The Ceres City Council on Monday again pushed back against the recommendation of the Ceres Planning Commission for the city to enact a temporary moratorium on new gas stations and car wash facilities.

It was the second time the council rejected the notion of a moratorium but City Attorney Tom Remlinger let the members know that the commission did take formal action on July 20 to recommend the action. Remlinger noted the process was “a bit of confusion” since the council was consulted first – due to any cost of staff time to prepare a report before the commission formally studied the matter of a moratorium. The council declined to allocate staff time to delve into the matter, but Commission Chairman Gary M. Condit, now a council candidate, led the commission to formally present a moratorium recommendation to the council.

Condit’s email to the council was read by City Clerk Fallon Martin, saying the moratorium was prematurely brought to the council on July 13 “before the Planning Commission had the opportunity to formally vote on the item.” Condit went on to say Ceres has 20 gas stations with approximately 4.7 stations per 10,000 residents compared to the statewide average of about 2.6 stations per 10,000 residents.

“That means Ceres has nearly twice the statewide average,” Condit wrote. “For comparison, Modesto has approximately 3.6 fueling stations per 10,000 residents, despite having more than four times the population of Ceres.”

Condit also noted that the city of Manteca is also taking steps to “address the potential oversaturation of fueling stations.”

He also noted that car washes are “being developed less than a quarter mile from one another, creating an increasing concentration of the same type of development. Many of these businesses operate primarily through subscription-based services which means they provide little to no traditional sales tax, revenue to the city.” He suggested that valuable commercial land should be developed to “attract businesses that are unique and beneficial to our residents, and create more opportunities for people to shop, work, dine and spend their money here in Ceres rather than traveling to Modesto or Turlock.”

Councilwoman Cerina Otero noted that any moratorium would only be temporary and would not halt development of Maverik or the two other already approved gas stations and three pending car washes.

Finance Director Vanessa Portillo was asked about sales taxes that comes to the city through gas stations and noted about $860,000 comes from sales, $400,000 collected from the half-cent Measure H tax and $1.3 million in gas tax revenues. Car wash revenue is different in that it is considered a non-taxable service and the city only collects in business license taxes.

Julian Aguirre, the city’s Economic Development manager, said car washes attract spinoff businesses. He noted that the city does have a limitation that no more than two service stations can occupy an intersection.

“From the community, I’ve often heard we do have too many gas stations, we have too many car washes, and I don’t think that residents are wrong,” said Otero. “I do feel we’re running out of locations for other businesses that might want to come to Ceres. So, it’s our job as a council to identify the needs of residents and seek solutions.”

Otero also mentioned the potential for environmental contamination from many gas stations “especially being in such close proximity.”

Otero also persisted in her push to revamp zoning code – previously rejected by the council majority – so the city can strategically craft vacant land to be developed for “different types of businesses that our city needs.”

Vice Mayor Daniel Martinez said that a 45-day moratorium wouldn’t make sense.

“We’re gonna pay our attorneys and city staff to waste a lot of time and a lot of resources to create something that would probably not even benefit the city,” said Martinez. He added: “I think that if anybody wants to bring business to the city of Ceres and they want to invest in capital improvements and they want to spend the money and go through the process that it takes to build or open a business then they should have the right to. And then ultimately it should go to the Planning Commission where they would make that final decision. So with that, I wouldn’t support.”

Mayor Javier Lopez also doesn’t support a moratorium and disputed Condit’s claims about Ceres having 20 gas stations, saying it’s closer to 16 and “about average for the population. He said the numbers have been exaggerated by including stations on Ceres’ periphery.

“This matters because the exaggerated numbers are being used to justify intervention from the government in a private market,” said Mayor Lopez reading from a prepared statement. “I don’t support that.”

After the meeting, Condit told the Courier that because the city staff report failed to include George’s station on Central Avenue and Triple R (closed) on its count and that three more are under development with another coming west of Highway 99, the total is 24 gas stations.

The mayor also cited construction and other jobs created by gas stations and car washes. Lopez said the Quick Quack car wash project approved for the site east of Raising Cane’s for Hatch Road represents about 15 jobs. Lopez said he called the Quick Quack representative to “apologize to him because I told him the Planning Commission does not reflect the priorities and the policy making of the city of Ceres.”

The mayor also reflected on the economic impact that would come if another Maverik type business wanted to build in Ceres.

“Why would we intentionally close the door on the next opportunity that can generate hundreds of thousands of dollars for our community? I support economic diversification. Bringing in more restaurants, bringing entertainment, bringing hotels, retail, technology, manufacturing, good paying jobs but … it does not mean government picking which lawful business can and can’t be allowed to come into the city of Ceres.”

Otero chided Lopez for undermining the Planning Commission.

“It’s not fair,” she told him. “We, as a council, over the years, and prior councils select the Planning Commissioners. They are there to make recommendations to the City Council. They’re there to make sure that the city has all the right processes in place to make approvals. So I think we do owe some credit to our Planning Commissioners.”

Speaking in favor of a moratorium was Jorge Guerrero, a council candidate, who noted there are no lines at car washes because of oversaturation.

“Our city needs to change from being a bedroom city to a city that attracts people to spend money in it,” said Guerrero. “We have car washes, gas stations and chicken restaurants. The limited spaces that we have need to be developed, looking towards the future, with businesses that the community wants to support. I have never heard a person from Turlock say, ‘I am going to drive 10 miles northbound, 99, to get gasoline at the 76 gas station by the new Panda Express in Ceres.’ It’s not a trip that is fun to take. However, every day there is at least a dozen people from the city who drive to Turlock to have a nice steak dinner. You go to the bowling alley, you go to Costco, Dick’s Sporting Goods, Boot Barn and the list of businesses that we could have goes on and on. The community and the Planning Commission are not asking for you to cancel the permits that were given already. The community that you’re supposed to serve is asking for you to delay extending new permits because we don’t need more car washes or gas stations.”

Galen Guzman, another council candidate, also expressed support for a moratorium.