The developer of a 171-acre parcel that could eventually be home to some of Lathrop’s largest light-industrial buildings is asking for a little bit more time.
Tonight the Lathrop Planning Commission will decide on whether to extend the Lathrop Gateway Business Park’s previously approved specific plan vesting tentative parcel map for another two years at the request of the company that is developing the property.
The massive parcel – bounded by Yosemite Avenue to the north, McKinley Avenue to the east and the Union Pacific Railroad tracks to the south – is set to be broken up from 171-acres into six large developable lots ranging in size from 10 to 44 acres.
If approved, it would be the second extension that the commission has granted this project after giving the developer another year in February of 2017 for the same reason – a final map of the layout of the development has not yet formally been recorded.
Lathrop annexed the property as part of a 384-acre submission to the Local Agency Formation Commission in 2012, and an environmental impact has been completed for the overall project.
The initial bid for annexation worried some nearby residents and forced a pre-annexation agreement with some property owners and homeowners who didn’t wish to be included in the annexation when the city first proposed it. As part of the agreement, those parcels were incorporated within the city’s limits, but deferred the fees associated with the transition.
Homeowners residing the area that were worried that the industrial zoning designation would prevent them from being able to sell their homes if they chose to do were informed that as long as the property was maintained as a primary residence – a “legal, non-conforming status” – that it wouldn’t affect homeowners who chose to stay, or those who wished to sell the property to another family who planned on residing there.
The initial proposal called for 57 acres of commercial office use, 168 acres of limited industrial uses, and 83 acres of service commercial use – with the remaining 77 acres to be used for roads and public facility sites. Discussions about the limited industrial development have hinted at multiple buildings in excess of 1 million square-feet potentially being on the horizon.
The Lathrop Planning Commission regularly meets on the third Wednesday of the month at Lathrop City Hall, located at 390 Towne Centre Drive, at 6 p.m., but after last week’s cancellation the commission is holding a special meeting tonight to address the matter as well as other business. The meeting will still begin at 6 p.m.

To contact reporter Jason Campbell email jcampbell@mantecabulletin.com or call 209.249.3544.