The approach of spring is bringing with it a sound not heard for seven years - large earth moving equipment prepping land for new Manteca neighborhoods.

Developers are now grading and installing infrastructure to create 187 buildable lots. The work is underway at Del Webb at Woodbridge with 138 lots and Union Ranch East for 49 lots. Both existing neighborhoods border Union Road and are north of Lathrop Road.

Meanwhile, improvement plan checks - the last step before dirt can be turned - are underway for six subdivisions to create 489 buildable lots. Of those, 330 are along the Woodward Avenue corridor in South Manteca while the remaining 159 are north of Lathrop Road.

An additional 755 lots in five subdivisions are going through the pre-improvement plan check at city hall. The process helps determine what improvements on and off site new neighborhoods will need so developers can include them in the final design for their projects. After those issues are addressed, the next step is the improvement plan check assuming the builder is ready to go forward.

Toni Raymus of Raymus Homes: The Next Generation hopes to be building homes within six to eight months in the first unit of Oleander Estates that encompasses 112 lots west of Union Road straddling both sides of Woodward Avenue. Ultimately Oleander Estates will have 544 homes.

In the spring of 2010, Manteca had 975 lots ready to build with all the entire needed infrastructure in place. Relatively brisk housing and apartment construction for the past three years has been at a clip of roughly 300 housing units annually including apartments. There are now around 150 of those lots left.

New home building has started off 2013 strong in Manteca. The city issued permits to build 33 new single family homes in January. At that rate, Manteca could be pushing 400 new houses by year’s end.

At the start of July, the city had approved projects in one form or another that would add 18,477 housing units to the city or 80.3 percent more homes than currently exist. If all of the housing units are built based on current yields per household Manteca’s population would go from 70,000 today to almost 132,00.

Manteca’s Community Development Department is also processing requests for the annexation of 598 additional acres primarily for residential development.