Modesto council chooses contested plan for growth. What was said and what’s next?
The Modesto City Council voted Tuesday night to choose the largest of three land use options for city growth, despite opposition from Wood Colony residents, farmland advocates and Salida leaders.
Dozens of people spoke against the land use plan during a contentious hearing, while others said it was time for Modesto to end a period of stagnant growth.
The council voted 5-1, with Chris Ricci dissenting and Rosa Escutia-Braaton absent, to select an option that would add 12,240 acres to Modesto’s sphere of influence and extend the boundary north to Ladd and Patterson roads.
Opponents complained about last-minute map changes, which continued at the meeting. Regardless of city staff promises that the plan would not encroach on Wood Colony’s traditional boundaries, Councilmembers Nick Bavaro and Jeremiah Williams asked that staff put a piece of Wood Colony, between North Avenue and Beckwith Road, back onto the map for study purposes.
Wood Colony refers to an Old German Baptist settlement dating to 1869. The scenic farming community is a battleground as the city tries to expand.
Tuesday’s vote was not the final approval of land use designations in the 2050 general plan update. The city will conduct an environmental review of the land use plan and submit a draft general plan update to the council for consideration in summer 2027. Once approved, the updated general plan will serve as a blueprint for growth through 2050.
Former Modesto mayor Garrad Marsh, a leading anti-sprawl advocate in Stanislaus County, said the city’s plan calls for an 80% increase in housing, even though the national population is projected to grow 8% in the next five decades and California has experienced negative growth for more than 10 years.
Marsh said the city will spend millions of dollars on environmental studies and related costs for a plan that’s a “field of dreams.”
Debby Schneider of the Salida Municipal Advisory Council said the land use map released Friday shows the city would take in a third of the Salida Community Plan, which is supposed to provide a source of tax revenue for a prospective city of Salida.
Schneider noted that the Landmark Business Park, bounded by Sisk Road, Bangs and Kiernan avenues and Stoddard Road, was now in Modesto’s proposed general plan map.
“We will fight tooth and nail to stop this from happening,” said Karen Gorne, chairperson of the Salida MAC.
Mayor Sue Zwahlen said she considers Wood Colony and Salida as neighbors and friends. “Growing up, I didn’t see these boundaries, but I did learn as soon as I was mayor there were these boundaries,” she said.
Representatives of Modesto Police Officers Association and Modesto Chamber of Commerce expressed support for the land use alternative, as did landowners who want to develop their property and annex to the city.
City officials said the general plan update is needed for commercial and industrial development to generate revenue for the general fund and pay for services. In addition, young adults and other residents have wanted a larger supply of housing to make rents more affordable.
The map approved by the council has 4,650 acres for mixed-use development, which would allow for a combination of commercial businesses and apartment-like housing along thoroughfares.
Land use proposals in Wood Colony
Many Wood Colony residents, who also battled the city over general plan issues in 2014-15, want to maintain their lifestyle and multigenerational family farms dating back to the early 1900s or longer.
The city incursion into Wood Colony includes mixed-use development on Beckwith Road, west of Highway 99, as well as business center projects to Hammett Road. Another addition requested by landowners is mixed use on the west side of Morse Road near the Modesto Junior College West Campus.
The city plan also proposes business center and industrial land uses in the Highway 132 corridor to Hart Road. A possible north-south transportation connection for trucks would also intrude on Wood Colony.
“Once the development starts, it won’t end,” said Gordon Heinrich of Wood Colony.
Modesto’s expansion campaign is expected to run into more opposition, and not just from opponents in Wood Colony and Salida. The Voters for Farmland group has talked about a 2028 voter initiative to make Kiernan Avenue the north city limit. The farmland north of Kiernan is ideal for groundwater recharge, the group says, and should not be covered by housing subdivisions.
