The City of Ripon has several projects in the planning stages just northwest of Highway 99.
This includes the River Road and Fulton Avenue Intersection and Sidewalk Improvement Project.
A piece of property needed is currently owned by the South San Joaquin Irrigation District.
As James Pease said, it’s “within the project’s foot prints.”
At last week’s Ripon City Council meeting, Pease, who is the Engineering Supervisor, indicated that the City is looking to acquire a portion or the entire SSJID .75 acre parcel in order to complete the north / east intersection improvements.
“We would need about half of that three-fourth acre of parcel for the project,” he said.
Based on the staff information, SSJID established the value of that land at $4,.000 per acre or $30,750 for the .75 acre parcel.
“We should buy only what we need and comeback later to negotiate the difference,” Councilman Leo Zuber said.
His colleague, Michael Restuccia added: “We might or might not need (that difference) for the future.”
Council, at last month’s meeting, approved the hiring of Base Camp Environment Inc. on the general service agreement for the River Road and Fulton Avenue Intersection and Sidewalk Improvement Project.
The project has several funding sources in mind, including a grant through the Active Transportation / Congestion Mitigation Air Quality Programs, the Regional Surface Transportation Program, and the City’s Capital Transportation Account, as discussed at the previous meetings.

To contact reporter Vince Rembulat, e-mail vrembulat@mantecabulletin.com.