Lathrop’s Spartan Way – the section of Lathrop Road west of I-5 that was renamed at the request of the Lathrop High School student body – is getting an extension.
On Monday the Lathrop City Council voted unanimously as part of its consent calendar to rename a portion of Lathrop Road that existed west of Spartan Way match the section of roadway that runs in front of Lathrop High School to prevent any confusion for homeowners or first responders who might get confused by the two, separated sections of the city’s namesake thoroughfare.
Land Park Drive, which was named during the tenure of a previous developer that never completed the project – thus allowing Saybrook to acquire the property and begin development – was also renamed Stanford Crossing to coincide with the first major housing tract being constructed as a part of the new Central Lathrop Specific Plan.
Notification letters were sent out to landowners, various utility companies, county agencies, the United States Postal Service and the Manteca Unified School District, and both Lathrop Police Services and the Lathrop-Manteca Fire District reviewed the proposal and signed-off on the change.
Stanford Crossing – which has two vesting tentative maps approved to construct 1,470 single-family homes – is a nod to the days long before Lathrop was officially a city. Leland Stanford, who drove in the golden spike of the First Transcontinental Railroad at Promontory Summit, Utah, was responsible for the construction of the section of rail that extended from Oakland clear across to Utah. The last portion of that Leland-constructed segment, the Mossdale Bridge, wasn’t completed until months after the ceremonial joining of the overland route that connected America’s coasts.
He also named Lathrop after the maiden name of his wife, Jane.
The council voted in 2012 to change the name of the initial section of Lathrop Road to Spartan Way after students at the high school mobilized to lobby for the renaming – stating that the move would help establish a sense of community and pride for students and serve as a source of community spirit and identification.
At that time, the development along the western edge of Lathrop Road had not yet formally been approved.
The cost of changing the street signs to reflect the new name changes will be paid for by the developer of the Stanford Crossing Subdivision.