It’s a spat between neighbors.

That’s the basic issue behind Delicato Vineyards’ effort to collect enough signatures to force a vote on Manteca’s recently updated general that directs growth through 2045.

On one side is the Indelicato family that wants to maximize the value of land they own that includes a 99 year-old winery.

On the other side are farming families with roots in rural Manteca that run as deep that also want to maximize the value of their land.

Just like the winery family’s patriarch Gaspare Indelicato, both the grandkids and nearby farmers that mostly grow almonds have made a living off the land in question.

And all both sides want to do is protect their lives’ work and maximize their respective bottom lines.

The David vs Goliath undertones of the struggle between small-time family almond growers and the world’s fifth largest winery hinges on Delicato’s demand for a buffer between future growth of Manteca and the winery that has undergone a $100 million expansion in recent years.

It is not about traffic congestion and crime, as callers for the Research-Polls firm retained by Delicato to bolster their signature gathering efforts have told Manteca voters.

It’s not about slowing down growth throughout Manteca.

It’s not even about council member term limits, the number of students in a classroom, or how much you trust the police.

It’s about what Delicato wants to see done with land they don’t own.

And, as usual, its about money.

But it isn’t just about the money developers may make, the city may receive in taxes, or how the rest of the Manteca economy will fare.

Its about a business closing in on $500 million in annual global sales and people whose 401(k) retirement plan is essentially purchase options that developers have on their land.

Those purchase options provide the maximum return, which is building houses.

Zoning such as industrial, commercial or business park give it significantly less value.

The reason is simple. The demand is heavier and current for housing. Other uses are longer range — easily decades out — hence the lower value that the land is worth to a developer.

The winery didn’t buy into the agricultural buffer that was eventually tucked into the general plan update’s land use element as being sufficient.

It borders the winery — which has an agricultural industrial designation — on the south and west.

Zoning of land east of Highway 99 99 across from the winery and bordering French Camp Road on the north where smells would be carried on prevail winds — is zoned for industrial reserve.

Groundwater issues are a potential concern if something goes wrong for property to the north and northeast that is outside of Manteca’s sphere of influence — an era so-called because it is deemed a logical area to be annexed at a future date.

Uses to the north and northeast  of the winery are essentially large scale agricultural endeavors.

The biggest owner of land within the agricultural zone that is the proposed buffer is Delicato Vineyards.

It is where Delicato has several hundred acres in open fields, almonds and grapes that are — and will be — flood irrigated with wastewater from the annual grape crush and year round winery operations.

The winery is meeting all of the air quality and water quality benchmarks state and regional agencies have dictated.

Its existing practice of flood irrigation of  fields, orchards and vineyards effectively removes much of the nitrates and other  substances from the water meets state standards.

They have added significantly to the acreage the state deems necessary to adequately dispose of — and filter — water from an annual crush that is permitted to reach 200,000 tons of grapes,

They could switch to a treatment plant process that has a significant expense.

However, land disposal of wastewater that is treated to a certain degree and raw agricultural wastewater is permissible under the proper application and right soil conditions

Manteca has done the same thing on land around the wastewater treatment plant where there are tract homes just as close as the ones to the winery that would be allowed to be built in north Manteca under the general plan update.

Ironically, much of the wastewater the city disposes on fields is from Eckert’s Cold Storage involving the water used to wash peppers for processing for pizza restaurant chains and frozen pizza producers.

The bell pepper wash water waste is extremely high in nitrates.

But with proper field application, it won’t lead to a high concentration that can create all sorts of issues with ground water.

The wastewater from Eckert’s given it is high in nitrates has been ideal to apply to corn fields the city has leased to a  farmer for years as it reduces the need to apply fertilizer to the crop.

The corn has been grown for use as silage at dairy farms.

That said, the updated general plan’s agricultural buffer apparently is not enough for Delicato’s comfort.

The winery logically would be concerned down the road about the potential for changing state regulations and pressure from future homeowners to change their method of disposal even though Manteca has adopted right to farm laws.

As such, that can mean only one of two of two things:

*The winery wants an even bigger agricultural buffer that would preclude neighbors from being able to sell their land for anything else but farming

*Delicato wants a use such as business parks that developers and city officials say isn’t really marketable given the huge set aside of other areas where such future uses make more sense.

It should be noted the size of the farm parcels — for the most part — and their location don’t make them candidates for a wide away of farming pursuits.

And almonds — arguably one of the least problematic farm uses in an urban-agricultural interface — are seeing a retreat in value due to overplanting trigged by large corporate farmers elsewhere in the San Joaquin Valley.

The land in question is south of the proposed easterly extension of Roth Road to Highway 99.

The alignment of the 110-foot wide corridor would feature the most intense landscaping using trees ever proposed in Manteca on the arterial’s south side, swings somewhat to the south.

North of it, except for a small and narrow  business park area that buffers the roadway from farmland, is all agricultural.

That means the area Delicato is not happy with is south of Roth Road where more than half of the area east of Del Webb has pending annexation proposals before the city with plans to build 1,475 housing units.

Delicato has until the end of the month to collect enough valid signatures of city voters to force a referendum on the general plan as adopted.

To contact Dennis Wyatt, email dwyatt@mantecabulletin.com