Manteca is not waiting on a new community park or getting implementation of the updated master plan rolling to step up its park facility game.

“(Our goal) is to make every neighborhood park a destination park, and not just a park belonging to the neighbors,” Mayor Gary Singh noted during Tuesday’s City Council meeting.

To be clear, anyone can access a neighborhood park even though most since the mid-2000s are having their ongoing maintenance costs covered by community facilities district fees paid by homeowners within the subdivision they are placed.

 What Singh means is the city is working with developers to make sure new neighborhood parks have amenities beyond the basic playground, picnic tables, baseball backstop, and storm retention basins that double as impromptu playing fields for sports.

“They are all neighborhood parks.” Singh re-emphasized.

The best example is the park being developed over the next two years as part of the 818-home neighborhood — including 672 apartments — Quarterra is building on the northeast quadrant of Atherton Drive and South Main Street.

It features a 2-acre open space area being developed and maintained as a park on Quaterra’s dime.

It will be accessible not just by apartment residents but by anyone in Manteca.

Even with that big of an initial and ongoing investment, Quaretrra will still pay the full $4 million park growth fees the development is assessed under city rules.

And it won’t be a run-of-the-mill “neighborhood park.”

It will include:

*A water play feature for kids.

*A cricket pitch.

*A pickleball court.

*Sand volleyball courts.

*Playground equipment.

*A dog park.

*Picnic tables with a shade cover.

*Walking paths.

*Lighting.

*Restrooms.

The restrooms is a big item for those who walk for exercise, especially the elderly.

Manteca stopped building restrooms in neighborhood parks in the 1980s due to ongoing maintenance costs.

But in recent years as walking around park perimeters has blossomed, the city has been receiving requests that restrooms be added to neighborhood parks.

Singh credits Raymus Homes with helping the city break the neighborhood park mold with the development of Tom Moore Park in southwest Manteca.

The mayor lauded the variety of amenities at Tom Moore Park including three concrete table tennis tables, sand volleyball court, a compacted area designed for yoga and stretching, two cornhole courts, a concrete basketball court, a shade structure with picnic tables, and a backstop with an in-place partial fence.

A park in a neighboring development — the 827-home Lumina at Machado Ranch — also has features that break the same-old, same-old mold.

It features a 10-acre central park — the largest park yet in Manteca that isn’t a community park like the 50-acre Woodward Park.

Restrooms will also complement the park that will have an area for neighborhood and community gatherings including a picnic area designed for low-key “block parties” or even a small-scale farmers market.

For years, the city — except at community parks such as Woodward and Library parks — has refrained from building restrooms.

A city policy originally was put in place not to build restrooms at parks due to the cost of maintaining them. In later years, homeless sometimes became an issue.

The new parks, however, have all of their maintenance costs covered by community facilities district fees assessed on nearby homeowners.

Back in June 2022 when the council voted to add restrooms to the park, Singh said the city shouldn’t let “homeless” issues dictate the design of neighborhoods.

He added residents — especially the elderly and parents with young children — using parks want to have a restroom nearby if the need arises.

 It is especially true of neighborhood parks where the city has included playing fields large enough for youth soccer team practices.

New park facilities &

input going forward

Singh noted city protocols recently put in place will step up community input into the development and improvement of all parks, including neighborhood parks.

Park plans are now being routed through the Parks and Recreation Commission.

The advisory body now has a representative from each of the four council district in Manteca in a bid to secure broad-based community input.

To contact Dennis Wyatt, email dwyatt@mantecabulletin.com