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Will road project shut down church?
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The decision on whether to use eminent domain to acquire four feet of the frontage of the property owned by Adriana Lopez for the expansion of Lathrop Road has been postponed.
After hearing comments from those who gathered to speak against the city’s proposed plan for Lathrop Road – which would make the core section of the thruway two lanes in each direction – Monday night, the Lathrop City Council unanimously decided to hold off on making the decision until all of the council members were present to cast a vote on the sensitive issue.
Councilman Martha Salcedo was absent for Monday’s meeting.
But while the decision to use legal recourse to acquire the sliver of property necessary for making the reconfigured project possible was the focus of the council’s decision, the public used it as a chance to both seek out answers to questions and speak out against turning Lathrop Road into a truck route and secondary access point between I-5 and Highway 99.
And not everything that came out of the exchange with staff was positive.
Minnie Lee Jordan-Diallo, the granddaughter of Reverend Maurice Cotton, was adamant about finding out what the city was going to do for the Highlight Church of God in Christ now that the parking on the front of the church and the handicap access along the side on the street named after her grandfather would cease to exist under the proposal.
When City Manager Steve Salvatore fielded the question in lieu of City Attorney Salvador Navarrete, his answer wasn’t what she was expecting.
“I was up front with the council at the beginning about the fact that we will not be able to solve every problem that comes up as a result of this,” Salvatore said. “And ultimately there will be some negative impacts.
“We tried to address all of the situations that we could consider and I believe that we have done that. But there is no solution to the lack of parking in front of Highlight Church.”
That response came after the sharp reply of another family member who asked why the city would “change the name of the street to Rev. Maurice Cotton Drive if you’re planning on shutting down his church” – casting a pallor over the discussion and creating an additional layer to augment Lopez’ concerns about truck traffic and the safety hazards that they present to homeowners and children who use Lathrop Road to get back-and-forth to Lathrop High School.
Her attorney, Brian Manning of the Sacramento-based firm of Desmond, Nolan, Livaich and Cunningham, believes that the city has failed to adequately address the safety concerns raised by Lopez and her neighbors, and that the city has not sufficiently met the burden laid out in the United States and California Constitutions before taking personal property for public use.
Navarrete will likely offer the city’s position on those matters when the issue is back before the council at a future meeting. While using eminent domain is not typical for the City of Lathrop when it comes to constructing projects, the acquisition of property is not all that uncommon when dealing something of this scope, and the use of eminent domain is only utilized as a last resort when good faith negotiations between both parties fail to reach a reasonable conclusion. Lopez was offered, in the eyes of the city, a reasonable offer for the 320 square feet that they were seeking to acquire. According to City Engineer Glen Gebhardt, the increase in property value when the street improvements are complete will far offset any loss in value from the reduction in the size of the yard.
Of the two options that the council chose from, the current configuration had the least negative impact on property owners – cutting the number of parcel acquisitions from 16, on the widest layout, down to only three. Two of Lopez’ neighbors have already reached an agreement with the City of Lathrop.
The council’s decision Monday night will again be noticed as a public hearing and will added to a future meeting when all council members are expected to be in attendance. The public hearing, where the community can share its input into the matter, will be reopened during those proceedings and additional comments will be taken on the record.
Currently the project is out to bid. As of last week no bids for the work had come in yet.

To contact reporter Jason Campbell email jcampbell@mantecabulletin.com or call 209.249.3544.