Repeal adoption of the city’s general plan update or let the voters decide.

That’s the question for the Manteca City Council to decide when they meet tonight at 6 p.m.

The either or choice is being forced after the valid signatures of 5,994 City of Manteca voters — 16 percent more than legally required — supported Delicato Vineyard’s referendum for the municipal electorate to decide whether to throw out the general plan update adopted by the council in July.

If the council opts not to repeal the resolution that embraced the seven-year process to provide a framework to guide municipal growth through 2045 they must then decide between placing the referendum on either the March 5 or Nov. 5 ballot next year.

The San Joaquín County registrar of Voters has indicated the March 5 election may cost the city as much as $236,000. No cost estimate has been made yet on the Nov. 5 election.

If the council rescinds the general plan update approval tonight or the voters do so at the ballot box, one thing is clear: It will not accomplish what Delicato Vineyard wants.

The world’s fifth largest winery wants to essentially stop any residential development farther north of Del Webb including a 240-home neighborhood that is already in the review process.

Simply tossing the general plan would still allow the current proposed housing project and others in the future to proceed by seeking an amendment to the general plan that was in place prior to July.

That would explain the newest survey Delicato Vineyards has commissioned.

It is asking registered voters two pointed questions  that could be used to shape an initiative bid based around two distinctive questions:

*Should the City of Manteca require a two-thirds vote of the electorate before any land designated agriculture or open space is converted to urban uses such as residential?

*Should the City of Manteca require a majority of its voters to approve a subdivision that may pose significant — or add to existing — traffic congestion if all improvements aren’t paid for and installed upfront by the developer and the city?

 Delicato is also suing the city over approving the environmental assessment of the updated general plan.

It’s a document that various state agencies have signed off on when it comes to issues such as air quality, housing, and traffic. And it iso one that environmental justice efforts backed by the Catholic Charities ended up helping shape.

Delicato believes the general plan sets the stage for incompatible uses — housing and agriculture processing — to conflict.

Specifically, they do not like the city’s general plan update that has agricultural zoning surrounding the winery and then residential uses next to that.

Winery representatives had indicated they believe the 24-hour operation that involves lights, odors,  and noise will create issues if homes are built too close to the winery.

The biggest issue clearly is the wastewater the winery generates and its potential for odor.

Land disposal of agricultural  processing waste water — legal under state laws — can generate smells that urban residents often find objectional.

Installing a treatment plant would be an extremely costly proposition.

And while the state is not requiring treatment currently, ever shifting regulations and the potential of increased urbanization closer to the winery has the potential for that to happen.

Delicato’s general arguments against the general plan is that is allows too much growth, will generate too much truck traffic, and will creates issues for schools among other things.

It is the same general plan that the winery’s detractors pointed out allowed the city earlier this year to approve an Indelicato family member to sell property on the other side of Del Webb  along Airport Way for a developer to build 173 homes.

A spokesman indicated Delicato Vineyards believes that was proper growth even though members of the public during the approval process slammed it for increasing traffic and impacting schools — exactly the same things that Delicato Vineyards used to convince people to sign petitions to get a referendum on the ballot regarding the general plan.

 To contact Dennis Wyatt, email dwyatt@mantecabulletin.com