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Result of community input on aquatic center being shared Thursday
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Input from the community as to what they’d like to see included in three potential projects — an aquatics center, gym/community center, and a sports park — is being presented to the Manteca Parks & Recreation Commission on Thursday.

It is part of the Parks and Recreation Studies LPA Inc. was hired for $185,000 to conduct. The meeting will take place at 7 p.m. at the Manteca Senior Center, 295 Cherry Lane.

The three recreational facilities were identified as the top needs and/or wants in the city’s first Parks & Recreation Master Plan adopted in 2017.

The workshops were designed to provide input for what type of features the community would like to see incorporated into the facilities.

LPA was also hired to study possible locations as well as the facility sizes and costs.

The study is a precursor for a possible City Council decision to ask voters to augment fees collected on new growth to help pay for communitywide parks and recreation facilities. Growth pays for 100 percent of the cost of new neighborhood parks and in neighborhoods built in the past 10 years even pays for their ongoing maintenance and equipment replacement through community facility district taxes.

Under state law and court rulings growth can only be assessed their fair share of communitywide amenities. That means the only way the three recreation facilities will get built is if the city secures funding in a tax or bond election.

The three projects were estimated to cost $45 million in 2016.

Since then construction costs have been rising at a robust 5 to 8 percent a year. The end result is whatever dollars the city can generate from growth fees and a possible bond will not go as far as they would have three years ago.


To contact Dennis Wyatt, email dwyatt@mantecabulletin.com