More than 300 tractor-trailers could soon have a home in Lathrop if the Lathrop Planning Commission gives its approval to a pair of projects that will be before the body next week.
On Wednesday, Dec. 2, the Lathrop Planning Commission will hold a special meeting at Lathrop City Hall – located at 390 Towne Centre Drive – that will include two proposed truck parking projects along McKinley Avenue.
The meeting is scheduled to begin at 6 p.m.
One project, being proposed by Rafael Sandoval on the 16000 block of S. McKinley Avenue, would provide parking for 105 commercial trucks. The other, being proposed by Sam Gill on the 15000 block of McKinley, would provide truck parking for 216 commercial trucks and 55 trailers on the property.
Lathrop’s city staff made no formal recommendation for Sandoval’s proposal – which would in-fill a 4.77-acre lot in an area that includes residential, service commercial, and industrial uses – but recommended approval of Gill’s project pursuant to the conditions listed in the staff report.
Over the last decade Lathrop has become a destination for warehouse and light-industrial buildings and has generated a significant amount of truck traffic to serve the massive distribution footprints – from car-haulers making trips from I-5 to the shuttered Pilkington manufacturing plant to load up Tesla’s that were temporarily being stored on the premises to trucks hauling every hamburger that the In-N-Out company serves its customers in Northern California and Southern Nevada.
As a result of the increase in truck traffic the city has been proactive in policing trucks that are illegally parked in areas of town where their presence could be an impediment to traffic or the line-of-sight of motorists – including in industrial areas.
Both projects, if approved, would give local owner-operators – of which Lathrop has many, being home to multiple trucking companies – a place where they can store their vehicles when they are not in use without running afoul of the city’s ordinances surrounding the parking of tractor-trailers.
In addition to the warehouses that produce the truck traffic, Lathrop is also home to a commercial truck sales facility and a number of businesses that cater specifically to truck drivers – including the relatively new Flying J Truck Stop on Roth Road and Joe’s Travel Plaza along Harlan Road. Another truck stop has been proposed to the city on the west side of I-5 to capitalize on the emerging market and the volume of traffic that flows through the community daily along I-5 – California’s main arterial interstate.
For additional information about the Lathrop Planning Commission, or to obtain a copy of the agenda for the upcoming special meeting, visit the City of Lathrop’s website at www.ci.lathrop.ca.us.
To contact reporter Jason Campbell email jcampbell@mantecabulletin.com or call 209.249.3544.
