One way pensions of retired police, firefighters and other government workers through California will be covered in part is by a new Manteca business park proposed by CenterPoint Properties.
The California Public Employee Retirement System (PERS) is the primary investor in CalEast Global Logistics that acquired CenterPoint in March 2006. PERS invested $3.4 billion into the firm that provides logistics space across the country with a heavy emphasis on intermodal.
CenterPoint is proposing 4 million square feet of strategically placed distribution space for logistics operations heavily dependent on rail and truck traffic to move their goods.
The 273-acre CenterPoint Intermodal Center is the only active project involved in the 300-acre Northwest Manteca plan that is bounded on the north by Roth Road, the east by Airport Way, the south by Lathrop Road and the west by the Union Pacific Railroad tracks.
It is directly east of the Union Pacific intermodal operation that is in the process of being quadruped. It is also 15 minutes away from the Santa Fe Intermodal yard on Jack Tone Road northeast of Manteca. If there is ultimately a corresponding jump in truck traffic at the Union Pacific intermodal yard it will go from 250,000 a year to well over a million.
Intermodal takes containers or tractor trailers and placed them on and off specially designed flat bed train cars. That way goods are moved long distances across country by rail with trucks used to take them from sources to the intermodal yards as well as to distribution centers after they reach an intermodal yard nearest the final shipping point.
CenterPoint’s website notes the Manteca location is within several miles of both Interstate 5 and Highway 99 with routes extending from Canada to Mexico. The adjoining UP intermodal yard currently has 250,000 lifts or containers/tractor trailers go through its Roth Road operation.
The Manteca location is within an hour of the nation’s fifth largest port that’s located in Oakland.
CenterPoint notes “Manteca is ideally situated to attract regional and national logistics operations as their interest in San Joaquin and Stanislaus counties grow as a result of (the) port’s expansion.”
The land where the CenterPoint operation is proposed needs to be annexed to Manteca.
The processing of the project hit a glitch on Tuesday when the Manteca Planning Commission on a 3-2 split agreed with nearby residents that the San Joaquin County Local Agency Formation Commission shouldn’t annex them to Manteca along with the project site.
LAFCO told the city they had to include such a possibility in their studies. It was why the environmental report for the Northwest Manteca Plan was recommended by the Planning Commission for rejection when it reaches the City Council level.
The EIR addresses:
•annexing 18 parcels comprising of 392 acres.
•general plan amendments including changing the designation of a 78-acre parcel north of Lathrop Road from light industrial to general commercial.
•prezoning 16 parcels.
•approving a development agreement.
•creating a tentative parcel map for the development of 273 acres into an intermodal center that will be accessed from Roth Road and Airport Way.
•developing a master plan for buildings that have a combined 4 million square feet.
The proponents of the project advanced the city $255,330 to pay Michael Brandman & Associates to perform the environmental studies as required by state law. The developer agreed also cover the additional costs and has already deposited the funds with the city.
The changes in the scope of the environmental studies were needed after Union Pacific informed city leaders they were no longer doubling the size of their intermodal (train-to-truck) operation on Roth Road in Lathrop that abuts the Manteca city limits. Instead they will quadruple it.
If the distribution center materializes, it will be one of a kind in terms of location and size in the Northern San Joaquin Valley.
