Planning commissioners approve South Center Drive bus transfer station

The Clearlake Planning Commission voted unanimously on Sept. 29 to approve CUP202606, allowing a Lake Transit Authority transfer station at 7180 South Center Drive.

Staff told the commission the project includes an approximately 3,125-square-foot administrative building, a covered bus canopy roughly 6,850 square feet in size, three EV charging stations and nine standard parking spaces. "The main focus of it is for those that are switching buses, picking or getting dropped off as a transfer hub," the staff presenter said. Initial operations would run 5–7 buses and expand to as many as 11 when needed, with hours of operation from about 5 a.m. to 10:10 p.m. Monday through Saturday.

Commissioners and members of the public raised questions about square-footage figures, landscaping tied to grant funding and potential queuing or idling impacts on nearby roadways and a nearby middle school. Staff and applicants responded that peak bus volumes are distributed across routes and that the project will move staging away from the Walmart location currently used for transfers. "They're gonna go through the roundabout and stage here, which will actually decrease the traffic of that Walmart," an applicant representative said.

After discussion the commission moved and seconded the staff recommendation and approved the permit on a roll-call vote. The clerk recorded five ayes and no nays. The permit is subject to standard conditions of approval and mitigation measures noted in the staff report, including sidewalk and landscaping improvements and CEQA mitigation measures from a countywide initial study and negative declaration adopted Sept. 9, 2022.

What happens next: Project proponents and city staff will finalize permit conditions and ensure applicable business licenses and municipal-code requirements are met before operations begin.