The North Pointe Specific Plan is a 310-acre area just north of Ripon, located east of Highway 99 and bounded by the Mistlin Sports Park, Jack Tone Road, and Fulton Avenue.
Approved in June 2015, the plan went through a very public process, with the inception of that involving city staff, the Ripon Planning Commission, the Ripon City Council, property owners, and the public at-large, recalled Planning Director Ken Zuidervaart.
“The intent of a specific plan is essentially in its title, specific in nature,” he said at the Dec. 18 Ripon Planning Commission meeting. “Specific plans take a more in-depth view of a specific area of a General Plan, in order to allow greater detail and design for a specific area of community – (this) often entails stricter design concepts and ideas.”
Zuidervaart added that the specific plan requires interpretations of compatibility for each district in the plan, with the North Pointe Specific Plan consisting of land-use designations, describing typical uses for each district
Included is the Core Commercial District.
Raj Dhillon, who is represented by land-use consultant Brett Jolly, has a conceptional site plan for a hotel, banquet facility, and restaurant on the 6.5-acre property at the corner of Colony Road and Hoff Drive. The applicant / developer – Dhillon, according to Jolly, has developed 17 hotels including one in the works at the Travel J Travel Center on Jack Tone Road – approached the Director of Planning and Economic Development in early 2022 to discuss the concept of the proposed development project.
During that initial meeting, staff indicated that, in concept, this could be a project that the city might be able to support, with more information and detail being needed at the time to further clarify and define the scope of the project.
The proposed project would be on the property located within the boundaries of the North Pointe Specific Plan – staff found that the project was not consistent with NPSP because the zoning district’s Core Commercial “does not allow for hotels or banquet facilities,” said Zuidervaart in his report.
Jolly and his client believed otherwise.
“The (conceptual plan) was consistent with the plan because the NPSP is not the General Plan or the zoning ordinance, but something in between, allowing for flexibility,” he said.
The Core Commercial area in the NPSP “acts as a central gathering center for people to relax, shop, eat, and play,” Jolly noted.
Commissioners countered, with George Saljian specifying that the NPSP defines its uses. “This is a specific plan where the desired uses for specific areas were listed,” he said.
Saljian, who pointed out that there are areas by the Mistlin Sports Park specifically for this type of development, added: “By allowing this (in the NPSP) would impact others who would develop the specified uses at that site.”
Debra Van Essen was on the Planning Commission when the NPSP was being developed. She recalled that all involved “spent a considerable amount of time with the community” coupled with the expenses used for experts in the development of the plan.
She referenced that in the Core Commercial description made no mention of putting in a hotel or banquet facility.
The Planning Commission voted 5-0 in support of Zuidervaart’s interpretation that the project is not consistent with the land use designation of the subject property within the North Pointe Specific Plan.
The motion also allowed for the following application sequence, which will be necessary in order to process the applicant / developer, on the proposed project, to submit a “Specific Plan Amendment” application, and enter into a reimbursement agreement with the City of Ripon to cover the cost of processing the application along with the associated technical work and CEQA (California Environmental Quality Act) documents, as determined by the Director of Planning.
