Buy a typical new home in Manteca and you’ll be paying at least $3,472 to preserve farmland.

It doesn’t show up as an itemized cost. Rather it is a fee that developers are required to pay on a per acre basis that is collapsed into the price of homes they sell along with growth fees for roads and parks, school fees, sewer and water connections that can run in excess of $40,000 for a typical home in Manteca. That is on top of the price of the land and developing it. Then there is the additional cost of building the actual home.

The fee is also a reality that the current council can’t work around as they search for affordable housing solutions.  

The loss of farmland to build employment centers, retail and housing will cost developers $17,363 an acre. That comes to $3,482 for a 6,500-square-foot residential lot given the typical yield of five homes per acre once streets are taken into account.

The new fee reflects a 35.4 percent increase over the fee of $12,822 for the current year. The highest fee was $19,400 an acre in 2019. Fees are based primarily on the market value of replacement land.

The fees for conversion of farmland to urbanized uses are part of the mandated San Joaquin County Multi-Species Habitat Conservation and Open Space Plan that’s been in place since 2001. The San Joaquin Council of Governments monitors the program.

And while you might think developers would fight such a fee, they helped create it in a bid to streamline the approval process. The program allows them to pay a fee instead of working to mitigate the cost of farmland, open space, and natural habitat. The fees also avoid potential litigation regarding the loss of farmland and habitat.

It is designed to compensate for open space, farmland, vernal pools, and land in its natural state that is lost to development. The fees go to purchase and manage replacement land for open space, farming, and ecological systems such as vernal pools.

Developers don’t have to pay the fees. But under state law they must either redesign the project to avoid or minimize impacts or provide land in lieu of the fee. They can also do a combination approach that includes partial payment of fees in the mix. For most developers, paying the fee is the quickest wat of resolving issues involving the loss of farmland, open space, and habitat.

The Manteca City Council adopts updates to the fee annually based on current property values of the replacement land for the property they are building homes upon.

Developers pass the fees on in the cost of homes.

The 2021 fee changes are:
*$17,363per acre of farmland or land in its natural state that is developed.

*$8,682 for each acre of open space lost.

*$71,544 per acre of vernal pool grasslands converted for growth.

*$161,286 per acre of wetted vernal pools lost to development.

To contact Dennis Wyatt, e-mail dwyatt@mantecabulletin.com