Future Manteca residents in the Austin Road Business Park calling 9-1-1 for a medical emergency might just see a Manteca Fire Department engine and a Ripon Consolidated Fire District ambulance pull up in front of their home.
That’s because roughly 80 percent of the 1,049-acre development is within the Ripon Fire District’s boundaries. While fire service will be taken over by Manteca when the land is annexed, that isn’t the case with ambulance service. Service territories are established by agreements reached under the auspice of the San Joaquin County Board of Supervisors. Manteca District Ambulance responds primarily within the Manteca Unified territory. A large chunk of the Austin Road project is in the Ripon Unified School District.
The 1,049-acre project south of Highway 99 straddling Austin Road passed the first public vote Tuesday night. The Manteca Planning Commission unanimously recommended the City Council approve the environmental impact report, prezone, annexation, general plan amendment, and master plan. Austin Road is being advanced by a team headed up by Raymus Homes and AKF Development. It consists of 3.5 million square feet of general commercial, 2,358 traditional single family homes, 1,840 multi-family units, plus 8 million square feet of industrial and business park projects. It has the potential to add 10,200 residents and create up to 13,000 jobs.
Ripon Fire Chief Dennis Bitters told the commission that the environmental impact report did not address the financial losses that the district would face once property tax is transferred from his district to the City of Manteca.
Manteca Senior Planner Rochelle Henson noted state law does not require economic losses to be addressed in an EIR. She added that Bitters is currently engaged in talks with Manteca Fire Chief Kirk Waters about some type of revenue sharing arrangement.
Developed land generates more tax dollars and a demand for more service. In the short run, though, once an annexation goes through the area will be basically in the uses it is now which are primarily agricultural.
While it would seem a fire district would end up being better off not having to cover more intense development, an annexation would erode the current property tax base the fire district uses to support services district wide.
Fire districts, unlike cities, are supported only from property taxes. Cities can tap into sales tax revenue from within their borders to help pay for fire protection.
Several rural Ripon residents spoke against the project saying it wasn’t needed due to the economy and the fact there are vacant storefronts and empty business parks in Manteca.
Rural Ripon resident Kevin Kilpatrick, an air traffic controller who also has farmed for the past 16 years where he lives on land just south of the project, was critical of the project because it would convert farmland to other uses.
Michael Hakeem an attorney representing the developers noted that the various components of the project would only be built if there is a market for it. He noted many jurisdictions in the Northern San Joaquin Valley are working to have projects available so they can snag head-of-household jobs when Bay Area firms opt to relocate to cut costs or to expand.
“I don’t know where the jobs will come from but I hope they come here as we need the jobs,” noted commission member Eric Hayes.
That’s because roughly 80 percent of the 1,049-acre development is within the Ripon Fire District’s boundaries. While fire service will be taken over by Manteca when the land is annexed, that isn’t the case with ambulance service. Service territories are established by agreements reached under the auspice of the San Joaquin County Board of Supervisors. Manteca District Ambulance responds primarily within the Manteca Unified territory. A large chunk of the Austin Road project is in the Ripon Unified School District.
The 1,049-acre project south of Highway 99 straddling Austin Road passed the first public vote Tuesday night. The Manteca Planning Commission unanimously recommended the City Council approve the environmental impact report, prezone, annexation, general plan amendment, and master plan. Austin Road is being advanced by a team headed up by Raymus Homes and AKF Development. It consists of 3.5 million square feet of general commercial, 2,358 traditional single family homes, 1,840 multi-family units, plus 8 million square feet of industrial and business park projects. It has the potential to add 10,200 residents and create up to 13,000 jobs.
Ripon Fire Chief Dennis Bitters told the commission that the environmental impact report did not address the financial losses that the district would face once property tax is transferred from his district to the City of Manteca.
Manteca Senior Planner Rochelle Henson noted state law does not require economic losses to be addressed in an EIR. She added that Bitters is currently engaged in talks with Manteca Fire Chief Kirk Waters about some type of revenue sharing arrangement.
Developed land generates more tax dollars and a demand for more service. In the short run, though, once an annexation goes through the area will be basically in the uses it is now which are primarily agricultural.
While it would seem a fire district would end up being better off not having to cover more intense development, an annexation would erode the current property tax base the fire district uses to support services district wide.
Fire districts, unlike cities, are supported only from property taxes. Cities can tap into sales tax revenue from within their borders to help pay for fire protection.
Several rural Ripon residents spoke against the project saying it wasn’t needed due to the economy and the fact there are vacant storefronts and empty business parks in Manteca.
Rural Ripon resident Kevin Kilpatrick, an air traffic controller who also has farmed for the past 16 years where he lives on land just south of the project, was critical of the project because it would convert farmland to other uses.
Michael Hakeem an attorney representing the developers noted that the various components of the project would only be built if there is a market for it. He noted many jurisdictions in the Northern San Joaquin Valley are working to have projects available so they can snag head-of-household jobs when Bay Area firms opt to relocate to cut costs or to expand.
“I don’t know where the jobs will come from but I hope they come here as we need the jobs,” noted commission member Eric Hayes.
