All that is left for Manteca to take official ownership of 8 acres along South Main Street where part of the land will be used for a homeless navigation center is for the recording of the deed.

The navigation center that candidate Lei Ann Larson forced to make the hot issue in the Nov. 8 mayor’s race will likely start moving forward within the next month.

*The City Council is expected to formally accept the $16 million check from the State of California to help build the navigation center.

*The person the city has hired to oversee its homeless and affordable housing efforts will be on the job next month.

The manager will oversee the design and build process that includes determining exactly how many homeless the facility will be designed to accommodate at one time.

Interim City  Manager Toni Lundgren on Tuesday indicated the city is preparing to contact PG&E to extend service to the site. The water and sewer connections will be handled internally.

Lundgren said the city was appreciative of the San Joaquin County Board of Supervisors turning over their share of the sale of the former redevelopment agency property to the city for the purpose of funding the facility for homeless.

The $1.76 million sale price was covered by the $2 million in federal pass through money the county committed to Manteca to secure land and help build a homeless navigation center.

That leaves $240,000. When added to the $341,000 from the sale the county is sending to Manteca plus the 16 percent portion ($281,600) of the city’s share of the RDA property sale, that means the city will have $862,600 to go toward the navigation shelter project.

When added to the state funds, the city will have $16,826,000 for designing and building a homeless navigation n center.

The City Council has repeatedly stated there will be a 7-foot masonry sound wall separating the portion of the property that will be used for the navigation center from the front half of the parcel that fronts South Main Street.

Access to the navigation center will be from Carnegie Court only, which is in the heart of the Manteca Industrial Park, and not from South Main Street.

The balance of the land will be used for either affordable housing, a new police station, or both.

The center is expected to be operated similar to one in Fresno where the homeless that are admitted to the facility are driven to the site and cannot simply “drop in”.

To contact Dennis Wyatt, email dwyatt@mantecabulletin.com