There is so much growth happening in Lathrop that the city staff couldn’t keep up.

And even though the city had an agreement with a contract agency in place to provide the necessary plan-checking services to allow residential, commercial, and industrial development to move forward as planned, the growth in the city has been so explosive that the city needed to go back out for even more contract help.

Earlier this month the Lathrop City Council approved a contract change order with Interwest Consulting Group which will provide additional plan-check services that the city’s in-housing building department can’t handle because of the increase in volume – an additional $81,800 to bring the annual not-to-exceed total of the contract to $200,000.

The cost of the change order will be funded by the cost of the plan-check fees, almost $50,000 of which will come from development in River Islands, and more than $75,000 will come from general development.

Under the current agreement, Interwest is paid 65 percent of the total plan check fees collected by the city and has handled nearly all of the River Islands development plan-checking as well as other residential developments and large industrial projects like the Tesla expansion.

Currently there are more than 10,000 homes already approved for construction in the city, and more than 10 million square feet of warehouse and light industrial development along the Highway 120 Bypass corridor alone – approved by the city council and awaiting further development.

With the near completion of the 1.2 million square foot Wayfair distribution center and the nearly 800,000 square foot Tesla building almost wrapped up, the city is becoming a destination for companies that appreciate the relatively affordable development costs compared to the Bay Area and the network of freeways and highways that connect all of Northern California.

To contact reporter Jason Campbell email jcampbell@mantecabulletin.com or call 209.249.3544.