Manteca Unified and the City of Manteca are fighting over $1.475 million in growth-related fees.

And why that is a concern of Manteca property taxpayers is the money will come out of the $260 million Measure A bond they approved on November 2020 to modernize existing schools as well as enhance student safety.

The loss of the $1.475 million will mean something will not be funded in the modernization effort.

Four examples of what $1.475 million would mean not covering the cost of are:

*four to five permanent classrooms at Sierra High to replace aging portables.

*expanding the Manteca High cafeteria that  is woefully undersized for the current enrollment of 1,940 students, let alone the education program design capacity of 2,150 students.

*theatrical lighting and other campus improvements at East High.

*four to five permanent classrooms at Lincoln School, the oldest elementary campus in the City of Manteca, to replace aging portable classrooms.

The dispute centers around water connections for Measure A projects now underway at both the Manteca and East Union high school campuses.

In the case of East Union High, the 26-classoom  two-story building (with a media center) that will replace 26 aging portable classrooms approaching 40 years in age will not be allowed to be occupied unless the new water connection is put in place.

That’s because it is needed to have adequate water pressure throughout the North Union Road campus in the event of a fire.

The City of Manteca fire department determined last year there was inadequate water pressure to combat a fire should one break out in the northwest corner of the campus where the ag building is located.

It wasn’t an issue over five years ago when the fire department checked pressures before the current ag building was constructed.

The big change was the addition of 26 new classrooms with fire sprinklers being built to replace 26 portable classrooms that don’t have fire sprinklers.

The solution the district came up with and was signed off by the State Architect’s Office in Sacramento that has jurisdiction over public school construction and not cities, was to create a water loop system on campus by adding an 8-inch connection on the east side of the campus.

There is already a 6-inch connection on the west side along Union Road.

The school district agrees they are responsible for new meters and related installation costs for East Union and two replacement meters along Mikesell Avenue at Manteca High.

That’s where the district bought homes that had eight separate water connections to construct replacement classrooms.

The overall water meter related costs come to just under $46,000.

The city, though, wants another $1.475 million in growth related fees based on square footage and the second water connection at East Union High.

The city wants water and sewer capacity fees they would charge when a new school is built.

But all of the work being done basically replaces existing square footage in the form of older permanent classrooms that had too many issues and deficiencies to be remodeled in a cost effective manner hence the decision to demolish and replacement them.

It also includes replacement of exiting aging portables with permanent classrooms.

Neither Measure A project is for new growth.

Instead, the work keeps each campus at an education program design capacity of 2,150.

The current enrollment is 1,940 students at Manteca High and 1,534 students at East Union High.

Previous work — a cluster of 10-story classrooms built three years along Mikesell — helped kick up program capacity to 2,150 at Manteca High. Growth fees for schools paid for that work.

The city zeroed in on a district response to how many students could ultimately be “crammed” into the East Union campus if the district wasn’t able to stay ahead of the fast pace of permits for new housing being issued by the City of Manteca before drastic steps such as double sessions may need to be considered.

The number was hundreds of students above the education design component that references the optimum student load for various subjects before the quality of education suffers.

The city apparently used that to incorrectly construe the Measure A bond projects as funding new capacity.

The city then compiled a list of growth fees for fire facilities, the government facilities fee that will be tapped to build a new city hall, major equipment purchases, fees to enlarge the sewer plant that are also being assessed on new homes generating more students, and fees to expand the existing arterial street system.

As far as $500,000 plus in fees to expand, or retire debt, related to the cost of water and sewer treatment, the district notes existing connections at both campuses are more than adequate to provide the needs of 2,150 students.

The confusion comes, in part, into how the city interprets the need for the 8 inch connection at East Union.

A 6-inch line per se would cover the drinking, irrigation, and bathroom needs for a campus of 2,150 students.

The additional 2 inches is for the fire sprinkler system that only uses water if there is a fire.

The 104 year-old Manteca High campus built on top of downtown with tradition city blocks has numerous connections because the campus expanded over the years.

East Union was built 57 years go when fire sprinklers weren’t required.

When Sierra High was constructed in the 1990s, it had a connection put in place that included capacity for the fire suppression system’s necessary pressure.

To contact Dennis Wyatt, email dwyatt@mantecabulletin.com