Orinda City Council, Jan 13, 2026
The council introduced an ordinance amending municipal code sections on definitions and downtown commercial use restrictions for convenience markets at service stations, passing it unanimously, and approved the 2026 committee and liaison list.
2 h 29 min in session · date on the body’s own agenda listing
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Posted as “Orinda City Council Meeting - January 13, 2026”
The meeting, in short
The council introduced an ordinance amending municipal code sections on definitions and downtown commercial use restrictions for convenience markets at service stations, passing it unanimously, and approved the 2026 committee and liaison list. 2:17:25
Written by one AI reader from the transcript and checked against it by a second, which read every line it cites. An independent reader checked 122 summary lines from across the site against their full meetings: 122 were right.
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What members said, in order
I think the other thing we talked about last night was we got an update from our public works staff in regards to our drainage mapping. Um, which is a combination of both public and private drainage mapping, um, that will hopefully update the city's records enormously in terms of the information they have of the drainage throughout the community.Darlene K. Gee · Vice Mayor15:32
I, I mean, if— hate to put you on the spot, Chief Rossi, but, but we are. And where I'm coming from on this is I recall previously hearing from our police chief that there really wasn't data to substantiate that there was necessarily additional crime based on this type of a, you know, uh, convenience store.Latika Malkani · Councilmember48:55
Did the Planning Commission talk about whatever security the normal Extra Mile store would have?Cara Hoxie · Councilmember51:21
Again, it's, um, I, I, I don't know. We're only analyzing whether or not the 35-foot rule would work for the other stations, and I don't know if the other stations could meet the this requirement. So I'm wondering what the purpose of all that restriction is.Janet Riley · Councilmember53:48
We're not talking groceries. I mean prepared grab-and-go lunches and that sort of thing. We're just talking about something other than you would see on the interstate and more akin to maybe even like a 7-Eleven. So just to clarify, the question was not grocery quality, but food versus candy and beer, right?Brandyn Iverson · Mayor59:16
One of the concerns in our community is underage drinking. Can you talk about what steps you would take to prevent underage purchase of alcohol at the convenience store?Cara Hoxie · Councilmember1:10:58
I would love to see something more akin to that in Orinda, where the actual hot food, you know, morning coffee and pastries and sandwiches are sort of at a higher level than we typically expect in a convenience store. Is there any chance of something like that occurring?Cara Hoxie · Councilmember1:12:10
I also am in favor of this. I think the time is right. And I think there's been a good deal of effort put into it to create a very appealing gas station market. I mean, it's hard to do much better than have a trellis and have an observation deck over a creek.Janet Riley · Councilmember1:47:52
I wholeheartedly agree with Vice Mayor G's approach. Um, one thing that nobody's mentioned is that we have already approved this exact ordinance. So if we were to take a different tack, we would have to have a very strong justification. Um, and so I was very mindful of that coming into this, that it's not A new question.Brandyn Iverson · Mayor1:50:43
Personally, I don't either. Um, I don't quite understand where the square footage came from and why it's here. And on the other hand, it didn't seem like it was objectionable, it seemed like that at least on the maximum side would make it so it wasn't like a mega, you know, liquor store market.Cara Hoxie · Councilmember1:57:03
I guess from my perspective, I want the ability for the city to take it on a more case-by-case basis because each of the sites has something different to offer.Cara Hoxie · Councilmember1:59:22
I really appreciate that. And I would add the fact that we had this conversation today where one of our organizations, um, you know, they didn't really know that they had a liaison. And when I was— several of these liaison roles are pretty dormant.Brandyn Iverson · Mayor2:23:34
I have one, and not sure how— what you're going to think about it, but the no left turn on Ivy has been out there for years. It was supposed to be— we were supposed to be talking about it more back in October.Brandyn Iverson · Mayor2:27:05
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Members we named
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Of the speech we named for Latika Malkani here:
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