Gas station, fast-food restaurant plan OK'd by Commission

By Doug Spoon, Editor

The Menifee Planning Commission Wednesday approved plans for a Shell gas station, car wash and fast-food restaurant to be built on the northwest corner of McCall Boulevard and Encanto Drive.

The project will be constructed on a 2.10-acre lot bordered by McCall Boulevard, Encanto Drive and the northbound on-ramp to the 215 Freeway. Previously the site of an abandoned building and dirt area used by big rig truck drivers as a rest stop, the project is expected to be completed in about a year, the property owner stated.

According to city documents, the project will include a 3,200-square-foot convenience store as part of the gas station, a 3,200-square-foot fueling canopy with six gas pumps, a 1,140-square-foot automated car wash, and a 3,900-square-foot fast-food restaurant. A tenant for the fast-food site has not yet been determined.

There will be 53 parking stalls in the complex. As part of the project, developer KA Enterprises will contribute funding to traffic improvements at that intersection. These will include a widening of northbound Encanto Drive approaching McCall Boulevard to include a left-turn lane, a through lane, and a right-turn lane.

According to Kassen Klein, who represents the developer, the gas station will include electric charging stations.

The Planning Commision approved the project unanimously, but new commissioner David White expressed some concern about the lack of variety of businesses on the McCall corridor to the east and west of the 215 Freeway.

White noted that the Shell station would become the fifth gas station between Sherman Road and Sun City Boulevard – an area of just a few blocks. A commercial center planned for Sherman Road and McCall Boulevard will include an ARCO station, and a Valero station is located across the street from the Shell station project.

“The trend seems to be convenience stores, gas station and car washes,” White said. “For something that is an economic corridor, it seems that’s all there’s going to be. I understand the zoning requirements, but there doesn’t seem to be a variety of businesses in that area.”

Walmart owns a large piece of property on the northeast corner of that intersection but has done nothing to move forward with the project since it purchased the land in 2012. Walmart has also delayed or abandoned plans for a second Walmart at the northeast corner of Scott Road and Haun Road.

“Development in that area around McCall stalled years ago,” responded commissioner Chris Thomas. “There used to be a dilapidated old building on that property, which was a problem with homelessness. This project definitely will be an improvement. I think you’ll start seeing a push for higher level development in that area.”

The Legado community, a proposed 331-acre development, will bring another 1,000 houses to the area north of McCall in the future. Cheryl Kitzerow, the city’s community development director, said that there are signs of growth in the area that will eventually include not only more houses, but a greater variety of businesses.

“The current auto sites rely on the number of trips up and down the freeway,” Kitzerow said. “Other types of development rely on rooftops. You’ll see this development first, and as you see more rooftops, you’ll see more commercial development.”

This is how the property looks today, prior to the construction of a gas station, car wash and fast-food restaurant.