Manteca is creating San Joaquin County’s only wetland mitigation bank.

The City Council may finalize a deal to spend $3.4 million from the sewer connection account to purchase 417 acres of farmland at 23000 South Hays Road from ANF Development.  The land is near the San Joaquin River roughly a mile west of the T-intersection of Airport Way and West Ripon Road.

Manteca’s plans to secure a $200 million Great Wolf Resort indoor water park, conference center plus a 400 to 600 room hotel and a family entertainment zone on 100 plus acres the city owns immediately south of the wastewater treatment plant includes 50 acres considered wetlands by the Army Corps of Engineers. In order to develop wetlands, state law requires that the city must replace them.

 Wetland mitigation banks have been established throughout the valley to accomplish that mandate. The closest to Manteca is one near Galt where it costs $132,000 an acre to obtain wetland mitigation credits.

Fifty acres of the 417 acres are considered ideal for conversion into wetlands. That would mean for every acre of wetlands that Manteca must compensate for, the city would save $124,500 per acre instead of accessing a wetlands mitigation bank.

The city-owned land west of Costco is valued at $100,000 an acre in today’s market due to its proximity to a major interchange, freeway frontage, and adjacent economic activity. By that measuring stick, Manteca would be earning a return of $92,471 per acre if and when they go to sell the land west of Costco.

That number is arrived at by taking the value of the land next to Costco at $100,000 and then deducting the per acre price paid for the land deal on South Hays Road.

The land was on a June meeting agenda but pulled due to city staff wanting to do additional due diligence to make sure they were not overpaying. The council meets Tuesday at 7 p.m. at the Civic Center, 1001 W. Center St.