SAN MARCOS
DISCOVER LIFE's POSSIBILITIES
MINUTES
Regular Meeting of the Planning Commission
MONDAY, OCTOBER 06, 2025
City Council Chambers
1 Civic Center Drive, San Marcos, CA 92069
CALL TO ORDER
At 6:30 p.m. Planning Commission Chair Rios called the meeting to order:
PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE
Commissioner Norris led the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag.
ROLL CALL
The Secretary called the roll:
PRESENT: COMMISSIONERS: BARNETT, CAVANAUGH, SAULSBERRY, RIOS, CARROLL, KILDOO, NORRIS, ALTERNATE COMMISSIONERS IN AUDIENCE: RICO, MARCINKO
ABSENT COMMISSIONERS: NONE
Also present were: Planning Division Director Joe Farace; Associate Planner Sarah Cluff; Assistant Engineer Macey Winter; Deputy City Attorney Punam Prahalad; Senior Office Specialist Gina Jackson.
ORAL AND WRITTEN COMMUNICATIONS
None
CONSENT CALENDAR
1. APPROVAL OF MINUTES, 06/16/2025
www.san-marcos.net
CITY OF SAN MARCOS, CALIFORNIA 1 Civic Center Drive | San Marcos, CA 92069 | (760) 744-1050 Regular Planning Commission
Monday, October 06, 2025 | Page 2 of 5
Action:
COMMISSIONER SAULSBERRY MOVED TO APPROVE CONSENT CALENDAR ITEM #1 AS PRESENTED; SECONDED BY COMMISSIONER BARNETT. MOTION CARRIED BY THE FOLLOWING VOTE.
AYES: COMMISSIONERS: BARNETT, CAVANAUGH, SAULSBERRY, RIOS, CARROLL, NORRIS NOES: COMMISSIONERS: NONE
ABSENT: COMMISSIONERS: NONE
ABSTAIN: COMMISSIONERS: KILDOO
PUBLIC HEARING
2. Project No: TA23-0001 and EX25-030
Applicant: City of San Marcos
Request: A Comprehensive update to the Zoning Ordinance Title 20 of the San Marcos Municipal Code.
Recommendation: Staff recommends approval to City Council Associate Planner Sarah Cluff: gave staff presentation.
OPEN PUBLIC COMMENTS: None
Planning Commissioners Discussions: Informative presentation; several grammar errors on pages 118 & 119 have commas added when there should not be any commas; should this update be done when the General Plan is updated; doubling the amount of time to process a permit instead of utilizing the time extension request; well thought out document that addresses a number of concerns; adjustments to automobile rental businesses; objective findings on Conditional Use Permit approvals or denials.
Staff Response: General Plan update is still on hold while the Creek Specific Plan is being updated. Once the General Plan is adopted, staff will go back and implement a new zoning ordinance. Observations were made on certain projects asking for time extensions, so we wanted to give adequate processing time. The commercial zone chapter is updating the allowable uses that are not within a closed building, such as plant nurseries and automobile rental requiring outdoor use.
City Attorney Response: The case law requires that a Conditional Use Permit approval uses objective standards and findings. In San Marcos, all Conditional Use Permits come to the Planning Commission and presented to the Commissioners, there will be objective facts and standards that are used to recommend approval or denial.
Action:
COMMISSIONER KILDOO MOTIONED TO RECOMMEND APPROVAL TO CITY COUNCIL PC25-5148 FOR TA23-0001 & ADOPTING EX25-030 WHICH INCLUDES THE CHANGES IN THE ERRATA AND THE City of San Marcos | 1 Civic Center Drive | San Marcos, CA 92069 | (760) 744-1050 | www.san-marcos.net 2 Regular Planning Commission
Monday, October 06, 2025 | Page 3 of 5
GRAMMAR CORRECTIONS FOR THE FIRST PHASE AND SECONDED BY COMMISSIONER SAULSBERRY.
MOTION CARRIED BY THE FOLLOWING VOTE.
AYES: COMMISSIONERS: BARNETT, CAVANAUGH, SAULSBERRY, RIOS, KILDOO, CARROLL, NORRIS
NOES: COMMISSIONERS: NONE
ABSENT: COMMISSIONERS: NONE
ABSTAIN: COMMISSIONERS: NONE
3. Project No: CUP23-0004 and ND25-002
Applicant: Costco Wholesale
Request: Request for a Conditional Use Permit for the operation of an automotive fueling station at the existing Costco Business Warehouse in the Commercial (C) Zone.
Recommendation: Staff recommends approval
Associate Planner Sarah Cluff and Assistant Engineer Macey Winter: gave staff presentation.
Chris Ferko with Barghausen/Core States; applicant representative: gave the applicant presentation.
