Two major commerce park projects in South Stockton could add upwards of 20,000 more vehicle trips with many of those ending up on Highway 99 and Airport Way.

Between the 437-acre South Stockton Commerce Center bordering Stockton Metro Airport on the north and stretching from Airport Way to Highway 99 as well as the Mariposa Industrial Park northeast of Highway 99 and Arch Road 7 million additional square feet of distribution-style structures may be built.

The space is equivalent to almost 10 buildings the size of the Amazon fulfilment center in Manteca on Airport Way and Lovelace Road.

The Sierra Club’s Mother Lode Chapter has raised questions about the wisdom of converting large swaths of high-quality farmland as well as tinkering with flood hydrology. That’s in addition to other issues such as the generation of more traffic.

Both projects are now in the review process and would ultimately be developed within the Stockton city limits.

The South Stockton Commerce Center is  1½ miles north of Manteca’s most northern city limits on Airport Way and within two miles of Del Webb at Woodbridge. The Mariposa project is roughly 5 miles from Manteca.

While surface traffic impacts are likely to be minimal on Manteca the two projects will add trucks and commuters to the Highway 99 corridor in addition to residents in Manteca-Lathrop that may use Airport Way and Union Road to reach jobs at the South Stockton Commerce Center project.

Environmental concerns aside, it underscores how Manteca is being surrounded by rapidly expanding employment centers to its immediate west in Lathrop as well as to the north in Stockton.

The south Stockton Commerce Center project touches French Camp Road which has been floated as an ultimate dividing line between future city limits for Manteca and Stockton although Stockton’s sphere of influence as its city limits comes down the west side of Airport Way to Roth Road to abut Manteca’s city limits at that location.

To contact Dennis Wyatt, email dwyatt@mantecabulletin.com