real specifically included limiting automotive businesses.

Preston Wilson is the owner of El Camino Automotive, which is across the street from the empty building. He said that he tried to buy the building in the past and that there were structural problems and the land was contaminated with automotive fluids from 50 years of use as a shop.

It was Mayor Lori Donchak, who dissented in the vote, said she was against the project altogether because it ran counter to new zoning plans currently in the works.