Mayor Ben Cantu may be re-inventing the wheel when it comes to some aspects of what he is personally advocating for downtown.

In a 9-point overview of the agenda he is setting to devise a plan for revitalizing downtown that he shared at a council subcommittee meeting Wednesday, the mayor talked about land use standards specific to the downtown core as well as identifying preferred businesses.

That is exactly what the previous city council did in December 2016 when they adopted two distinct zones in downtown in a bid to make it easier to encourage private sector investment.

The rules and land uses — devised after extensive meetings with all stakeholders including business owners and landlords — were adopted to make revitalization of the central district a more manageable phased endeavor. The rules already in place are designed to enable the creation of an “intense retail” core that supports a pedestrian-oriented segment. It will also allow for more flexibility within those areas that do not lie within the intense retail core area of downtown.

The core is bordered by the south side of Center Street running east midway from a point between Wilson Park and the Post Office to the west side of Grant Street where it will head south. It then turns west in the alley behind Yosemite and runs east again to Lincoln Avenue. Included as it heads south on Lincoln is the area on the west side of the street. It runs to the alley south of Yosemite Avenue and generally runs all the way west to the Tidewater Bikeway except for where it juts south to take in several parcels.  It then heads northwest along the Tidewater before swinging back up along Manteca Avenue then cuts east into the alley north of Yosemite before heading north to connect with the starting point between Wilson Park and there Post office.

The core zone’s notable changes include:

 *Elimination of residential uses

*Bar establishments must be 300 feet or more from a similar use

*Alcohol beverage sales have been better defined by specific type of beverages permitted to be sold for off-site consumption

Additional new categories are:

* Brew Pub: Allowing for small breweries producing specialty beers.

*Tasting Room: Allowing for beer or wine tasting with on-site and off-site retail sales.

*Bar and nightclub have been split into separate uses.

*Nightclubs are not allowed.

*Many uses that are an allowed use under the current code are proposed to require a conditional use permit.

Cantu favors four downtown

entrance arches across streets

The outline devised by Cantu himself and not in conjunction with fellow subcommittee member Debby Moorhead, also stresses the need to enhance amenities.

Included in Cantu’s plan is installing four downtown theme entrance arches across each end of Main Street and Yosemite Avenue that designated the start of downtown.

Cantu said the arches would be like what you see in Lodi or Ripon.

He conceded they would be expensive so it would be likely if the council concurred with him that they would be needed that only one at a time could be built as funding became available.

The 2004 improvements that saw the decorative street and traffic lights plus other streetscape put in place originally included an entrance arch similar to what Cantu advocates on Main Street near Moffat Boulevard.

It was struck from the plan that went out to bid due to being cost prohibitive at the time. Instead, simple signs reading “Downtown Manteca” were placed in the medians in the 100 block of North Main Street.

Cantu wants to see additional decorative street lights placed along Yosemite Avenue eventually as far east s Fremont Street and as far west as Walnut Avenue. He’d also like to see them all along Main from Moffat to Alameda Street.

Cantu wants the subcommittee to increase landscaping in the downtown district, provide pedestrian orientated rest areas, and provide  where possible — mid-block pedestrian access to alley parking lots.

In 2019, the city spent nearly $1 million improving various downtown parking lots and alleys.

The subcommittee format — designed to be a collaborative effort of Cantu working with Moorhead to devise a downtown strategy — will produce a report with recommendations to the council. If  any or all of what is proposed in terms of identified projects, an implementation plan and how to finance it becomes a reality the majority of the council will need to support it.

To contact Dennis Wyatt, email dwyatt@mantecabulletin.com