It’s a relatively small annexation at 17.4 acres but it has the potential to send hundreds of thousands of dollars into the City of Manteca municipal fund on a yearly basis.

Dubbed the Chamberlain Annexation, the endeavor takes in portions of Highway 99 and what part of the south of the interchange at Lathrop Road that wasn’t already in the city limits and some other property.

It is the “some other property” that will allow the city to help fund municipal services without the need to impose new taxes.

The annexation contains a billboard location that OutFront Media wants to convert to an electronic LED billboard to take advantage of the 110,000 to 140,000 daily travelers on the Highway 99 corridor.

Mayor Gary Singh not only advanced the proposal but was a key part of the city negotiation effort with OutFront media to secure a deal that will give the advertising firm two LED billboard sites along freeways in Manteca with the city receiving hundreds of thousands in revenue in return each year.

The annexation approved last week by the council is the last hurdle needed to be cleared to allow the project to move forward.

The other steps involved raising the height limits on signs, and tweaking an ordinance allowing the city to place private signs on municipal property.

It all clears the way for an electronic sign deal that could generate hundreds of thousands to help pay for city services.

.There are two sign sites:

*2.1 acres straddling Inheritance Way nestled against the southeast quadrant of the Lathrop Road/Highway 99 interchange that is part of the annexation.

*a 3.85-acre parcel the city bought in 2024 for $2.2 million along Atherton Drive just west of Living Spaces that is also being marketed to secure a sit-down restaurant.

The existing billboard at the Lathrop/Highway 99 interchange — under a deal with OutFront Media — will be replaced with a high-tech LED billboard.

A new electronic billboard will go up along the 120 Bypass.

Between the two signs, Manteca will see a steady annual stream of revenue in the low to mid six-figure range to support municipal services.

And, as an added bonus, OutFront Media will remove four billboards along Moffat Boulevard that are on land that is part of the city’s park system along the Tidewater Bikeway.

The first sign to go in place will likely be the Highway 99 location.

That’s because it already has the steel support in place to handle the weight of an LED electronic billboard.

The city will share the base payment and a percentage of the advertising revenue with the property owner along Inheritance Way.

For the 120 Bypass billboard, Manteca will receive a base monthly lease payment for use of its land plus a percentage of money spent on advertising.

Manteca will also have a certain amount of time they can use the billboards to promote what they wish such as a community street fair or public service messages such as watering restrictions.

Both billboards will incorporate a “Manteca” message on the base that could be as simple as “welcome to Manteca.”

The billboards will adhere to strict Caltrans standards such as ones that regulate brightness under various conditions.

The deal started when current city leadership was following through on the city’s contractual right to remove the billboards on city property along Moffat Boulevard that previous municipal administrations declined to do for more than 16 years.

Revenue is projected within three to five years to allow the city to recoup $2.2 million they spent in early 2024 to purchase the 3.85-acre parcel where the billboard will go along the 120 Bypass.

The city plans to create a small parcel for the billboard and then aggressively market the high-profile location for a sit-down restaurant.

The odd triangle shaped parcel, despite its location, was considered a challenge by commercial agents to develop because of its size.

Sit-down restaurants typically don’t do their own land deals.

The city will work with the Living Spaces site owner to make parking and access optimal.

The purchase of the property in 2024 was done as part of a city strategy to acquire problematic parcels in high potential areas to line up investors to develop them.

It is similar to what the city is doing with the purchase of the IOOF Hall and an adjoining parking lot for $1.2 million in downtown Manteca.

The billboard deal — along with the cannabis stores with their negotiated community benefit — is part of an ongoing promise by city leadership to actively pursue other revenue sources to augment property tax and sales tax.

The Great Wolf deal with its massive room tax receipts secured with the city’s in investment with infrastructure to the site and going through the exhaustive and time-consuming environmental review process to make the city land it now sits on to be sold ready to develop as a family entertainment zone is also part of that effort.

To contact Dennis Wyatt, email dwyatt@mantecabulletin.com