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The Woodside Town Council voted 3-2 in favor of the Cañada Corners application to build permanent outdoor dining spaces and additional parking with amended conditions, on Dec. 10. Council members Paul Goeld and Hassan Aburish voted against the application.
The town plans to force the applicant, the Roberts family which owns the Cañada Corners commercial property at 3036-3062 Woodside Road, to abide by the seating capacities of 117 for the Village Bakery and 144 for Buck’s Restaurant, which are set out in the conditional use permit.
Earlier this fall, the property owner asked businesses to remove the outdoor dining spaces, which were built during the COVID-19 pandemic. The parklets were in violation of the property’s conditional use permit as businesses were seating more patrons than allowed, causing issues with parking.
Over 100 emails were received by the council pertaining to the project. The majority supported outdoor dining, but commenters were divided on the need for more parking.
The council agreed on the application with amendments to the CUP, including restrictions on delivery hours between 6 a.m. and 8 p.m., security barriers to prevent after hours access, four-foot fencing to provide screening for neighbors, additional security cameras, and two new 10-foot light poles.
Contention on additional parking and saving open space
Despite almost all residents supporting outdoor dining, town residents disagreed on the necessity of expanding the parking lot into the open space adjacent to the property. Some acknowledged that parking at Cañada Corners has been a problem since the 1990s, prior to outdoor dining.
Community members were concerned that the parking lot expansion would ruin the town’s rural image, invite more tourists and increase traffic on Woodside Road.
“Are we trying to keep a town or are we trying to keep a city?” said resident Bree-Anna VaiI. “I don’t think anybody here that has a warm feeling of the town of Woodside wants to see you tear up this beautiful little place that, if it is opened up to parking, it’s just going to be another ugly parking lot.”
Melinda Stoker, a Woodside resident, said that the parking lot expansion would negatively impact an area that already struggles with traffic, especially after students get out of school. She recommended the town conduct a traffic study in the area.
“This would only benefit the business owners and would have very little benefit to those who even frequent the bakery and Buck’s,” said Stoker.
Local architect Steve Lubin added that the majority of the cars in the current lot are from grocery store employees and although he supports more parking, he believes the spaces should be designed according to town standards and preserve the natural landscape.
Residents say parking has always been an issue at Cañada Corners. Vicki Coe recommended that the town address the traffic issues by restricting construction and reconsidering Woodside Elementary School release times; the school is located just down the road from the business corridor.
Others argue against building on designated open space to accommodate more parking. “It’s wrong to state that outdoor dining cannot be done without bulldozing the open space,” said resident Don Pugh.
Council member Dick Brown shared his support for additional parking, reminding the community that the town is in the process of building 394 new homes, which will bring more people into Woodside.
“The idea that we can stay as we are, no change, is a fantasy,” Brown said. To those concerned about building on the land, he noted that the project retains 71% of open space.
‘The idea that we can stay as we are, no change, is a fantasy.’
woodside council member dick brown
Council member Aburish supported building more parking, but wanted fewer new spaces. He encouraged further staff analysis and studies to be conducted.
The council has been pushed by community members to approve the application without delay, yet Goeld described conditions as having “a gun to our heads.” In addition to parking, the council is facing concerns about traffic, open space, lighting, safety and landscaping.
“These are legitimate. We shouldn’t have a gun to our heads to make these decisions, take it or leave it. I think that we do need to protect neighbors who have legitimate concerns. They haven’t been addressed in a timely manner,” he added.
Modifying delivery hours, fencing and security
Neighbors of Cañada Corners have complained that noises from delivery trucks at dawn can be loud and disruptive as well as headlights from the parking lot shining through their windows.
Council member Jenn Wall proposed that the CUP only allow deliveries between 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. The council agreed that signage will also be posted at the front of the property prohibiting non-employee parking outside of open hours from 6 a.m. to 11 p.m.
Wall and Aburish also supported adding a chain to prevent people from parking in the lot outside of open hours. The council voted to add necessary security cameras at each entrance and exit point to monitor drivers coming in and out of the shopping center.
A four-foot solid wall will also be constructed to separate the expanded parking lot area from the adjacent residential properties to prevent any disturbances from lights or traffic.
Enforcing CUP seating capacities
The Village Bakery and Buck’s Restaurant have not been compliant with the property’s CUP for three years, according to Goeld.
“If we were so far over capacity that we were seating double the number of people that should be allowed in the restaurants, what would it look like if that wasn’t the case,” said Aburish.
Goeld emphasized the importance of holding businesses accountable for exceeding seating capacity. The Village Bakery and Buck’s are currently seating over the permitted number of patrons, members of the council contend.
In the council’s amendments to the CUP, members agreed to temporarily impose a fine of $50 per extra patron seated over the capacity. The council asked the businesses to track the number of seated customers in a computer system which the town can check for violations.
Goeld believes that if businesses abide by the allowed number of patrons, the property will not have a parking problem.
“My question comes down to, do we even need (more) parking at all?” said Goeld. “We don’t know that because we’re seating so many more people than the permit allows.”
During the interim period after the application’s approval, the applicant must complete all necessary steps to obtain approved construction permits to expand the parking lot and commence construction within a year.
The property owner is also required to provide valet parking for restaurants between 10 a.m. and 6 p.m. “to provide a level of parking management” to accommodate additional vehicles, according to the staff report.
If these steps are not completed, the maximum seats allowed for each restaurant will revert to its previous capacity of 120 for Buck’s and 70 for The Village Bakery.
The town will evaluate the applicant’s CUP six months after the project is constructed.
Wall recommended that the town revisit the CUP every year or two to evaluate whether all conditions are being followed by the property owner.
This is such an incomplete article.
The open space under discussion is private property owned by the people who own the commercial site.
We HAD and ELECTION where the people of Woodside approved the rezoning. The people have already spoken!
There is no gun to anyone’s head. Between all the information from the Measure A rezoning initiative and everything associated with the application, there is more than enough information to come to an informed opinion.
Parking has been a problem for a long time. Keeping the outdoor dining would reduce parking by, if I remember correctly, and I may not, about 30 spaces.
The application isn’t to pave over all of the rezoned lot. Just under 30% of it.
All this talk about outsiders coming to Woodside is just odd. We shop and visit other neighboring locations, why can’t people who don’t live in Woodside eat at Bucks or shop at Roberts? Are we that screwed up and elitist?
Woodside has always evolved. It will always evolve. Allowing for keeping some outdoor dining, that EVERYONE seems to like means that the eliminated parking makes a real problem. Expanding some parking on PRIVATE PROPERTY seems like a pretty good way to deal with part of the problem.
The no change crew seems to keep ignoring the Measure A vote. The “let’s study more” crew just wants to delay and ignore all the information out there. This should have been a 5-0 vote, not 3-2. At least a majority of the vote seemed to be responsive to the will of the people, even though the usual suspects are as vocal as ever. Thankfully this passed, the work can get done, and we can all get on with our lives.
Matt Richter, PhD