In addition to the controversial cell tower, the Los Banos Planning Commission approved the site plan for the renovation of the Police Annex Building and provided feedback on a 6,345-square-foot commercial building at its Sept. 9 meeting.
The commission gave mostly positive feedback when reviewing the site plan for the renovation of the old Police Annex building into the city’s Development Services Center (DSC).
Shaunt Yemenjian, architect from Paul Halajian Architects, explained that the project will house the engineering, planning and building departments from the city.
The city is “renovating, adapting and repurposing (the building),” Community and Economic Development Director Stacy Elms said. In total, the building is 11,000 square feet and will have 26 workstations and eight private offices.
Elms reported that the building’s eastern half, a 1939 dairy, was encapsulated in 1964 by the rest of the building. The unreinforced brick is too seismically unstable and will be torn out and rebuilt.
“Yeah, it probably would have been at least more efficient for us to start over. (But) we want this building to be what it is.
“We want to bring some love back to it . . . This is a civic building that is known by the community for how it looks. We want to keep the integrity of this building as it is,” she stated.
Yemenjian explained that the first floor will have a 20- to 22-person conference room in the west, a central public lobby with desks for all three departments, workstations in the east, a break room, a staff entrance and touchdown desks.
He explained the touchdown desks are for inspectors: “(It’s) a space where they can just sort of touch down, fill out an electronic form on their laptop and then be back out.”
The lobby will have a central back wall, which Yemenjian explained will be a branding wall. The second floor has more workstations, a small cafe, a small library, the eight private offices and a boardroom.
The most visible change is renovating the front view of the building to have smaller, more functional windows, fiber-cement panelling, and an active front entrance. The entrance will have an awning with a sign saying “City of Los Banos.”
In the former drive-thru, there will be a patio with landscaping allowing access to the large conference room and the gated staff parking lot. City Manager Nirorn Than said, “This is the role model and example of how (a) building in Los Banos should be designed.”
Elms explained that they plan to build a stamped concrete crosswalk between the city hall and DSC. The construction will be used to run communications infrastructure between the buildings. Elms also explained that staff entrances will either have a key- or card-secured entry.
Commissioner Steven Nunes asked why they had to provide four public EV charging stalls. Elms explained that they’re required to have three by state law. Nunes commented that there should only be the minimum required.
Commissioner Rob Robinson asked, “Are you happy with the way this looks on the exterior 100 percent? Because we’re setting precedent right now.” “We’re really excited about where this is going,” Elms replied.
The commissioners approved the site plan review unanimously.
The 6,435-square-foot commercial building will be located on Ortigalita Road, west of the old 99 Cents store, north of Harbor Freight, and southeast of IHOP, according to Ragunton’s report.
It will house a 4,225-square-foot dental facility and a 2,120-square-foot quick-service restaurant with a drive-thru wrapping around the building. The building is “like a sister to the Starbucks building (in style),” Elms said. She continued, “The renderings don’t do it justice.”
Commissioners gave little feedback beyond ensuring it was consistent with the area.
Elms reported that the next meeting on Sept. 23 is canceled, as staff will be at the League of California Cities.
