May 3, 2002
LODI NEWS
SENTINELCounty planning commission approves 307-home
subdivision in Lockeford
By Ross Farrow/News-Sentinel staff writer
Pending the developer’s ability to acquire land to dispose of
sewage, a 307-home subdivision will be built on 90 acres in
Lockeford.
The San Joaquin County Planning Commission voted 6-0 after a 2
1/2-hour public hearing Thursday to allow Lockeford developer Ed
Pestana to build a subdivision northeast of Brandt and Jack Tone
roads.
Approval came after several residents said they are concerned
with Lockeford becoming over populated. Other issues included the
saturation of groundwater, the lack of sewage disposal capacity,
and increased traffic and air pollution.
However, a few Lockeford residents lent their support.
“We desperately need some more population out there,” said Fred
Rose, a Brandt Road resident the past seven years.
Lockeford restaurant owner Eileen Indelicato agreed.
“I think the town can prosper,” she said. “I don’t think 1,000
people is very much growth.”
One thousand people is roughly one-third of Lockeford’s present
population. According to the 2000 Census figures, Lockeford’s
population is 3,120.
Pestana’s attorney, Mike Hakeem of Stockton, said the
development will keep well below the housing numbers in the
Lockeford Community Plan, adopted by the Board of Supervisors in
1992.
The community plan shows Lockeford growing from an estimated
848 housing units in 1990 to about 1,500 units by 2010 and to
about 2,100 units at buildout, said Kerry Sullivan, the county’s
deputy community development director.
Hakeem told commissioners that Lockeford is growing at a much
slower pace than the community plan states.
“Lockeford is an urban community, not rural,” Hakeem told
commissioners.
In approving the subdivision, the county Planning Commission
asked Pestana to explore the feasibility of installing a four-way
stop sign at Jack Tone and Brandt.
Commissioner John Demichelis, who has driven Jack Tone Road for
many years, said he is already concerned about cars that go 90 mph
on the straight north-south thoroughfare that stretches from
Lockeford to Ripon. Jack Tone desperately needs more stop signs to
slow down traffic, Demichelis said.
“It is a project very large for the size of the community,”
said Gary Gordon, whose family has been in Lockeford 80 years.
“We’re not Stockton. We’re not Lodi.”
Gordon said he would prefer some mom-and-pop stores in the area
with apartments upstairs from the shops.
Three representatives of the Lockeford Community Services
District — board members Chris Locke and Gordon, along with
General Manager Joe Salzman — testified against the project, but
they were not representing the district, Locke said.
Despite the Planning Commission’s approval, Pestana and
Community Services District directors may battle over whether the
subdivision will be built.
Salzman maintains he couldn’t find anyone willing to sell land
so the district could expand its sewage disposal capacity to serve
the subdivision.
Hakeem said after the meeting that it will be his client’s
responsibility to find land to take his subdivision’s sewage.
If a willing buyer can’t be found, the Community Services
District may have to acquire land by eminent domain, and act the
district strongly opposes, Salzman said.
However, Hakeem said after the meeting that the district cannot
legally interfere with any eminent domain proceedings because the
district board approved a “will serve” letter guaranteeing
adequate water and sewer supply for the subdivision.
The “will serve” letter was approved by the board Aug. 10,
2000, and remains valid provided that Pestana files a final map by
Aug. 10, 2003.
The subdivision, called Livermore Acres, calls for two
entrances from the east side of Jack Tone and one entrance from
the north side of Brandt. A sound wall will be built on the two
roads fronting the subdivision.
“I hate the walls because this creates a security problem,”
Gordon said. “We lose the small-town feel, the neighborhood.”
In another area agenda item, a request by Ernest Bezley for a
lot-line adjustment to allow 30 lots on the west side of Clements
Road was postponed at the applicant’s request until May 16 so that
Bezley and his attorney can negotiate issues with county planning
staff.
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