Manteca’s northward push is underway.

Five projects that would add 1,667 housing units — 1,217 single family homes and 450 apartment units — are now in the preliminary review process. They are located between Union Road and the Highway 99 Frontage Road in north Manteca.

The four proposed projects are:

*200 units for the Union Ranch Apartments fronting Union Road just north of The Union Ranch neighborhood and to the east of Del Webb.

*417 homes in the Union Ranch North project adjacent to the proposed apartments, bordered by the existing Union Ranch neighborhood on the south, Union Road on the west, coming up even in the north to the northern most Del Webb boundary and bordering the former Tidewater Railroad right-of-way on the east.

*560 homes in the Stagecoach at Marchesotti immediately north of the proposed Union Ranch North neighborhood. It is bordered on the west by Union Road, the east by the former Tidewater right-of-way and along the north on what will be the future extension of Lovelace Road east of Union Road.

*200 units for the Stagecoach at M&E Apartments nestled against the Highway 99 Frontage Road north of Perry & Sons melon brokerage yard and produce stand.

*240 homes for Stagecoach at M&E that would border the Frontage Road on the east and the old Tidewater right-of-way on the west where it would be across from the proposed Union Ranch North.

The land for all five projects will also have to be annexed to the city.

All 1,667 housing units would be within a half-mile of the Lathrop Road and Highway 99 interchange. At an average yield of 3.5 people per house, at buildout the five projects may add 5,834 residents to Manteca’s population.

There are now 11,245 housing units either entitled, with a preliminary map, or in initial review that have yet to be built in Manteca. If they are all built they would add roughly 39,357 residents

The five envisioned residential projects would add more traffic to the Union Road corridor as well as the Frontage Road that ties into Crestwood Avenue at Lathrop Road just west of the interchange and the Main Street corridor.

Future students likely

to attend EU High

Students are likely to attend East Union High as the bulk of Manteca’s present growth is in the south sending new 9th through 12th grade students to Manteca and Sierra high schools.

Manteca High is currently being expanded to take the education program design of the campus to 2,200 students.

The long-range Manteca Unified plan for its three high school campuses in Manteca is to expand their capacity by 450 to 550 students with an ideal enrollment cap of 2,200.

That is the equivalent of adding another high school without having to build expensive infrastructure and support facilities.

The school board picked the design of 2,200 students not solely as a cost effective way of utilizing tax dollars but because the size allows the offering of an optimum variety of educational offerings without becoming unwieldy.

Eventually there could be a need for an elementary school site north of Union Road.

The area is now part of the New Haven School attendance area.

The district has also opted to expand existing elementary campuses first before building new ones. The upper enrollment target for elementary school expansions has been set at 1,000 to 1,100.

The strategy underscores the reality school growth fees, Mello Roos taxes, and the district’s bonds capacity can’t cover 100 percent of the cost of a new school campus construction.

The typical cost of building a new elementary school for 600 students from scratch is now pegged at $30 million. The cost of a new high school for 1,500 students in land purchase and infrastructure is now pushing $200 million.

Unique street pattern

& bike trail possible

When the overall Union Ranch specific plan that contains Del Webb and Union Ranch were advanced 15 years ago it included neighborhood street patterns aimed at increasing security.

The theory was less access points and no continuous through streets would reduce the potential for crime and slow traffic.

Del Webb for 1,406 homes has four access points. None, however, are through streets.

Union Ranch has 2 access points from Union Ranch for more than 300 homes. And while there are stub streets, none are crafted in a manner that would allow direct flow between collector streets and arterials 

Whether the preliminary plans will continue such an approach for projects to the north is not clear. But given the point in the approval process the five projects are it is possible for such an approach to still be in incorporated.

Twenty-five years ago when Manteca bought the old Tidewater rail right-of-way through the city the vision was for a county-city trail along the historic rail path to French Camp Road and ultimately into Stockton to into the employment centers around the airport.

The goal was to connect the Tidewater in the southern part of Manteca with a separated trail to reach Ripon and ultimately the bicycle bridge across the Stanislaus River to access Modesto.

It was seen as a boon for recreation while creating a greenbelt.

In subsequent county bike plans it has been noted there is a small but growing number of people bicycling to jobs who would benefit from separated bike paths connecting cities.

To contact Dennis Wyatt, email dwyatt@mantecabulletin.com