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| Voters to decide on sales-tax measure |
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| Written by Jonathan Partridge / Patterson Irrigator | |
| Wednesday, 13 February 2008 | |
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At a glance
The West Main Street proposal has generated controversy among some West Side residents, who say it may benefit PCCP West Park project, a 4,800-acre industrial park proposed for Crows Landing’s former naval airfield and the surrounding area.  Drivers along West Main Street east of Patterson pass throught the Carpenter Road intersection Monday evening. A revised sales-tax measure would widen the road in both directions from Patterson to Turlock. Photo by Elias Funez / Patterson Irrigator Various West Side cities and bodies have opposed the project because of its size and its expansion of rail. West Park developer Gerry Kamilos has said in the past he would pay for any roadway improvements that will be needed directly around the business park, including work on the interchange at Interstate 5 and Fink Road. Patterson Mayor Becky Campo said she wanted to make sure the project would not subsidize the proposed project. She said she plans to advocate for a northern bypass that would connect to Interstate 5 at Zacharias Road rather than a southern bypass that would connect to I-5 near Crows Landing. She also said she wanted to ensure that West Park consultant Mike Lynch was not used as a consultant for Measure K after hearing rumors that he was being considered for the position. Lynch said Monday that he had not been approached about being a consultant for the project and would never consider doing so anyway. “I’m not interested in being a distraction for such an important countrywide effort,” Lynch said. He also noted that plans to expand West Main Street between I-5 and Highway 99 have been around for a long time, predating development plans for the Crows Landing Air Facility. West Park plans to pay for roadway improvements directly related to the project just as Kamilos has always said, Lynch said. Harris of StanCOG said the Main Street project would benefit Patterson, Newman and Turlock and that there was no direct connection between West Park and the proposed widening project. “I don’t even know how that fits into the conversation,” he said. How to slice the pie In addition to local talk about West Park, many cities throughout the county have wanted to make sure money from the sales-tax measure is fairly distributed. The final result has been a compromise between Stanislaus County and its cities in determining how to allocate the money. Initially, StanCOG officials had considered distributed money to cities and the county based on population, but Turlock city staff complained that their city generates a higher amount of sales-tax revenue per capita than other cities, so it would be disadvantaged. Oakdale also would be disadvantaged under a population-based formula, Harris explained. Turlock officials suggested a formula instead that would place more importance on sales-tax generation, but also weighed in population and miles of roads in town. StanCOG proposed a compromise formula that allocates 98 percent of the greater amount of a city’s sales tax or population percentage of the county. Stanislaus County would receive the remaining 2 percent because the vast majority of roadways are in the unincorporated areas, Harris said. Patterson would receive $13.73 million for roadway projects under that arrangement. Moving forward The Turlock City Council was expected to make a decision Tuesday evening on the ballot measure. Results from that meeting were not available as of press time. StanCOG needs approval from enough city bodies to represent the majority of county residents for the measure to appear on the ballot. As of Monday, all the city councils in the county had supported the proposed sales-tax measure. Campo said she was not sure at first whether to support the initiative, but she was convinced by City Manager Cleve Morris that it would benefit Patterson. “I don’t want Patterson to get shortchanged,” Campo said. The 2006 initiative, which required 66.67 percent approval to pass, ultimately only received 57.92 percent. At the time, even supporters such as Supervisor Jim DeMartini said they did not like the fact that the initiative would have provided aid for so many state and federal highway projects and for transit programs. Much of that funding has been eliminated this time around. "I think we've got something I can accept rather than something I have to hold my nose over," DeMartini said. To reach Jonathan Partridge at the Irrigator, call 892-6187 or e-mail him at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it
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