OPEN PUBLIC COMMENTS: None
Planning Commissioners Discussions: Selling diesel fuel; EV charging stations; hours of operation; fuel truck exit; fair share contribution to the Bent/Grand intersection; encourage adding EV charging stations; Commission voting on this project if they are member of Costco; planned operation of gas station; new condominiums next to proposed Costco gas station; requiring EV chargers at the fuel station; ingress and egress onto Bent; timeframe to receive feedback if EV charging stations will be added; level of service; Costco is a good partner with the city and people are excited for this new gas station; thank you for the presentation and this is good project with the growth of our city; there is a positive impact to our city.
Applicant representative response: Diesel will not be sold at this location. The hours of the fuel station will be 6:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. 7 days a week. The exit will be chained off to prevent cars from using the exit as an entrance. The proximity of entrance is an issue. Costco has 2 to 3 employees working at the gas station to help manage the operation of the facility. The driveway onto Linda Vista will be chained off and used for City of San Marcos | 1 Civic Center Drive | San Marcos, CA 92069 | (760) 744-1050 | www.san-marcos.net 3 Regular Planning Commission
Monday, October 06, 2025 | Page 4 of 5
only fuel trucks and emergency vehicles. There are two driveways onto Bent that customers can enter and exit from.
Kayleen Burnett with Costco Wholesale response: EV chargers are planned on a case-by-case basis, but we will take a look if we have the power capacity. I will review this with my operations and utility teams the next day and should have a response within a week or two.
Staff response: At the time of the tenant improvement, they utilized the 2019 Cal Green Code and at the time of the current project review 2022 Cal Green Code would only trigger the requirement for EV charging station with an addition of new parking spaces. The signal will be installed as a Capital Improvement Project and budgeted to be done within the next 5 years. The intersection has already been identified as operating inefficiently, and it's not appropriate to require developers to construct the improvement. There's a CIP budget with other projects programmed and that is the reason for the timeline. The intersection was already deficient, and the developers are not causing all the impacts, so they are only required to provide a fair share contribution. This is a city-wide problem and that is why the city will install the signals. The condos will not be directly adjacent to Costco. EV requirements are based on the uses of the business. Costco Business made only tenant improvements to the inside of the building and no exterior improvements were made. Under that building code, there were no requirements to install EV chargers. The gas station alone does not require EV chargers. If they were adding a convenience store next to the gas station, then we could require them to add the EV chargers. The E and F refer to how these intersections are currently operating. The intersections are currently operating under an insufficient level of service. Improvements are required if it increases the intersection delay by more than 2 seconds, which was applicable to the three identified intersections. The new traffic signals timing changes will bring the level of service to sufficient.
Kristine Connolly with Kittleson & Associates, Inc. response: There are also some existing queues from the intersection, and we didn't want to contribute to that. There is an existing traffic signal at Bent and Grand and maybe referring to Linda Vista and Grand. A traffic signal was identified as a future improvement by the Marcos project, and we calculated a fair share contribution to that signal. In the near term, Costco will provide the restriping of the intersection to provide the left and right turn lanes which will restore the intersection to acceptable operations.
City Attorney response: Membership in a retail organization would not be a conflict.
Action:
COMMISSIONER SAULSBERRY MOTIONED TO APPROVE PC25-5156 FOR CUP23-0004 AND ADOPT ND25- 002 AND SECONDED BY COMMISSIONER BARNETT. MOTION CARRIED BY THE FOLLOWING VOTE.
AYES: COMMISSIONERS: BARNETT, CAVANAUGH, SAULSBERRY, RIOS, CARROLL, KILDOO, NORRIS
NOES: COMMISSIONERS: NONE
ABSENT: COMMISSIONERS: NONE
ABSTAIN: COMMISSIONERS: NONE
City of San Marcos | 1 Civic Center Drive | San Marcos, CA 92069 | (760) 744-1050 | www.san-marcos.net Regular Planning Commission
Monday, October 06, 2025 | Page 5 of 5
CLOSED PUBLIC COMMENTS
PLANNING DIVISION DIRECTOR COMMENTS: The Woodward 46 project located across from City Hall on Mission was approved by City Council 5-0 on September 9th. The Creek District update continues and a Notice of Preparation meeting to launch the environmental review process was held. We also plan to have a meeting with our Planning Commission Subcommittee on October 20th and will agendize the update.
PLANNING COMMISSIONERS COMMENTS: Commissioner Cavanaugh expressed that the Commission had announced that she recently married and that her last name has changed.
ADJOURNMENT
At 7:49 p.m. Chair Rios adjourned the meeting.
7. Querrero
FATIMA QUERRERO, CHAIRPERSON
CITY OF SAN MARCOS PLANNING COMMISSION
ATTEST:
Uma Aachen
GINA JACKSON, SENIOR OFFICE SPECIALIST
CITY OF SAN MARCOS PLANNING COMMISSION
City of San Marcos | 1 Civic Center Drive | San Marcos, CA 92069 | (760) 744-1050 | www.san-marcos.net