Pacific Grove >> Despite an appeal by a group of residents opposing it, the City Council last week approved the mixed-use project at 520-522 Lighthouse Ave., property that is home to the city’s old gas station and the current location of Goodies Sandwich shop and Marina Patina co-op. The approval came on a 6-to-1 vote after three hours of discussion about the controversial three-story development project with Councilman Robert Huitt casting the dissenting opinion partly due to the building’s architecture.

“We’d had some members of the community oppose it but like I have said before, I think that is mostly because it is such a shock to the system,” said Councilman Rudy Fischer, in an email. “People just aren’t used to the idea of an actual downtown in Pacific Grove.”

The new development on the north side of Lighthouse Avenue between Fountain Avenue and 15th Street will consist of 10 residential units on the upper floor, restaurants and retail on the first floor and an underground parking structure. City leaders supportive of the project note the benefits of the additional housing it will provide and the financial boost it will give to downtown. Fischer said that he has spoken with many business owners and their employees who say they need more customers coming through their doors.

“The residents who live on Walnut or 10th Street or Asilomar Avenue won’t even notice anything — they won’t even see or hear the changes downtown. In fact, most of the city will see no change except that the city has more money to take care of their streets,” added Fischer.

It was in June that on a vote of 4 to 2, planning commissioners approved the project’s architectural permit and use permit and allowed for the demolition of the existing 3,472-square-foot building there. That was after the city’s Planning Department recommended some revisions that focused on the project’s mass and architectural features.

While the project’s original design was proposed in November 2016, the site’s owner Greg Zimmerman, through his company Gerald Leigh Properties, has been willing to revise the project as needed.

Huitt, who said he’s happy the development is moving forward and that he expects the developer to do a good job, noted it was because the council was voting on a combined application for both a use permit and architectural permit that he couldn’t vote yes on the project.

“I would have actually approved the use permit — it’s a mixed-use project, which is exactly what we need there, said Huitt. “I simply wanted there to be some design changes and so in effect, I had to vote no on the whole project because I couldn’t approve the architectural design as it was.”

Now, the project will be put on the city’s water wait list. While the last time the gas station there was modified was in 1992 (after being built in 1957) it is not on the city’s historic resources inventory. Still, there’s a great history behind the original gas station that once existed there. That was the Flying A service station that was owned and operated by Everett “Red” Williams. Known as Red’s, it was where John Steinbeck and other characters of the time in the 1930s would often congregate.

Carly Mayberry can be reached at 726-4363.