The Los Banos Planning Commission approved during two December meetings the tract map for a 96-home development, the tract map and final development agreement for a 30-home development, and the site plan for a car wash redevelopment over the course of two back-to-back meetings.
The regular meeting on Dec. 10 was continued to Dec. 11 due to a lack of quorum as Commissioner William McBride lives too close to the 96-home development, creating a conflict of interest.
Both meetings were held with a bare quorum. On Dec. 10, Chair Gregory Hicks, commissioners Rob Robinson and William McBride were present. On Dec. 11, McBride was absent and Steven Nunes was present.
According to Assistant Planner Justin Ragunton’s report, the 96 homes are known as San Luis Estates. The developer is Century Communities.
San Luis Estates will be built on 16.2 acres of land directly south across the street from Los Banos Junior High. Canal Farm Lane will be extended from Nickel Street to Miller Lane and act as the southern boundary.
Place Road will be extended down to Canal Farm Lane on the east side of the property. Ragunton reported that the lots range from 4,000 to 5,300 square feet. There are four models of home, all of which are two-stories.
The development will pay for a portion of the improvements at the following intersections: Mercey Springs Road and San Luis Street, Miller Lane and San Luis Street, Place Road and San Luis Street, Mercey Springs Road and Canal Farm Lane and Mercey Springs Road and Pacheco Boulevard.
According to Los Banos Community and Economic Development Director Stacy Elms, the “ultimate buildout” of Place Road is for it to extend south to Pacheco Boulevard. This development will only build Place Road to Canal Farm Lane.
Local resident D.J. Barcellos had concerns about the traffic, as the roads in the development only connect to Canal Farm Lane, and asked if the roads could connect to Miller Lane directly. According to the Ragunton, the city’s traffic engineer said, “Punching through [from] Place Road or Miller Lane would defeat the purpose of the functional classification of these roadways.” As Place Road is labelled an ‘arterial’ and Miller Lane a ‘collector.’” the engineer argued that connections to them should be limited. Elms further mentioned that Place Road would alleviate traffic once connected to Pacheco.
Barcellos disagreed that Place Road would help alleviate traffic and was unconvinced by staff’s response. Commissioner Nunes sympathized with Barcellos as a frequent user of Canal Farm Lane. Elms said that staff could reach out to Caltrans to work on the synchronization of the signal at Miller Lane, but that it takes a while.
Commissioners approved of the vesting tentative tract map for San Luis Estates unanimously.
The 30-home development being built by Castlewood Properties is on 8.2 acres at the dead end of Cardoza Road, according to Ragunton’s report. The name is Villages VI and it will extend Cardoza from where it ends at Barley Lane, 840 feet west.
The 30 homes will be built north of Cardoza along an extension of Pacific Drive. House sizes will range from 5,050 square feet to 10,985. Five styles will be used, traditional, cottage, farmhouse, ranch, and craftsman.
During the public hearing, David Soares, owner of the adjacent land on the west, said, “My field drains from west to east, we’ve had problems with it flooding there before. I just want to address that if there is any flooding there, they know about it ahead of time.”
Commissioners approved of the project’s tract map and final development plan unanimously.
The site plan for the redevelopment of the car wash south of Hometown Motel on Pacheco Boulevard was next on the agenda. According to Ragunton, the feedback from the commission at the Oct 22 meeting to widen the west access was followed, with the width now being 19 feet, as opposed to the previous 17 feet. The developer is Dongjun Cho. The site will have five self carwash stalls, four vacuum stalls, and an automatic car wash. The 3,792 square foot site plan was approved unanimously.
In her report, Elms noted that Mayor Micheal Amabile, “will be making an appointment to the planning commission for district one. Hopefully we’ll see that on the agenda for the next city council meeting.” Elms said that the mayor is the one to appoint commissioners with the input of the district’s council member.
