If you bought a home on Snively Road south of Cottonwood, what was the land across the street? Until this year, the answer was an existing residence, a workshop, several outbuildings, a man-made stock pond, a well, a septic tank and a leach field. Under the approval Tehama County granted in May 2026, all of that comes down and the Cottonwood Travel Center goes up. The plan calls for 164 day or overnight tractor-trailer stalls, 43 fueling positions, a truck repair shop and two drive-through restaurant pads.
That parcel had been headed this way for a long time. According to testimony at the hearing, the area was designated commercial in the county's 1983 General Plan. For anyone buying rural property near Cottonwood's freeway exits, or weighing I-5 frontage as an investment, this project shows how much the county map controls and how little a quiet field next door tells you.
The Hearing Settled Conditions, Not Whether
On May 21, 2026, the Tehama County Planning Commission met in the Board Chambers at 727 Oak Street in Red Bluff. Commissioners Harris, Potanovic and Patrick voted 3–0 to adopt the project's Mitigated Negative Declaration and approve Use Permit #23-01. Commissioners Jones and Miranda were absent. The site covers 28.97 acres at 16780 Hooker Creek Road and 17265 Snively Road, on the northeast corner of I-5 and Hooker Creek Road between Auction Yard Road and Snively Road. The applicant is Cottonwood Investment Group, LLC, with Peter Dreyfuss as managing member.
The hearing drew a large audience, with strong views on both sides, as the Red Bluff Daily News reported the next day. Residents of North Highland Estates spoke about quiet, views, safety and trucks trying to get around the scales. Supporters spoke about jobs and tax revenue. Dave Gowan, CEO of the City of Red Bluff and Tehama County Chamber of Commerce, said he and the chamber board supported the project. District 1 Supervisor Rob Burroughs, who lives off Bowman Road and Hooker Creek, said he was against the project at first but came to see economic development as a way to bring stability to the county.
The testimony with the most to say about land value came from John Stofer, a former Planning Director for Tehama County and the City of Corning. The minutes summarize his point this way:
"He stated in 1983 the area was designated commercial with the adoption of the 1983 General Plan. Mr. Stofer stated they designated two areas for commercial and industrial development."
Today the site carries a General Commercial General Plan designation and PD zoning. If Stofer's account is right, the area was earmarked for commercial use 43 years before this approval. The use permit hearing decided how the commercial use would be built and on what terms. The General Plan had already pointed the area toward commercial use.
Two Zoning Codes Facing Each Other Across Snively Road
The county staff report includes a table of everything bordering the site. It's worth reading the way an appraiser would.
| Direction from site | Zoning | General Plan | Current use |
|---|---|---|---|
| North | PD | GC | Commercial & residential |
| South | PD | GC | Vacant & commercial |
| East, across Snively Road | R1-A-MH-B:86 | RS | Residential |
| West | I-5 | I-5 | Interstate 5 |
North of the site, one parcel already has a commercial truck repair facility and the other has a residence. South of the site, one parcel is undeveloped and the parcel to the southeast sells water and wastewater equipment. East across Snively Road, four parcels each have a home and a fifth is vacant.
The residence north of the site and the vacant parcel south of it sit on the same PD/GC designation as the travel center. A buyer looking at a home on the east side of Snively Road today sees one house and one empty lot along that stretch of frontage. The General Plan shows both as commercial land that hasn't been developed yet.
The site is also not in downtown Cottonwood. The staff report puts it about 5.7 miles south of the Shasta/Tehama County line and the community of Cottonwood. It carries a Cottonwood address but sits in open country near the interchange. That's exactly the kind of setting where buyers pay for space and quiet, and where a commercial General Plan designation is easy to miss.
