Modesto plan could open door to annexation of large business park area in Salida
Modesto has not had a chummy relationship with its next-door neighbor Salida, the county’s largest unincorporated community.
But a city staff presentation Wednesday evening in Salida on Modesto’s general plan options mostly avoided the emotional strife of meetings in years past. The city is eyeing a large area between Stoddard and Dale roads, between Kiernan Avenue and Ladd Road, for business park development that could be annexed to the city.
Jessica Hill, director of community and economic development, wrapped up the presentation and invited people to ask questions in small groups gathered around maps of the 2050 general plan update.
Some questions were shouted from the audience, before the tensions calmed down: “Is it your goal to take over Salida?” “You are not going to answer any of our questions?” “Why don’t you address everybody?”
The workshop in the Salida Library’s community room revealed more about the northern growth push in the city’s 25-year plan for expansion. Hill told the audience the housing and other development proposed north of Kiernan Avenue, as far as Ladd Road, grew out of requests for city water and other municipal services.
Also, the residential development would allow people to live closer to where they work in new business parks and industrial centers. In addition to the proposed business parks plotted north of Kiernan, between Stoddard and Dale roads, the city’s most aggressive land use option proposes business centers on the west side of McHenry Avenue between Kiernan and Ladd.
The business park area between Stoddard and Dale would be added to the city’s sphere of influence, which means property owners in that area could apply for annexation to the city. It would place a significant piece of the county-approved Salida Community Plan under city control.
Salida residents long have resisted Modesto proposals to annex any parts of their community.
“Modesto has changed its (long-range) planning maps three times in 15 years, and every time, Salida and Wood Colony get smaller and smaller,” said Terhesa Gamboa of Modesto’s Woodland West neighborhood, who is sympathetic to both communities.
Proponents of the 145-acre Scannell warehouse project, at the northwest corner of Dale Road and Kiernan, took initial steps to apply for annexation about a year ago, which triggered an ongoing environmental study. The Scannell project, featuring 2.5 million square feet of warehouses and distribution centers, bordered by Pirrone Road in the north, would take up a third of the business park area coveted by the city.
New residential areas would be developed to the east. The remainder of the Salida Community Plan would not be affected, Hill said.
High school surrounded by industry
Development of the business park area would place business and industrial facilities on all four sides of Gregori High School. According to Hill, the city would consider ways to mitigate impacts on the high school and its 2,400 students as individual projects are reviewed.
The city has not yet adopted policies for how much warehouse and distribution center development to allow in the Kiernan corridor. In California, widespread development of distribution centers has come under scrutiny because of truck traffic, air pollution and impacts on disadvantaged communities.
Residents, in reacting to Wednesday’s workshop, said Modesto staff talked about what the city wants to do and didn’t ask what residents want. Salida resident Gary Dew said he attended the meeting because “I want to make sure they leave Salida alone.”
Many Salida residents have joined the Wood Colony community in opposition to aggressive city expansion.
Modesto, which hasn’t expanded much since the 1990s, proposes a business park area on Beckwith Road, just south of Salida, as well as a regional commercial area west of Vintage Faire Mall and Highway 99. It proposes business park and industrial development along Highway 132 within the boundaries of the Wood Colony Municipal Advisory Council.
Modesto’s three land use alternatives — a competitive option, a moderate growth strategy and a minimal growth option — are likely to be discussed at a joint City Council and Planning Commission meeting in March.
After a preferred alternative is chosen, an environmental review will be conducted and the council could adopt the 2050 plan update in 2027.
