The biggest truck parking facility ever envisioned in the South County is being proposed west of Interstate 5 just north of the Lathrop city limits.

The 34-acre project before the San Joaquin County Planning Commission when they meet Thursday, Jan. 4, at 6 p.m. is on the southwest corner of Frewert Road and South Manthey Road.

It is just south of the Interstate 5/Roth Road interchange that is the primary access to the Union Pacific Railroad intermodal facility sandwiched between Lathrop and Manteca west of Airport Way.

The intermodal facility is in the process of an expansion project.

It will take the capacity of the current design to handle 280,000 truck trips a year to and from the railroad facility to ultimately 730,000 based on Union Pacific documents.

The intermodal operation uses lifts to take truck trailers and shipping containers from trucks to place on rail cars and vice versa.

The project proposed by Railport Logistics will create a truck terminal to accommodate a total of 711 truck and trailer parking spaces in two phases over five years.

The first phase includes a 1,000-suare-foot guard house, a 2,800-square-foot fueling station, an 80-square-foot scale building, a 4,900-square-foot maintenance shop, and conversion of an existing 900-square-foot residential home to a caretaker’s unit.

The second phase would convert three pole barns to provide 72,300 square feet of covered parking.

The proposal is an outgrowth of a San Joaquin County Board of Supervisors directive to address the issue of illegal truck parking countywide.

The answer was to allow such projects on a select basis in areas that are near major distribution and logistics centers within the county.

The locations had to be within a mile of a freeway interchange and outside urban and residential communities and outside the path of planned urban development.

The goal was to not just address all existing illegal truck parking but to make sure there is adequate space for more trucks to park as the logistics and distribution sectors continues to grow in San Joaquin County, especially in the Stockton, Lathrop, Manteca, and Tracy areas.

The county has received six letters in opposition to the project as well as a petition with 120 signatures.

The project will be required to pay its fair share of $186,468 for improvements to the Harlan and Roth road intersection.

Concerns that the massive asphalt/concrete paved area needed for the truck terminal would create heat spikes for the surrounding area was analyzed by experts.

It was determined there was no basis for the concern.

The planning commission meets at 6 p.m. on Jan. 4 in the Board of Supervisors chambers at the San Joaquin County Administrative building at 44 North San Joaquin Street in downtown Stockton.

To contact Dennis Wyatt, email dwyatt@mantecabulletin.com