Council denies appeal and approves Maverick fueling station despite traffic and safety objections

The Ceres City Council on Aug. 11 denied an appeal and approved a conditional use permit for a Maverick fueling station at the southeast corner of Mitchell Road and Road Road, a project that would add 14 vehicle fuel pumps, six truck diesel pumps, EV charging and an RV dumping station.

Council members voted to deny the timely appeal 4–0 with Council Member Otero recused, after staff recommended affirming the Planning Commission’s November 2024 approval and finding the project exempt from CEQA under the infill exemption (CEQA Guidelines §15332). Vice Mayor Daniel A. Martinez moved to deny the appeal with the additional finding about the §15332 exemption; the motion carried on roll call.

The project team said the site is a designated truck route and that the station is "locally serving retail," intended to meet existing demand along the corridor. Todd Meyers, a Maverick representative, told the council, "we are looking forward to being part of your community," and described operational controls the company will use, including security cameras, signage to separate truck and auto flows, and limits on overnight parking.

Appellants and several residents urged the city to require additional traffic study and environmental review. Appellant counsel Diane Kinderman argued the CEQA exemption lacked substantial evidence and that the project could create significant public-safety impacts. Traffic witness Sergio Valdez told the council the trip distribution used in the traffic impact analysis underestimated regional truck trips from State Route 99 and said, "that really should have been analyzed more thoroughly," raising concerns about sight-distance, truck turning templates and an inappropriate use of pass-by-trip discounts at adjacent intersections.

Maverick’s traffic engineer responded that the traffic baseline accounted for all vehicle classes and contended the project fits the Office of Planning and Research's guidance treating gasoline stations as local-serving retail in VMT analyses. He said the intersections studied operate with sufficient capacity under the submitted scenarios and noted planned off-site improvements and curb, gutter and sidewalk work tied to the project.

Residents at the hearing — including local business owners and a former truck driver — described the Mitchell Road/Road Road intersection as fast and difficult to enter, raised safety concerns about trucks entering and exiting in fog or heavy traffic, and described the potential for queuing to back up onto the freeway off-ramp. Supporters said the project would provide regional truck fueling convenience, an RV dump station currently missing in the area, new jobs and sales-tax revenue that could spur additional local development.

Staff and applicant consultants said police and fire reviewed the proposal at the Planning Commission hearing and offered no opposition; engineering staff said sight-distance calculations, driveway configurations, EV-charger counts and other technical details will be resolved during final plan review and through required public-improvement work paid for by the developer.

What happens next: With the council's denial of the appeal, the conditional use permit stands as approved by the Planning Commission; the applicant must complete final permitting, off-site improvements and building permits before construction begins. Council members and residents asked staff to monitor operations and report any queuing, public-safety or enforcement problems once the facility is operating.

Vote: Deny appeal / uphold Planning Commission approval — Yes: Casey, Vieiraa, Martinez, Lopez; Abstain/Recused: Otero.