Manteca may rethink its landscaping requirements for development.

The City Council when they meet tonight at 6 p.m. are being asked to spend $23,620 to have experts examine the city’s development landscape requirements so they can be updated.

The need for updating is multi-faceted. However, the biggest issues the city is facing include the need to conserve water, reduce sidewalks from being lifted by tree roots over time, and making sure maintenance costs are kept low.

The last time Manteca thoroughly looked at  the city’s landscaping policies for development was more than 20 years ago.

That is when the city jettisoned what many called at the time “Manteca Canyons” in favor of landscaped areas bordering the permitter of tract home developments that are inviting and tolerable to use and pleasing on the eye.

The “”Manteca Canyons” are what you see along stretches of older stretches of Union Road and Louise Avenue where sections were retrofitted to a degree seven years ago in a bid to make them more pleasant and less destructive to sidewalks.

They were called canyons because they consisted of a sound wall abutting an 8-foot wide sidewalk running to the curb flanking  four lanes of asphalt with the pattern repeated on the opposite side of the street.

It was broken up periodically by small “tree wells” for trees that ended up struggling and ultimately lifting segments of the sidewalk.

The corridors radiated oppressive heat in the summer. Even after sunset, heat absorbed by the sound walls would radiate back onto pedestrians.

The community outcry over continuing that pattern on a segment of Fishback Road just south of Sierra High led to the rethink of the city’s policies more than two decades ago. That led to the median landscape stretch on Fishback between there and Daniels Street.

The City Council has directed staff to update development landscape requirements to exceed state mandated water conservation.

It was noted in a staff report by Deputy Planning Director Lea Simvoulakis that “well-executed landscape design takes into consideration visual appeal, water conservation, the ecosystem, existing infrastructure, and the everyday lives of people who live and work in Manteca. For example, a strategically placed tree can minimize soil erosion, help control stormwater runoff, and provide much needed shade during the scorching Central Valley summer heat.

“With appropriately written development review standards that enumerate the City’s expectations, the development community will have a clear understanding what should be included in landscape plans, which will also help expedite landscape plan review.”

To contact Dennis Wyatt, email dwyatt@mantecabulletin.com