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Neighbors against 560 homes
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There’s no timetable set for when a proposed 156.8-acre housing project that could add another 560 homes to Manteca will come back before the planning commission.

But residents on Woodward Avenue that are currently under San Joaquin County jurisdiction don’t want to end up landlocked or have to further worry about the impacts that development has already made on their one-acre parcels – citing traffic as a major problem and heavy impacts on their private well water as a health concern that has considerably worsened over the last several years.

Per the request of the developers of the project that was submitted for consideration at the southwest corner of Woodward Avenue and Airport Way, the three items that were scheduled to be reviewed at Tuesday’s Manteca Planning Commission meeting – the environmental impact review, the tentative subdivision map, and the annexation approval – were tabled indefinitely.

Even though the project has been on the books since before the current economic slowdown that has severely halted growth in the city, neighbors like Glen Crane don’t want to see their properties further impacted by encroaching homes.

“I don’t see the advantages for us as homeowners,” said Crane – who noted that his son just bought the property next to his and has several small children. “I know that it’s not my property and I don’t know where my rights lie, but I’m totally against it.”

Lorin Neyer was the first resident to approach the commission and voice her opposition to something she fears will overwhelm what has already become somewhat of a speedway, and further impact the drinking water for her home that currently comes from a private well.

The residents collectively spoke against the option to hook up to city services – with Crane noting that the price tag that could extend up to $25,000 per household. Resident Peter Anderson wasn’t thrilled with the fact that previous developers had told him that he would be able to continue receiving irrigation water even after they completed their project.

His water allotment proposal submitted to the South San Joaquin Irrigation District, he said, was denied.

Complicating some of the concerns that residents voiced about traffic is the fact that Woodward Avenue – according to city planners – is broken up into sections that fall into and out of Manteca’s city limits.

Named Machado Estates, the project is slated to include an 11.38-acre storm retention basin and a 3.87-acre linear park will fall under the control of a landscape maintenance district per the Manteca City Council.