It’s a problem that Lathrop’s leaders don’t necessarily mind having – watching land develop so quickly that they must think about preserving it for specific uses moving forward.
Last week the Lathrop City Council gave staff direction to prepare an amendment to the zoning ordinance that will cap the number of hotels in the Mossdale and Central Lathrop Specific Plan areas to six – preserving some of the remaining developable land in the area for the sorts of businesses that residents of the growing community demand.
According to Lathrop Mayor Sonny Dhaliwal, it’s a great problem to have.
“We want to bring the amenities that people want and need – sit-down restaurants, family entertainment, things like that,” Dhaliwal said. “If everything gets taken up by hotels, where are we going to put those?
“Especially since we changed the zoning north of Dos Reis Road to light industrial.”
There will be no hotel cap on the east side of I-5, where several hotels are already located, or within River Islands.
According to the staff report prepared for the council, there are already three hotels – a 97-room Fairfield Inn by Marriott on Manthey Road, a 97-room TownePlace Suites by Marriott on Golden Valley Parkway, and a 112-room Homewood Suites by Hilton on Golden Valley Parkway – that have already been approved, and a 93-room Home2Suites by Hilton is currently in the permit application process.
That means that if the fourth hotel is approved, there will be able to be two more constructed on the west side of I-5 between the city limits and River Islands.
In Central Lathrop – the land around Lathrop High School all the way to the Mossdale Development – hotels are permitted uses and do not require special approval from the city while hotels located within the