Manteca pulling the plug on new applications for gas stations — if it’s elected leaders opt to do so — could end up being an issue in the 2026 mayoral race.

But it wouldn’t be for the reason that most people might think.

Incumbent Gary Singh’s challenger Jacob Naven reacted to the mayor’s proposal at Tuesday’s City Council meeting by comparing it to closing the barn doors after all the horses have escaped.

“Why now after Manteca is past being saturated with gas stations?” Naven asked.

Naven questioned why such a move wasn’t vetted and included in the city’s climate action plan update that was adopted by the council last month after a more than two-year process that included input from a citizens’ advisory committee.

Naven equated the move to political expediency given to the steady — and seemingly growing — criticism on social media about the number of gas stations Manteca is racking up.

Singh, for his part, embraced a point that Councilwoman Regina Lackey advanced two weeks ago when she questioned why the climate action plan didn’t address the issue of adding more gas stations given the city is mandated to follow a state dictate on greenhouse gases that requires a significant reduction in fossil fuel consumption.

That said, a city in the heart of the Central Valley — arguably among the most moderate regions in the state — having an elected leader advancing a proposal to ban future gas station applications is a significant, if not, groundbreaking development.

The only cities to date in California that have imposed 100 percent bans on future gas stations are clustered in the Northern San Francisco Bay Area.

Sacramento has adopted a ban but only if new gas stations don’t also include electric vehicle chargers.

Naven notes from a practical standpoint the proposed city ban doesn’t amount to much.

There are already 29 fueling locations in place in Manteca.

Nine more have either been approved or are already in the entitlement process.

Naven agrees with Singh’s position that not letting those nine proposed stations advance would open the city to serious litigation exposure given the city would be taking away vested rights that the applicants followed the law to secure.

Naven doubts even with Manteca continuing its current growth pace, that the city would be able to absorb all nine stations.

Manteca currently has one gas station for every 3,300 residents.

For that ratio to continue, Manteca’s current population of 95,000 would have to reach 122,200.

And based on current population growth, the city wouldn’t reach that population level for 14 years in 2039. That’s a year shy from 2040; the year Gov. Gavin Newsom directed the California Air Resources Board to end all oil extraction within the state.

Practical purposes of Mayor

Singh’s proposed moratorium

A proposed moratorium that Singh wants reviewed annually in case it makes sense to allow a fueling station to meet specific community needs such as a possible truck stop on a future Roth Road interchange on Highway 99 to avoid truck traffic from using local streets, also comes with a directive to staff to revisit the community mixed use zone.

It is that zone that cleared the way for a proposed ARCO station at Pillsbury Road and Woodward Avenue surrounded by residential development.

The CMU is also found in other neighborhoods.

A moratorium would prevent gas stations from being pursued in other CMUs in neighborhoods as well as commercial zones adjacent to neighborhoods that might be problematic such as the controversy during the approval process over Rotten Robbie’s on Airport Way that backs up to residential.

The market clearly dictates how many more gas stations Manteca can absorb before lenders decline to fund them.

That said, there is no guarantee that all of the nine gas stations approved or not quite as far along in the entitlement will be built.

And it could be due to shifts in development patterns that could trigger proposed gas stations elsewhere.

A moratorium would stop that from happening.

Singh, it should be noted, worked behind the scenes with Rotten Robbie’s to get hm to drop plans for six diesel pumps for trucks immediately adjacent to a neighborhood.

The mayor also got the company to agree to install traffic signals at Wawona Street and Airport Way.

He did so after noting the city legally couldn’t stop the gas station from being built and then stepped up to with the developer for the changes that made it more tolerable for residents.

Naven indicated Singh should use the opportunity of five of the nine pending gas stations not gaining final entitlement approval to require more green friendly changes with the actual installation of electric vehicle chargers and such.

Only one of the nine — the already approved Circle K fueling station envisioned for the southeast corner of Lathrop and Union roads — plans to have EV chargers. The owner also plans to have a solar-powered sign.

Manteca has four commercial charging station complexes including two Tesla Supercharger locations.

What makes the proposed

Manteca moratorium unique

The moratorium proposed by Singh is unique in another significant way.

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 nine 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