THROUGH MY EYES -- RON DAVIS

It’s hard to get yourself pumped up over the configuration and

placement of a gas station. But, that’s what the Huntington Beach City

Council did Monday night as the city staff tried to tank Chevron’s

proposal for a gas station/convenience store at the corner of Goldenwest

Street and Warner Avenue.

Councilwoman Shirley Dettloff offered a high octane, premium-grade

argument of passion and eloquence supporting city staff’s recommendation

to deny Chevron the right to build the station, unless they agree to turn

the gas station on its head. Most gas station/convenience store sites are

functional eyesores shaped like baseball diamonds. As you approach an

intersection (home plate) your eyes are confronted with the unappealing

visual assault of asphalt, cars and trucks, and those ever attractive gas

pumps (the pitcher’s mound) splashed against the backdrop of a

convenience store (second base), fashioned with the architectural

creativity of a sixth-grader. (Maybe I owe an apology to the

sixth-graders.) This approach is referred to as the traditional model.

About a year ago, after considerable community and professional input,

the city adopted something called Urban Design Guidelines. The purpose of

these was to upgrade the aesthetics of commercial development in the

city. In the case of gas station/convenience stores, the guidelines

recommended that the traditional gas station configuration be flipped or

reversed so that the convenience store portion of the station backed up

to the corner of the property (home base), and the pumps, islands and

canopy be placed on the interior of the site, running from the pitcher’s

mound to second base.

The expectation was that as you drove through an intersection, you

would see a tasteful, landscaped and well-designed back of a convenience

store on the corner, which would partially hide the ugliness of the

vehicles, pumps and canopy on the interior of the site. This reverse

model was the model supported by the city staff, but opposed by Chevron.

While this model has been used in some cities in the county, and

indeed is part of the guidelines for some 10 or 11 cities, this was a

test case for Huntington Beach.

There is little question that the guidelines produce a more

aesthetically pleasing gas station/convenience store site. And, there is

also no question that the residents of Huntington Beach deserve design

standards second to none. The problem is, according to Chevron, that

reversing the gas station creates safety problems. While our Police

Department doesn’t prefer one configuration over the other, Chevron

maintains it is responsible for the safety of its employees and

customers, and that the traditional configuration allows for greater

visibility of the convenience store and customers from the street for

both passing police and motorists.

The majority of the City Council decided to let Chevron have its way,

but only so long as Chevron submits itself to a design review process

calculated at producing a more attractive building and canopy, with

better landscaping.

While the guidelines lost this battle, and may be in jeopardy of

losing more battles in the future, they still served as serious leverage

to require Chevron to construct a more architecturally desirable

structure with enhanced landscaping, or be forced to reverse their

layout. As a result, we’ll get a station which is light years away from

what was there, and many miles ahead of what I would have expected.

This was one of those tough calls where the positions of all sides had

merit. I agree with the majority’s decision on the subject and would have

been unwilling to elevate aesthetics over safety. While a discussion of a

gas station ought to be boring, our City Council’s discussion of this one

was a gas.

* RON DAVIS is a private attorney who lives in Huntington Beach. He

can be reached by e-mail at o7 [email protected]