Los Banos O’Reilly Auto Parts design approved

Plans to improve the “gateway” to downtown Los Banos are moving forward after the city’s planning commissioners approved a design for a new O’Reilly Auto Parts store on the corner of Pacheco Boulevard and Sixth Street.

The commissioners on Wednesday reviewed designs for a 8,712-square-foot building that would house O’Reilly Auto Parts at the northwest corner of the intersection.

“They were pretty satisfied with the revisions made,” Los Banos Senior Planner Stacy Souza Elms said. “The project will be moving forward for a public hearing Oct. 12.”

In previous design review study sessions on June 8 and 22, members of the Planning Commission weren’t pleased with the initial plans, noting that the building didn’t mesh with the mission style and other types of buildings in and near the downtown area.

They were also concerned with making sure the building was a welcoming addition to the street corner.

“It’s got to have pizazz because that’s the entry to our downtown,” Commissioner Tom Spada said in the June 8 meeting. “To me, that’s a must.”

But Souza Elms said O’Reilly Auto Enterprises LLC took the commissioners’ feedback and made several changes to the plan. Those changes include incorporating architectural enhancements and stucco designs of other downtown buildings, combining the Spanish mission style into the design, and installing clay tiles and wall crevices for growth of decorative vines.

The new design also called for muting down the original bright red color of the building, and installing windows to the plain wall facing Sixth Street.

“It’s the gateway to downtown,” Souza Elms said. “(The commissioners) didn’t want that wall to look like a commercial wall.”

This story was originally published September 29, 2016 at 4:07 PM with the headline "Los Banos O’Reilly Auto Parts design approved."