A proposed faith-based school will help make the intersection of Mission Ridge Drive and Union Road safer.
Manteca Community Development staff is recommending the envisioned Nur Al-Huda Academy for seventh through 12th graders planned for 3.67 acres at 1058 South Union Road located on the west side of the intersection be required to install traffic signals with crosswalks.
In doing so, it would enhance traffic flow and improve safety. Currently drivers turning off Mission Ridge Drive have to edge out due to sound walls that partially compromise the line of vision.
The Manteca Planning Commission meets on Tuesday at 7 p.m. at the Civic Center, 1001 W. Center St., to consider the project.
The private academy is being designed for a maximum of 240 students with a teacher-student ratio between 1 to 25 and 1 to 30.
It will include a two-story, 29,420-square-foot building with classrooms, resource centers, and prayer rooms; a one-story 5,436 square-foot administration building; and a 12,8690-square-foot multipurpose building for athletic activities and school assemblies. There will be outside athletic facilities and 128 parking stalls.
The entrance driveway will be to the north of the Mission Ridge Drive/Union Road intersection. The exit driveway will tie into the intersection that will include a traffic signal.
School hours for students would be 8 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Hours for staff would be 7:30 a.m. to 4 p.m.
The academy will start with 100 to 150 students but can accommodate up to 240 students. Initially eight certificated teachers would be hired along with three classified staff, a counselor, and an administrator.
The three buildings will have a stucco exterior painted in earth tones. They will have metal roofs. A 20-square-foot monument sign will be placed along Union Road.
The mission statement for Nur Al-Huda Academy being developed by the Islamic Center of Manteca is to promote religious, intellectual, and social growth in their students while paving their way to a lifetime of religious and educational success through an Islamic based education and environment where they will insha-Allah become firmly grounded upon the Quran and Authentic Sunnah as understood and lived by his Companions (may Allah be pleased with them).
The school project will bring final resolution to the long-troubled parcel.
The property had been blighted since the mid-1980s. There have been a number of fires over the years with the most recent in June of 2013 that threatened nearby homes. The remaining structures were razed at that time to severely reduce the problem of illegal homeless camping. Officials believe the fires on the property were inadvertently started by homeless individuals either trying to stay home or cooking food.
The property was once used to operate a chemical reformulation and repackaging business known as Gordon Research. Although leftover chemicals were removed, an investigation noted 13 areas that are contaminated with lead, arsenic, and cadmium, PCBs (polychlorinated biphenyls, dioxins, and petroleum hydrocarbons. The California Environmental Protection Agency determined there was no imminent threat to the ground water so the risk wasn’t high enough for the agency to fund the cleanup.
The property has been for sale for 16 years with no takers until now.
The city has agreed to release a $48,554 lien against the property in exchange for 17,000 cubic feet of clean fill dirt for either the interchange project at Union Road or McKinley Avenue along the 120 Bypass.
The liens are for costs the city has occurred over the year abating weeds and removing trash that had been illegally dumped on the property creating a fire hazard.
Should the site fail to yield the entire 17,000 cubic feet, whatever amount the city is shorted would require the academy to pay the city $3 a cubic foot.
To contact Dennis Wyatt, email dwyatt@mmantecabulletin.com
