Here is a question for that needs to be asked in the coming months before the next Manteca mayor and two council members are elected on Nov. 3: What should go next to the new $92 million police station being built on South Main Street?

More precisely, should it be a new library or a police training facility?

The two options outlined in assessment of the police station breaking ground tentatively in August are what city facility should be built on the northern 3 acres of the 8 acres the city owns in the 600 block of South Main Street.

This is not a small decision.

The 8 acres represents the largest remaining parcel in the central city.

There is little doubt it is a sound location for a police station.

And having all police facilities in one location — except for a firing range — would be nice.

But this is on South Main Street near the heart of the city.

It is about a block south of where the city is building a $600,000 arch to instill civic pride.

It is also where an expansion of the animal shelter will take place in the next few years to take that facility to the next level.

A library designed as a modern learning space on a major arterial basically on the edge of downtown oozes accessibility.

Not that the current location is in the boondocks — it’s far from it — but cities that have libraries more plugged into the daily flow tend to have more vibrant literacy and cultural hubs.

And there are few other streets in Manteca that are as vibrant as Main Street.

Just like the animal shelter’s high profile location on Main Street has helped make it more connected to the community, so would a library.

Of course, another question that should be answered first is where should a new library and a police training facilities fall on the list of city priorities given there is limited funding and unlimited needs?

A 20,000 square-foot library won’t be as costly as a 55,000 square-foot facility that the recently adopted nexus study that was conducted to update government facilities fees charged growth lists as having a $68 million price tag.

The city is addressing a pressing police need with the new police station. In the realm of everything Manteca needs to be a “full service city” that effectively serves its residents, is continuing to put public safety facilities ahead of all other needs the right move?

After that is answered, the next question is whether the best use of those remaining three acres for the community overall is a library that has daily use by hundreds of people or a police training facility that doesn’t?

That’s not to say a case can’t be made that the police training facility trumps a new library in terms of what gets built first, but the 3 acres are a prime piece of real estate based on its location downtown.

And given the city is rethinking the central district and coming up with a downtown specific plan, is there any advantage to “programming” the 3 acres for a new library that may still be more than a few years down the road?

That way while the city is coming up with a blueprint for downtown’s future, the replacement use for the existing library could be weighed.

The existing library could be used to program recreational activities and such to bring a different group of people downtown.
Perhaps Library Park attached to a downtown recreation/community center for dance, group exercise, and other recreation classes will effectively change the dynamics of the park as well as downtown as a whole.

In short, a plan to build a new library and to do so in the city’s center opens up the combination of the Library Park and library to a lot of possibilities.

Then there is the practical question.

What would be easier to obtain and cost less — an effective site for a new library or for a police training facility?

And there might even be land already owned by the city where a police training facility could go.

The wastewater treatment plant has land along Yosemite Avenue where public works is likely to build new facilities.

The land in the 600 block of South Main Street should be used strategically by city leaders.

It has extremely high value in terms of location, visibility, and accessibility when it comes to a police station.

The same would be true of another civic use for a library or even a small community center.

The prime real estate is where the people-orientated city services should be located.

A police training facility is a solid need but other than convenience, there would be no rationale reason to use such a high profile location for a municipal function that has zero use by the general community.

This column is the opinion of editor, Dennis Wyatt, and does not necessarily represent the opinions of The Bulletin or 209 Multimedia. He can be reached at dwyatt@mantecabulletin.com