May 1, 2002
LODI NEWS
SENTINELLockeford, Clements subdivisions on county
agenda
By Ross Farrow/News-Sentinel staff writer
STOCKTON — Lockeford and Clements residents may be out in force
Thursday to battle development proposals that could dramatically
increase their communities’ population.
In Lockeford, developers Ed Pestana of Lockeford and his
brother, Ernest, of San Jose, hope to develop a 307-home
subdivision northeast of Jack Tone and Brandt roads.
In Clements, Ernest Bezley is seeking a lot-line adjustment
that would allow him to build 30 homes on the west side of
Clements Road, south of Highway 12. The projects will be heard by
the San Joaquin County Planning Commission at 6:30 p.m. Thursday
at the Public Health/Planning Auditorium, 1601 E. Hazelton Ave.,
Stockton.
The Lockeford project, which has fueled controversy throughout
the community, calls for 307 homes on 90 acres. The development
proposal drew a crowd of about 150 residents to a community
meeting in January.
At the January meeting, Lockeford-area residents asked pointed
questions about traffic safety, sewer supply and impacts to
schools, fire service and rural quality of life.
Pestana attorney Mike Hakeem said the developers already have
the right to build 300 homes because the Board of Supervisors
rezoned the property to residential in 1992. The map is good until
December 2003.
If the county Planning Commission rejects the Pestana project,
the Pestanas are still entitled to build the subdivision, albeit
in a manner the developers do not prefer.
The original map approved in 1992 calls for a man-made lake in
the middle of the subdivision, and 79 of the 300 homes would be
built on 34 acres of oak-laden property to the north, Hakeem said.
The new map calls for no homes in the oak grove.
Since January, the Pestanas have added a 6-foot-high masonry
sound wall along Jack Tone and Brandt, Hakeem said.
The Clements subdivision comes on top of a 38-home gated
subdivision already approved by supervisors in 2000, a project
that also drew considerable controversy. Bezley, the applicant, is
appealing county planning staff’s denial of the lot line
adjustment.
In another agenda item, the commission will review an
application for an existing tractor repair shop in Acampo so as to
allow the manufacture of equipment that farmers can’t buy off the
shelf, Senior Planner Chandler Martin said.
Planning staff approved the application, but neighbors Bill and
Ruth Brown have appealed the decision to the commission. The
business is on the east side of Kennefick Road, north of
Woodbridge Road.
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