Members of the Ceres Planning Commission on Monday were in agreement to take up the matter of enacting a moratorium on allowing any future gas stations or car washes – something that would, if approved, go to the City Council for final say.

Julian Aguirre, the city’s Economic Development manager, asked for the commission’s specific concerns and guidance.

“Is the commission recommending a temporary moratorium for a specific duration or an indefinite prohibition subject to future policy review?” asked Aguirre.

Ceres has four franchise car washes, and two in development, one locally owned car wash located approximately 1,052 feet from a nearest existing car wash, he said. He said there are also two fueling stations with self-service car washes and one 24-hour car wash.

“Including pending projects, the city could have a total of approximately eight car washes,” Aguirre told the commission.

He also detailed that Ceres has 15 gas stations in total with a significant concentration of gas stations located near the Mitchell and Service Road interchange serving Highway 99, and another cluster near the Hatch Road and Herndon area, which is also adjacent to the freeway. Other stations are along Whitmore Avenue and other commercial corridors.

“We have identified six stations along Whitmore Avenue from Morgan to Mitchell Road, and five fueling stations or gas stations from Morgan on Service all the way to the Service and Mitchell corridor.”

Commissioner R.J. Jammu opined that “obviously, if we don’t have a moratorium, if zoning is there it kind of inhibits us from not approving it.”

Bob Gobble, another member, called the saturation of car washes and gas stations in Ceres “a little ridiculous” and said the city is “going in the wrong direction.”

“We need to bring stuff to the city that is going to bring people to the city,” Gobble continued. “Right now, I don’t see our city having anything for families to do here so they go to Modesto, Turlock, et cetera. We need to bring people here that want to stay here and want to do things here. So unless you want to fill your car up or get it washed, that’s about all we have right now.”

Commissioner Dorie Perez questioned whether a moratorium is within the commission’s purview and argued that perhaps ”if you want to build a new gas station in the city of Ceres, maybe 30 percent of your pumps need to be for EV charging or something like that … without really limiting development into itself.

“A moratorium is understandable, but in my view, I think having a broader conversation about use value of those two services is more effective than just kind of labeling a number as some sort of ceiling,” said Perez.

Commissioner Francisco Mireles also stated feeling that Ceres is oversaturated with gas stations and car washes.

Aguirre seemed to lean toward no moratorium, saying this: “The city is not the owners of the properties, so it’s land use. So if it is a permitted us, they come into our office. On the economic side, I’m going to encourage them … they may not bring sales tax but they do bring property taxes to the city. So there’s mill taxes, there’s other revenue that these businesses do bring into the city. So, we have 49,000 population. We have approximately eight car washes; it’s about average for our population.”

Noting that a formal staff report must be brought back to the commission for further study, Commissioner Gary Condit said he wants to see how Ceres compares with other communities and saturation of those two businesses.

“The city of Manteca is voting on this topic tomorrow. I have a printout of their agenda on this topic, and I think it’d be very helpful for staff,” said Condit.

He suggested a temporary moratorium could include a zoning code amendment, conditional use permit requirement or a general plan amendment.

“I think it’s time that we listen to the community on this topic,” said Condit, who also suggested then city post a survey on its website.

“I would like the city council to at least do a survey or more outreach to the community to not just leave a Facebook comment, but actually show up to a meeting and give your thoughts and opinion.”