The proposed and approved Pilot/Flying J truck stop that will service I-5 traffic on Roth Road cleared a hurdle on Monday.
Because the expected sales tax that the facility will generate is in excess of $1 million, the City of Lathrop had to execute a separate standalone tax sharing agreement with San Joaquin County.
With the blessing of the City Council, the facility is now a step closer to clearing the legal wrangling required of annexing a parcel of property into Lathrop’s city limits.
And because of that annexation, the City of Lathrop will also receive sales tax revenue from the Pape Kenworth Truck Sales location that is adjacent to the property – requiring an updated agreement with the county on that as well.
Two other properties – homes with yards belonging to a landscape contractor and a pool contractor – will also be included.
Per the agreement, the county will receive 1 percent of the sales tax generated at the facility or the adjacent businesses as well as 80 percent of the property tax that was previously allotted entirely to the county.
While the decision to allow the nation’s largest truck stop company to come into the community has been hailed by many in the community as smart financial move – the company said that they were building at the site regardless of whether the council wanted to annex the property to get the sales tax windfall or not – it hasn’t been without its share of controversy.
One of the major themes of the 2016 council campaign has been the construction of the truck stop – one of the cornerstones of the campaign of Mayor Sonny Dhaliwal’s challenger Steve Macias.
The matter has led to the creation of a grassroots community movement to try and rescind the council’s motion and force the issue onto an upcoming ballot for the community to decide, but an attempt at a petition that would have done just that failed after a large chunk of the signatures that were submitted for review were found to be invalid.
While those opposed maintain that the site will bring crime, pollution and drug sales, the city – including Lathrop Police Services – maintains that the city’s existing truck stop hasn’t been a problem when compared to other major truck stops in the area, and that additional patrols would help thwart any problems before they arose.
Truckers have also taken issue with the opposition, stating that finding a safe place to park for the night is crucial, and that the claims about drug sales are false because drivers are often randomly drug tested and must be drug tested before getting their Department of Transportation certification.
It will now be up to the Local Agency Formation Commission – or LAFCO – to approve the annexation that will allow the company to take a step closer to breaking ground on the complex.

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