The 2045 general plan appears destined to have the most direct handprints ever of elected leaders on such documents that direct growth.

The amendments to the general plan the council adopted seven months ago that are before them for approval  when they meet Tuesday is the direct result of what all of Manteca’s elected leaders agreed unanimously to do two months ago.

It includes:

*realigning Roth Road and pursuing an interchange on Highway 99 for the arterial situated to become the heaviest used truck route in Manteca.

*establishing a 50-acre site for Manteca’s second community park.

*altering land use designations adopted in July not to accommodate a specific development, but to essentially benefit an existing property owner that has no legal or financial interest in the land impacted per se.

Although those three elements are the major points of the Delicato settlement the council agreed to in order to get the winery to drop a referendum on the city’s growth plan in the Nov. 5 election as well as abandon a lawsuit, it still is an extraordinary move out-of-the-gate by local leaders for a freshly minted general plan.

Typically, decisions such as choosing a site for a major park are vetted publicly in a manner like the city did with the homeless navigation center before deciding on 682 South Main St.

The same goes for essentially making it official policy for the city to add a major freeway interchange likely to cost $40 million to its already long list of unfunded transportation needs.

The updated general plan after six years of gestation was delivered to the City Council with neither a second community park site or a policy goal of an interchange on Highway 99 between French Camp Road and Lathrop Road.

It also was advanced with the consultant and key staff concluding it was in Manteca’s best interest to ignore repeated input — and warnings — from Delicato Vineyards in favor of developers working with adjoining property owners.

The need for a community park was part of a park and recreation master plan a previous council accepted in 2018.

Yet, the land use portion of the general plan did not include a general idea of where a 50-acre plus park could go.

The council also used the settlement deal hammered out with Delicato wineries to essentially force a general path for a major element of a truck route plan.

It is a plan that this council — and at least two previous councils — have been frustrated as it has not been developed and moved forward in a timely manner.

Why Roth Road & the

interchange is important

The decision to approve the general plan amendment is essentially a forgone conclusion at Tuesday’s 6 p.m. council meeting.

It will set in motion a long-term solution to keep most trucks off Airport Way and at least keep the potential for increased truck traffic on Lathrop Road at a minimum.

It would make it clear the city doesn’t view the somewhat convoluted — at least in moving  truck traffic for northwest Manteca concerns and the Union Pacific intermodal yard to and from Highway 99 — truck route being pursued by San Joaquin County as the optimum solution.

That route requires trucks to travel up Airport Way and turn on French Camp Road to reach Highway 99.

Given the main access to the UP intermodal facility that has plans to take capacity from 280,000 trucks a year to 780,000 is on Roth Road, the proposed route is not a straight shot.

By punching Roth Road east not just to — or across — the freeway but to make it a full interchange, it will provide a seamless route for trucks from Interstate 5 to Highway 99.

It would also be an easier path for truck traffic to travel to reach freeways whether it is existing or planned industrial and distribution  development either north or south of the existing and future Roith Road corridor.

Other major elements

in settlement deal

The other major elements of the development deal that was hammered away from the public’s eye after community input spanning nearly six years forged the general plan that is being amended includes the following:

*There will be no residential developments north of Lovelace Road.

*Housing development will not occur east of Union Road at a point beyond where the northern edge of the Del Webb at Woodbridge community.

*Delicato will provide up to 12 acres at no cost for an extension of Roth Road through their property so it can reach Frontage Road on the west side of Highway 99.

*As such, that means the amount of housing Manteca will allow in the area will be reduced including the elimination of apartments.

*Land to the west and south of the winery will be placed in an agricultural zone. Land between Union Road and Airport Way farther to the west of the winery was already zoned for industrial use in the general plan update as well as land to the east of the winery on the other side of Highway 99.

*The winery operation per se will be in an agricultural industrial zone.

*The area once envisioned by developers for housing on the east side of Union Road north of Del Webb will instead have a 50-acre community park site plus industrial zoning.

*The park site that borders Union Road is designed with  a corridor that connects with a future extension of the Tidewater Bikeway. That means both of the city’s community parks — Woodward is the other — will be accessed directly by city’s separated bike trail system.

*The park’s design with the connection to the Tidewater could allow it to be ultimately doubled in size of industrial land to the east of it doesn’t develop.

*Delicato will pay $50,000 toward the initial design of the community park.

*The cost of Roth Road improvements will be determined and developers will establish funding for it before residential and industrial park growth occurs.

Delicato, in the agreement, will drop the referendum on the general plan that they gathered the necessary signatures to qualify for the Nov. 5, 2024 ballot providing all of the milestones outlined in the settlement agreement are met 88 days before the election. That is the last day at item can be submitted to the county elections office for placement on the ballot.

 The zoning changes are critical to what Delicato believes it needs to protect the future viability of its winery they have parlayed into the world’s fifth largest partially on the strength of a recent investments in excess of $100 million.

To contact Dennis Wyatt, email dwyatt@mantecabulletin.com