Stanislaus County supervisors unanimously gave their blessing to the rezoning of a 5.15-acre parcel on the outskirts of Keyes last week for the development of a freeway travel center with gas station convenience store and two quick-service restaurants.
Kamir Incorporated specifically won approve to a rezone the property, located east of Highway 99 at the northwest corner of Keyes Road and Golden State Boulevard, from General Agriculture (A-2-10) to Planned Development.
The project site is located next door to the 39,715-square-foot Keyes Truck Center which is nearing completion at 4618 Nunes Road. The business is a dealership of semi-trucks that also services them.
Phase 1, which is expected to begin construction within two years, is proposed to include a:
• 3,276 square-foot gasoline fueling canopy with 12 gas pumps;
• 2,750 square-foot diesel fueling canopy with five diesel pumps;
• 4,800 square-foot convenience market;
• 5,400 square-foot truck shop for tractor-trailer maintenance;
• A truck scale;
• Parking spaces for 55 passenger vehicles;
• 10 short-term truck parking stalls but no overnight parking for tractor-trailers.
The second phase will include two 3,000 square-foot quick-service restaurants with drive-thru lanes although specific restaurants haven’t been determined. Phase 2 is proposed to be completed within 36 months of completion of the first phase of development.
The fueling facility and convenience store are proposed to be open 24 hours per day, with individual hours for the other on-site businesses to be established by future tenants. The project anticipates a total of 10 employees on a minimum shift and 18 employees on a maximum shift, with a total of three shifts per day, and two deliveries per day.
Caltrans and the county Department of Public Works request that a cumulative traffic impact analysis (TIA) be prepared for the project to analyze impacts to traffic and local roads.
Amir and Kumil Kayhani, the applicants propose an 85-foot-tall freestanding freeway sign, including an LED gas pricing sign, and a 16-foot-tall pole gas pricing sign on the county road frontage. But the county has a limit of 70 feet on signs but will consider the taller sign if the applicant can demonstrate that the additional 15 feet is needed to ensure the sign visibility from the freeway. The county will only allow up to two eight-foot-tall signs of a monument design along county road frontages, rather than the proposed 16-foot-tall pole sign.
Access to the project is proposed by two driveways on N. Golden State Boulevard. The southernmost driveway will be restricted to right-in, right-out movements. The applicant will be required to install an all-way stop signs on North Golden State Boulevard at the northernmost driveway of the project site, between the parcel and the parcel across the street for when both develop.
In February the Keyes Municipal Advisory Council endorsed the project.
“We’re in favor of this project,” said Steven Morris, representing the Keyes MAC. “We think it will bring some needed traffics and economic dollars to our little community so we’re very much in favor of seeing this project go forward.”
After expressing the desire for the county to mitigate the additional traffic and to capture enough “fair share fees” to expand the frontage road in the future, Supervisor Vito Chiesa, who represent Keyes, said the project site is a “logical place and it seems to make a lot of sense for commercial activity right next to the freeway and I will support it."
