It could be up to the Lathrop City Council to help a longtime Lathrop landowner sell a piece of property.
Earlier this week Dan Doyle, a regular staple at council meetings, had a real estate agent representing him inform the council that they have an offer on Doyle’s property in Northwest Lathrop that’s contingent on the zoning designation being changed from park to single family residential.
The only problem is, that might not be a simple cut-and-dry move.
According to Lathrop City Manager Steve Salvatore, Doyle’s property is not just zoned for park use, but was zoned as such as a part of the Central Lathrop Specific Plan – the document that lays out the development plan for the property west of I-5 around Lathrop High School that was originally supposed to be developed by Richland but ended in a bitter lawsuit.
Because of the way that the document is written, Salvatore said that in order for the zoning change to become official, there must be an acre-for-acre transfer with property somewhere else within the specific plan area.
And a large chunk of the remaining land within the specific plan area is controlled by a development company – Saybrook LLC – that already has vesting tentative maps to build the first 1,500 homes within the city’s second-largest residential development tract.
Salvatore said that he and city staff had a meeting scheduled with Doyle and his representative to discuss the matter further, but noted that such a request would take an act of council and the likely involvement of other parties to go through.
According to Doyle’s sales agent, he has received an offer that is above market value and above the asking price for the property that he has long been hoping to sell – adding another component to an already exploding housing market that will drastically transform Lathrop once all of the approved houses have been constructed.
Between River Islands, which is expected to build nearly 12,000 homes, and Saybrook, which already has permission to build almost 1,500, new development would more than double the city’s existing size – not taking into account smaller developments that are the horizon.
To contact reporter Jason Campbell email jcampbell@mantecabulletin.com or call 209.249.3544.