Planning commission recommends City Council certify EIR and advance Copper Trails specific plan and 681‑acre annexation

The Ceres Planning Commission on March 16 voted to recommend that the City Council certify the final environmental impact report and approve the Copper Trails Specific Plan, prezoning and a 681‑acre annexation that would bring roughly 2,400 housing units and large regional commercial sites into city limits.

Planner Vance Jones, the lead consultant, told commissioners the project area consists of a roughly 535‑acre specific‑plan area and a separate 146‑acre "pocket" area that would be included to avoid creating an unincorporated island. Jones said the specific plan "establishes the regulatory framework for long‑term development" and would guide land use, circulation, parks, utilities and financing for the plan area. He said the land‑use map contemplates close to 2,400 residential units and up to about 1.22 million square feet of regional commercial uses adjacent to State Route 99.

The commission heard that the project required a draft and final Environmental Impact Report under the California Environmental Quality Act and that the final EIR identifies mitigation measures and a Mitigation Monitoring and Reporting Program. Jones and EIR staff said the analysis identified five potentially significant and unavoidable impacts: conversion of farmland (direct and indirect), greenhouse‑gas emissions,…