It’s uncommon for a mayor to ask a Planning Commission to reject a business interested in building on a specific parcel his city but that’s what Javier Lopez did on Monday.
But his words fell on deaf ears.
The commission unanimously approved a site plan to construct a 2,619-square-foot Pollo Campero restaurant at 1355 E. Hatch Road. The site is next door to and west of Raising Cane’s Chicken Fingers.
Pollo Campero is a Guatemalan version of a fried chicken restaurant and looking to expand to 250 locations by 2028. The chain is a nostalgic favorite for many Guatemalans and Salvadorans who’ve moved to the United States, some of whom are fanatical enough about the food to bring boxes of chicken to the United States for family members, as the Los Angeles Times reported in 2021.
Irene Ortiz, who is a businesswoman and vice president of the Ceres Chamber of Commerce, came before the commission to explain Lopez was out of town and asked to convey his objections over the project. His message was that, like the city doesn’t want to see a concentration of gas stations next to each other, “the situation is repeating itself with a different product.”
“We are faced with the potential placement of a Pollo Campero restaurant next to an existing Raising Cane’s chicken restaurant,” read Ortiz. She said the mayor inquired about having the chain choose another location in Ceres, specifically District 2 where there is a lack of food options. The chain, however, rejected the notion, believing Hatch Road is the desirable location due to traffic.
“On behalf of Mayor Lopez, I oppose the establishment of this business,” said Ortiz.
She noted that Lopez has threatened to appeal commission approval and that if so, “there is a strong possibility that this establishment will not be able to open at this location.”
The Pollo Campero project is part of the plan approved in 2021 to repurpose the former Kmart property on Hatch Road. Those uses included a Public Storage, Raising Cane’s, Dutch Bros., a 5,828-square-foot Quik Stop and gas station building and two parcels not originally claimed by any specific businesses but earmarked for a 2,500-square-foot restaurant with drive-thru; as well as a 1,500-square-foot oil change shop.
The Pollo Campero project will include a drive-thru window, 25 parking stalls and landscaping.
Planning Commission chair Cerina Otero expressed some concerns about the chain, mostly located in Southern California with a smattering of locations in the Bay Area, being able to survive in Ceres.
“One of my concerns is that will this place make it in Ceres?” asked Otero. “Is it going to be something that people are going to enjoy or will it end up vacant? We already have enough businesses that end up leaving Ceres, so could it potentially become an area that it goes empty and now we can’t fill it from another fast-food restaurant?”
Community Development Director Lea Simvoulakis said restaurants undergo extensive market research before investing in a city.
“While they are, I guess, hedging their bets, they’ve also done research to know if this area hits their demographics, hits there target market,” said Simvoulakis. They know far more about Ceres than we do, probably, so if they’re choosing to locate a store here they probably have a pretty good idea that they’ll be successful.”
She also mentioned that their product is a different style of chicken.
Commissioner Gary Del Nero believed Simvoulakis “hit the nail on the head,” mentioning how two tire stores side by side on Hatch Road were originally questioned but have proven profitable.
Planning Commissioner Bob Kachel said that while Hatch Road serves Ceres residents, it also serves freeway travelers. That is why there is a concentration of fast-food options at main pull-off areas.
Kachel, who has an extensive planning career, said there are no grounds to reject a project that complies with the Community Commercial zoning.
“You can’t just arbitrarily say, well, we don’t like businesses A, B, C, we would rather have X, Y, Z,” said Kachel. “We can’t do that without tools in the zoning code and the Zoning Ordinance and for this particular property say, no, you can’t put more fast-food restaurants there because we don’t want them. Unfortunately right now the zone says you can put more fast-food restaurants there.”
He suggested the commission and the council do not have the authority to reject the business.
Simvoulakis said the city would be on shaky legal ground to do so.
Ceres resident John Warren acknowledged that the project is in compliance with the general plan but balked about “putting another chicken place right next to a chicken place right next to a Burger King and it’s across the street from another chicken place.”
He went on to say: “I don’t care if they put in 15 hundred chicken places there. What’ll happen is they’ll probably all go out of business and we’ll be looking at empty buildings.”
