Chipotle, AT&T tower approved

The City of Tehachapi Planning Commission approved the site plan for a new 2,400-square-foot Chipotle Mexican Grill at their Aug. 9 meeting. The new restaurant will be located in the Tehachapi Junction center near Starbucks at the corner of Tucker Road and Tehachapi Blvd.

Although it will feature a drive thru, orders will need to be placed in advance with customers notified that their order is ready before entry into the drive thru is allowed. The restaurant has also agreed to add additional outside seating. Chipotle has been one of the targets of economic development efforts of the City for the last several years. 

Also approved with a 4-1 vote by the Planning Commission was a 65-foot tall, unmanned telecommunication facility proposed by AT&T to be located on a 420-square-foot area of vacant land leased from the Tehachapi Unified School District and adjacent to their existing maintenance yard. The facility is to look like a giant pine tree and contains 12 new panel antennas and 36 remote radio units with associated equipment and a diesel generator. Five additional real pine trees will be added to help the tower eventually blend in.

Development Services Director Jay Schlosser said that AT&T prefers to use municipal sites for their towers and it will add to TUSD revenue. The tower will extend AT&T service east as far as Steuber Road but will only slightly improve AT&T service in Downtown Tehachapi. Commissioner Daryl Christensen was the dissenting vote.

The Tehachapi Planning Commission meets on the second Monday of each month at 6 p.m. They are currently meeting at The BeeKay Theater, 110 S. Green St.