Sudhakar Satti made what might seem like a reasonable request.

The city, the Manteca Council was told, should buy 102 acres from Raymus Homes that represent five proposed neighborhoods to create a new community park.

The need, as it was pointed out, is there are upwards of 12,000 people and growing in the southwest portion of Manteca that do not have nearby community facilities.

The frustration of homebuyers in the area is understandable.

The buyers of a $850,000 home have a $8,500 basic property tax bill, although less than 16 percent of that goes to the city.

Add on city and school district Mellos Roos taxes for new facilities and things such as neighborhood park upkeep and now supplemental police and fire funding, the owner of that $850,000 home is forking over close to $11,000 a year.

And that doesn’t include one-time city growth fees such as for community parks that the home owner indirectly paid that were collapsed into the sale price of the home.

Toni Raymus of Raymus Homes made it clear the property that they have spent close to 10 years working to secure entitlements and investing money is not for sale.

That said, Raymus Homes, as Mayor Gary Singh noted during a May dedication of Tom Moore Park that is one of five neighborhood parks planned in the 1,245 home Trails community on the western end of Woodward Avenue, was among those leading the charge to upgrade amenities at neighborhood parks.

In recent years, Manteca has dropped the cookie cutter approach to neighborhood parks being roughly five acres with perhaps a storm retention basin, baseball backstop, and playground equipment.

Tom Moore Park, as designed by Raymus Homes, underscores that trend.

It has more of an “adult theme” with concrete table tennis, yoga pad area, sand volleyball pit, shaded picnic area, and basketball courts among other improvements.

To the east in Lumina at Machado Ranch, a developer is creating the largest neighborhood park to date, a 10-acre park that among other things includes restrooms and an area that could support fairly good-sized community gatherings such as a farmers market.

And at Quarterra on the northeast corner of Atherton Drive and South Main Street, the developer is putting in an interactive water play feature, dog park, restrooms, and more in what is a more intense neighborhood park instead of what has been traditionally open space with grass and little recreation amenities.

It should be noted Trails will be the first residential area that will include walking and bicycling trails in a large swath of open space adjacent to — and on top of — a dry levee being enlarged to provide 200 year plus flood protection.

Manteca, which exceeds state suggested minimums for park acreage in relation to the number of homes, has a general plan policy that has been effectively met with almost every new home built.

The policy calls for every new home to ideally be within a half mile walking distance of a neighborhood park.

The neighborhood park is financed 100 percent by developers whether they put the improvements in lieu of paying neighborhood park fees or they pay the fees and the city does the work.

A community park is a different animal with specialized offerings such as multiple sports fields, tennis courts, swimming pools, community centers, and such to name a few.

It also has one other distinctive feature as pointed out by District One Councilman Charlie Halford who represents southwest Manteca.

“They’re very expensive,” Halford said.

An example is the interactive water play feature under construction at Woodward Park that’s part of an overall project costing $3.7 million.

Although it is using a sizable chunk of pass through federal relief funds that were not needed to cover city-related COVID expenses and revenue losses from forced businesses closures, most of the work is being funded with community park fees.

The balance represents roughly the fees paid for by 600 single family homes, or half of the housing units built last year.

The 102-acre community park Satti would like to see near his home is double the size of Woodward Community Park.

It is also would place two community parks south of the 120 Bypass.

“We don’t have a community park in north Manteca,” Halford said in noting getting another 50 acre plus community park in place north of Lathrop Road is a city priority.

Northgate Park on Northgate Drive east of the East Union High-Neil Haley School campus is classified as a community park.

It was created in the 1970s when there were different standards and Manteca had 15,000 residents.

Jammed on its 5.5 acres — an area just over half the size of the largest neighborhood park being developed south of the 120 Bypass — is a lighted soccer field, a three-field softball complex, group picnic shelter, and playground equipment.

Even smaller is Marion Elliott Park (formerly Lincoln Park) that is adjacent to Lincoln Schools whose open area  is used by Manteca Little League.

The actual 4 acre park established in the 1960s is smaller than a neighborhood park.

It has a swimming pool, lighted baseball field, a group picnic shelter, and more robust playground equipment than found at a neighborhood park.

Modern community parks are rarely developed in one fell swoop due to the oversized expense.

Woodward Park was nothing but 50 acres of weeds for years after the almond orchard that was on it was cleared.

The city, after nearly 12 years, was able to leverage the community park fees that had been collected with statewide park bond grants to make initial improvements that put grass and infrastructure in place.

Added improvements over the years included tree plantings, lighted soccer fields, a second parking lot, exercise equipment, and now the water play feature along with additional restrooms and a large section of sidewalk.

The next community park in Manteca will likely be developed in phases as well.

That’s because it is where additional amenities such as a community center and aquatics center may go in addition to multi-use sports fields.

As of June 30, 2024, Manteca had $20 million in community park fees on hand before expenditures were made on Morezone Park upgrades, the water play feature, and an updated parks master plan. It has also budgeted for a sensory playground at Northgate Park.

The city, in recent years, has been collecting an average of $5 million annually for its community park fee fund from new home construction.

To contact Dennis Wyatt, email dwyatt@mantecabulletin.com