Stanislaus County delays decision on truck parking facilities. Panel will study the ‘crisis’
Stanislaus County leaders postponed a decision for months on two proposed truck parking facilities while a committee studies the contentious issue of where to place parking for big rigs.
The county Planning Commission, city of Turlock, Farm Bureau and Keyes Municipal Advisory Council all opposed Pattar Trucking’s application for an 80-space commercial tractor-trailer parking facility on West Taylor Road between North Washington Road and Highway 99 near Turlock.
But the Board of Supervisors on Tuesday evening continued the general plan amendment to Aug. 19, 2025.
A 40-space commercial truck parking facility in the 1000 block of Welty Road, west of Highway 33, near Vernalis, also will wait nine months for a decision, though Atwal Properties was praised for its compliance with the permit process. County leaders are hoping to get a better handle on truck parking and ideas for necessary changes to a parking ordinance.
The county passed an ordinance in 2012 to outlaw unpermitted truck parking yards and subsequently approved seven use permits for legal parking areas.
Since 2022, the demand for truck parking has far outstripped the number of legal parking facilities, and public complaints about illegally parked trucks have intensified.
Farming advocates complain that truck parking in agricultural zones interferes with nearby farm operations, increases truck traffic and noise and creates problems for neighbors.
An ad hoc committee will review the growing demand for truck parking and whether permitted facilities should be near freeway interchanges and away from the best farmland. County staff said the panel should be able to come up with recommendations in six months.
Supervisor Vito Chiesa asked about a moratorium on permit applications until the recommendations are delivered. But it was not supported.
Board Chairman Mani Grewal wanted to approve the Atwal project based on its merits and not delay the start of construction for the trucking business. Supervisor Channce Condit agreed, but the board members didn’t have a third vote.
Supervisor Terry Withrow told Atwal representatives the board needed to be consistent after postponing a decision on the Pattar application.
Atwal, which has outgrown a facility in Tracy, proposes to take four acres of a 23-acre orchard parcel for truck parking and keep farming the remaining land. The facility for trucks with refrigeration trailers, for hauling goods to grocery stores, would operate Mondays through Saturdays with 29 employees, including 23 drivers picking up and dropping off trailers.
Permit application followed code enforcement
Pattar Trucking was cited in 2019 for parking rigs at its site near Turlock in violation of the county ordinance. That led to a May 2021 application to legalize the facility, a county staff report said. County code enforcement cited the business again in September 2023.
The company’s plans include conversion of existing buildings into a maintenance shop and administrative office, and a dozen employees working at the site. Modesto Attorney George Petrulakis told the board the business agreed to the continuance until next August.
Christine Gemperle, who farms with her brother in the area, said trucking businesses in agricultural zones compact the soil, and fluids from the trucks may be contaminating the groundwater.
Clandestine truck parking areas are bordering on a crisis, Gemperle said. “It’s chaos. Roads are torn up by the traffic. Please deny this,” she said.
Petrulakis said transporting food products represents about 85% of Pattar’s business. The location near a freeway interchange allows for continuing the operation, he said, but truck parking areas out in the country will create more traffic and air quality impacts.
The city of Turlock opposed the Taylor Road parking facility, saying it was premature development and conflicted with the city’s ability to impose land-use policies within its general plan boundaries.
