Ceres approves 145 apartments a short walk from Mitchell shops. Earlier council balked
A developer finally has won approval for 145 apartments just off Mitchell Road in Ceres.
The City Council voted 3-2 for the project, four years after rejection by a different council. It is on the east side of Mitchell a quarter-mile south of Whitmore Avenue.
The apartments will be market rate, rather than subsidized. Details on the monthly rents were not available.
The project also includes two buildings with a total of 21 small business spaces. Tenants have not yet been found.
Apartment construction could start in about a year, attorney Brett Jolley told the council on behalf of developer Rupinder Dhillon on March 27.
“This project brings much-needed housing to Ceres,” Jolley said. He added that the apartments will be more affordable to rent than the single-family homes that make up most of the city’s housing stock.
The apartments will be in six three-story buildings, with a gated entry and community building for residents. The council approval included changing this part of the site from commercial to high-density residential in the city’s general plan.
Several residents said the apartments will add too much traffic to Mitchell. Councilman James Casey cited that reason for his dissent. Councilman Daniel Martinez also voted against the project.
Mayor Javier Lopez and council members Bret Silveira and Rosalinda Vierra supported the apartments.
The 9.7-acre site is mostly open ground but also has a house, trucking business and warehouse. It is one of several empty spaces along Mitchell, one of the main commercial strips in Ceres.
“That’s been a dirt lot my whole life,” Silveira said. “My fear is it would continue to be a dirt lot until I’m not above the ground anymore.”
Traffic study to come
Silveira also said he watched peak-hour traffic near the site recently and does not believe the apartments will add too much.
Jolley said the traffic will be less than if the site had stayed commercial in the general plan, which guides growth in Ceres.
The developer still needs to do a traffic study before getting final approval to build. This could result in stoplights, a median or other upgrades to this stretch of Mitchell.
The apartment site is only a quarter-mile from a Save Mart grocery store and other businesses across Mitchell. But it can be dicey for a pedestrian to cross the four lanes, where the speed limit is 40 miles per hour.
None of the current council members was in office when the project was rejected in 2019. Critics cited the traffic concern and a desire to keep the entire site commercial. Councilman Bret Durossette cast the only vote in favor.
One, two or three bedrooms
The approved project will have 48 one-bedroom apartments, 84 with two bedrooms and 13 with three. They will be east of the new commercial buildings.
Both of these buildings will be one story. One will have 15,230 square feet divided into 11 tenant spaces. The other will have 10 spaces totaling 13,782 square feet.
Jolley’s law practice is based in Stockton but he has plenty of experience in Ceres. He represented opponents in a nine-year battle against a Walmart Supercenter and other businesses at Mitchell and Service Road. Walmart finally opened in late 2021, and the project continues to fill out.
