Now that Lathrop Road has two lanes in each direction, the city has one more small item of business to take care of before the project will be finalized – ban parking along the busy thoroughfare. 

On Monday, Feb. 12, the Lathrop City Council will act on a recommendation from city staff to amend the Lathrop Municipal Code to include parking prohibitions along the city’s namesake throughway – formally ending the on-street parking that many residents enjoyed prior to the city’s decision to exercise its right in expanding the right-of-way.

The meeting, which is set to begin at 7 p.m., will be held inside of the council chambers at Lathrop City Hall, located at 390 Towne Centre Drive. 

While the project has been a somewhat tumultuous one marked with accusations on the part of homeowners who are upset with the city for what they feel is encroaching on their property and threatening their safety, crews are nearly finished with the work that includes adding a second lane from Harlan Road to 5th Street and placing a landscaped median that will limit left turn movements for vehicles turning to head west on Lathrop Road from side-streets like Cambridge Drive and Avon Street. 

The city maintains that they did everything by the book – from offering fair market value to property owners (of the three that were offered compensation for a small portion of their front yard to allow for uniformity along the reworked route, only one refused to sell and the city opted against using eminent domain and planned around it) to working with neighbors and businesses to lighten the impact of the ongoing construction that began late last year. 

That hasn’t prevented some homeowners, like Sharon Lamb, from threatening to hire a lawyer to sue the city for what the residents claim are violations over things like the precise location of their lot lines and a loss of on-street parking. 

But because the 84-foot configuration was chosen to prevent the need to acquire even more property to make the project work, all on-street parking from I-5 to the eastern city limits would be eliminated formally if the council chooses to adopt the staff recommendation. With curbs, gutters and sidewalks now installed on both streets, the passage proved to be too narrow to allow for residents to continue to park in front of residential properties without impeding the flow of traffic along the only route in Lathrop that connects I-5 to the Highway 99 corridor. 

A public hearing will be held to allow residents to voice their concerns about the proposal before the council takes action on the matter. 

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