The Manteca City Council isn’t giving up on making the Qualex building in Industrial Park a center to serve the homeless just yet.

On Tuesday the council voted 4-1 to allow city staff to begin the process to look into converting the former film processing plant into a navigation center to serve Manteca’s growing homeless population – breathing new life into the future of the city-owned building that was at one time pegged to be the new Manteca Police Department.

While the majority of the council was in favor of exploring options for the Qualex building – only Councilman Dave Breitenbucher voted against the motion after his request to include city-owned property at 200 Wetmore Avenue in the equation was rebuffed – there was a collective sigh of relief from the packed council chambers that the city would not be exploring using the vacant K-Mart building on Northgate Drive to serve the homeless.

“I don’t think that a site located near residential is an ideal site,” Mayor Ben Cantu said to a round of cheers and applause from the crowd that came to speak in opposition to a number of the sites explored by the city. “There are just too many conflicts and I don’t think that a residential area is an ideal location.”

Cantu’s announcement, which was echoed by the majority of the council, narrowed the list of eight sites that city staff explored down to only three – cutting out the property at 285 Northgate Drive, which was designed by city staff as a potential site that the Manteca Unified School District would support – and left only the Qualex building, property near it in Industrial Park that is up for sale, and a city-owned lot on Wetmore Avenue that is currently being used for storage.

Breitenbucher was vocal in his belief that that the city shouldn’t be so willing to give the keys away to an industrial building with the City of Manteca is currently last in San Joaquin County when it comes to building new industrial properties, and said that he would be in favor of exploring other options – particularly the city-owned parcel at the base of the water tower that would not require purchasing any property to develop.

Because the Qualex building was purchased by the Manteca Redevelopment Agency – which no longer exists – the City of Manteca would have to purchase the building from the successor agency, and the city would only receive a portion of that money back.

The property on Bessemer Avenue which discussed is currently on the market for $1.6 million, and already includes an office building and a large insulated warehouse building. Even with those perks, there are no sidewalks to serve the property to foot traffic and little space to add the parking spaces necessary to facilitate the kind of navigation center that the City of Manteca is looking to potentially invest in.

Because of a decision by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, City Attorney John Brinton said, the city is limited in what it can in terms of enforcing the no camping ordinance that was initially approved by the council – making it impossible for the city to prevent people from sleeping on public right-of-way that is not designated as a city park. Even though Manteca signed on to the opposition to that decision in an appeal to the United States Supreme Court, the court declined to hear the case which means, Brinton said, that it would take a contrary ruling from another circuit court to send the Ninth Circuit decision up for Supreme Court review.

As a result of that decision, the city would have to provide a number of amenities for the homeless in the community – including beds, storage space, and services – before they would be able to prevent people from sleeping in public places.

But as much as the Qualex building fits the city’s needs, it’s not without its own challenges.

Because the building has sat vacant for so long, there is extensive water damage to the building as well as roof that needs to be completely replaced and asbestos that needs to be removed – repairs and upgrades believed to cost just shy of $900,000. Additional upgrades to the HVAC unit and other building necessities could easily drive the cost of making the building inhabitable far north of $1 million, not counting the price that the city would have to pay for the building – which must be “fair market value” in order to be approved to make the agencies with a stake in the building whole.

Where that funding will come from is something that city staff will investigate and bring back to the council for discussion along with possible scenarios on how to move forward with the proposal if the council elects to do so.

Currently the parking lot of the building on Industrial Park Drive is being used as a “warming center” for the homeless during the evening hours through an agreement with Inter City Action – a Stockton-based non-profit that utilizes a faith-based approach to helping the homeless in the community. The organization has taken an active role in providing for the homeless for Manteca since the problem arrived on the council’s radar, and now has an office in the city to assist in their efforts.

To contact reporter Jason Campbell email jcampbell@mantecabulletin.com or call 209.249.3544.