There is yet another gas station proposed for Manteca.

This time it is on the northeast corner of Airport Way and Lathrop across the street from where the city has already approved a gas station on the southeast corner.

The project submission involves land that would need to be annexed to Manteca.

Manteca’s elected leaders haven’t had a chance yet to debate whether the city should adopt Mayor Gary Singh’s proposal made at an early December council meeting for a moratorium on new gas stations.

For a moratorium to go into effect, a discussion would need to be placed on a council meeting agenda and for elected leaders to decide what to do.

The process then usually involves, once direction is given, staff returning at a later date with a crafted proposal to carry out the decision.

Then if that proposal is adopted with or without tweaks, it would go into effect roughly 45 days later following a second hearing.

The council could, theoretically, decide to adopt a moratorium and at the same time try to adopt an urgency measure requiring a four-fifths vote blocking any new applications being submitted while work is being done on the actual ordinance.

As it stands now, a moratorium — providing that is the course the council will actually take — likely won’t happen until mid-2027.

Meanwhile, additional new gas station projects could be proposed.

With the latest project on North Airport Way identified as a potential ARCO with a convenience store, a quick serve drive-thru restaurant, and two additional tenant spaces there are now 10 gas stations that have been entitled or in the process of being approved.

The city already has 29 fueling locations in place.

Four of those 10, including the latest proposal, are in the Fourth District represented by Councilman Mike Morowit.

Morowit who welcomes the proposed council discussion but has yet to embrace a course of action, if any, on Friday said city leaders need to decide one way or another “as soon as possible.”

While it is highly unlikely, Morowit noted the city could get “20 more applications” for gas stations before the council has a chance to decide.

His point is not simply hyperbole.

If the council does decide to impose a moratorium of any type, it wouldn’t impact those projects that have already been submitted officially to the Community Development Department.

That is so Manteca could avoid legal challenges that experts say could generate costly lawsuits that the city is not likely to win.

Morowit made it clear he wanted to have input from all sides of the issue before he decided.

He indicated there are various actions the city could take beside a moratorium to obtain desired outcomes.

Other actions could be eliminating gas stations in certain zones, requiring gas stations to be “x” amount of feet from residential property, or requiring the placement of electric vehicle chargers as well.

The Circle K with gas pumps going in on the southeast corner of Union Road and Lathrop Road that is also in Morowit’s district, was approved with the city’s first EV chargers as part of a gas station.

That project is already in escrow and includes an Auto Zone auto parts store.

The is also a 7-Eleven with fueling stations on the northwest corner of the Union-Lathrop intersection.

The latest gas station proposal has a large hurdle to clear that other submissions don’t.

It is not currently in the city limits.

And to avoid creating “islands” or irregular boundaries, the city may require someone wanting to do so to also convince neighboring properties to annex at the same time.

What makes the proposed

Manteca moratorium unique

The moratorium proposed by Singh is unique in that it is being advanced for the first time in a California city that is in a substantial growth mode.

Petaluma and other North Bay cities when they proposed moratoriums now in place were not experiencing growth on the level that Manteca has been for the past decade.

There is no other city in the Northern San Joaquin Valley with 10 gas stations in the entitlement process.

And it is highly unlikely any other city in California have that many proposed gas stations lined up.

Also, the cry for the moratorium based on social media postings isn’t driven by greenhouse gas or climate concerns.

Instead, it is more of an “enough already” angst.

Manteca also has a “trait” that no other city that has banned new gas stations outright has.

The Family City is part of the subregion on the Northern San Joaquin Valley that for the past decade has been the fastest growing region into the country for so-called “super commuters.”

Those are people who travel at least 90 minutes in one direction to get to work.

And except for a relatively few that may take ACE commuter rail, all travel by vehicles of which the vast majority rely on fossil fuels.

To contact Dennis Wyatt, email dwyatt@mantecabulletin.com