Editor, Manteca Bulletin,
The deviations approved by Council that allow Woodward Avenue to be reduced in width to a “country road” and the siting of new homes facing the roadway is not surprising. The developer driven proposal was based on the premise that the new 6-lane east-west thoroughfare planned one-half mile south of Woodward Avenue would relieve traffic volumes on the proposed country road and thus support siting homes facing that country road. Unfortunately, two missing elements to this thought process is already creating “issues” for existing and future residents.
The truth is the major 6-lane east-west thoroughfare planned to connect the McKinley Avenue interchange and the Lathrop Road interchange will not be completed for twenty years, while in the meantime thousands of new homes will be built. As such, Woodward Avenue will be the only east-west collector street south of the 120 Bypass (because Atherton Drive feeds into Woodward Avenue) for some time. Accordingly, the impact and burden of increased traffic in this area will be a growing issue to existing and future residents today and the future.
Secondly, allowing the fronting of new homes on Woodward Avenue serves only two purposes, and public benefit is not one. The truth is it increases the number of lots that developers can yield from an adjacent subdivision, and it eliminates the developer cost of constructing arterial roadway landscaping, both of which benefit the profitability of the developer.
In communities where city leadership controls the quality of life (and traffic improvements) the developers are required to construct major thoroughfare roadway improvements in advance of new development in order to avoid the major traffic burdens and issues that South Manteca residents will experience for years to come.
Since the decision-making majority of the City Council did not change in November, it appears that public service levels and residents’ quality-of-life issues will be developer driven matters for another term.
Benjamin Cantu
Manteca