Frontage Comes Without Utilities
For investors, the other half of the story is what it takes to make I-5 frontage earn money. Freeway visibility and the PD/GC designation came with the land. Water and sewer didn't. The approved plan has to build its own utilities:
- A well on the western edge of the site, plus three storage tanks holding more than 528,000 gallons of potable water
- A public water system that has to be built and tested under the county's conditions
- About 2 acres set aside for wastewater treatment. The conditions say the wastewater volume is above the county's local program limit, so the system needs waste discharge requirements from the Central Valley Water Board
- A 1.6-acre stormwater detention basin
Add those up and roughly 3.6 of the 28.97 acres go to water treatment and stormwater before any pump, stall or restaurant goes in. When a frontage parcel is priced per acre, the buyer is paying for land that will hold infrastructure. A city lot would get that infrastructure from a main in the street.
The water plan also connects investors to the homeowners across the road. Written comments from residents raised the project's effect on local wells during drought. At the hearing, a summary of the applicant's presentation described a 600-foot well and an estimated demand of 31 acre-feet a year. Those figures come from the presentation, not from the environmental document's groundwater findings. Still, they give a nearby well owner a concrete number to look into. Commissioner Patrick asked about the tanks during the hearing, and planner Greg Redeker said the more than half a million gallons of storage could be used for fires or irrigation if needed.
The Roads Get Wider on Paper Before They Get Wider on the Ground
The conditions of approval also cover the roads around the site. The project must complete frontage improvements, including curb, gutter and sidewalk, within a 120-foot right-of-way on Hooker Creek Road, a 100-foot right-of-way on Auction Yard Road and an 80-foot right-of-way on Snively Road. It must dedicate additional right-of-way along Auction Yard Road and Snively Road. New driveways need Public Works review, and any existing access points outside the approved locations have to be blocked. A traffic study is required to look at Hooker Creek, Auction Yard and Snively Roads and to identify the improvements needed to address what it finds.
This affects both kinds of buyer. An investor has to budget for giving up a strip of the parcel and paying for the frontage work along it. A homeowner on Snively Road gets curb, gutter and sidewalk on a road that the county already plans to widen on the commercial side. Before construction can start, the conditions require Public Works approval of improvement plans, a grading permit and an encroachment permit.
Where the Project Stands in October 2026
Action News Now reported on approval day that the project would move forward unless someone filed an appeal with the Tehama County supervisors. The Planning Commission agenda says a use permit decision can be appealed within 10 calendar days, with the appeal and fee filed with the Clerk of the Board. As of early October 2026, we haven't found any public report of a construction start, a target opening date or tenant brands for the site.
The timeline shows how slowly these projects move and how short the window is for having a say. A sponsor told commissioners he has been involved with the project since 2020. The environmental document's public review period ran from October 14 to November 29, 2025. The appeal window lasted ten days. Someone who bought nearby in 2024 could have closed escrow while all of this was in process and never seen a single notice.
Before You Write an Offer Near a Cottonwood Interchange
- Pull the General Plan designation for every neighboring parcel, not only the one you're buying. A house next door on GC land means something different from a house next door on RS land.
- Read the zoning across the road. In this case, the most important boundary was the center line of Snively Road.
- Ask the Tehama County Planning Department what applications are pending nearby, then check the Planning Commission agendas on the county's Legistar site for use permits within a mile or two.
- For frontage purchases, price in the utilities. Count the acreage that will go to a well, storage, wastewater treatment and stormwater, plus any right-of-way the county may require you to dedicate.
- For rural homes on wells near commercial land, ask how deep your well is and compare it to any large well planned nearby.
A Few Common Questions
Does a General Commercial designation mean a project is guaranteed? No. The Cottonwood Travel Center still needed a use permit, an environmental review, a public hearing and conditions of approval. The designation decided what kind of use the hearing would consider.
Who decides appeals of Planning Commission decisions in Tehama County? The Board of Supervisors. Appeals are filed with the Clerk of the Board within 10 calendar days of the decision, along with the fee.
Does the approval set the travel center's operating hours? The project summary in the staff report doesn't list operating hours. A neighbor's written comment described the expected operation as around the clock, but that comment isn't a permit condition.
If you're looking at acreage near Hooker Creek Road or other I-5 frontage around Cottonwood, Monet Templeton can help you check the zoning and General Plan designations on the parcels around it before you commit. Book an appointment, or request a home valuation if you already own nearby and want to see how the Cottonwood Travel Center approval affects your property.
