Francis Ford Coppola — the director of the “Godfather” and “Apocalypse Now” — has a piece of Delicato Vineyards.
As such, the 84-year-old five-time Academy Award winner has a stake in the outcome of Delicato’s drive to overturn the city’s just adopted general plan update.
It’s a plan rooted in the initial input of 20 people who live and work in Manteca ranging from farmers, retirees, immigrants, and small business people to blue and white collar workers.
Those 20 people served on the General Plan Advisory Committee that had 15 members and five alternates.
Coppola became part of the eight member board governing Delicato Vineyards that, according to property records, had a $120 million mortgage in 2020 on the Manteca winery to apparently leverage expansions and acquisitions,
Delicato Vineyards in 2021 bought the Francis Coppola Winery in Sonoma County .
Coppola, as part of the deal, acquired equity in Delicato. He also joined the Delicato board.
Coppola has proven to be as serious a winemaker as he is a cinematic director.
The Francis Ford Coppola winery produced roughly 1.1 million cases of wine in 2021
He has an estimated net worth of $400 million, based on a Celebrity Net Worth article.
Coppola isn’t the only heavy hitter on the Delicato board.
Michael Mondavi of Robert Mondavi Winery fame is chairman.
He founded the Napa Valley winery in 2007 with his father Robert. The winery is now owned by Constellation Brands
He also is CEO and founder of Folio Wines — a luxury wine importer and producer concern.
Bruce Chizen — who has been part of the Delicato board since 2012 — was the CEO of Adobe Software as it was on its way to becoming a global force.
Chizen chairs the Ancestry.com board. He is also on four other boards including Oracle and Synopsys.
Clarice Turner is also a director.
Turner is president of Joseph Phillips Vineyards.
Her successful resume in the corporate world included a stint as president and chief operating officer of Papa Murphy’s that followed 16 years with PepsiCo and Yum Brands.
Yum Brands owns Taco Bell, Pizza Hut, The Habit Burger Grill and KFC.
Four third generation Indelicatos serve on the board.
They include Jay Indelicato, secretary and chief operating officer; Marie Indelicato Mathews, treasurer; Chris Indelicato, president and chief executive officer since 2004; and Cheryl Indelicato.
The 20 Manteca citizens that served
on general plan advisory committee
Those that formed the citizen-based committee — easily be the most eclectic group of 20 people ever assembled in Manteca — guided the city’s general plan update that Delicato Vineyards is seeking to have tossed at the ballot box.
It includes a farmer with deep roots, two millennials trying to make it living and working in Manteca, a Del Webb retiree, a legacy developer, successful immigrant, Manteca’s Marathon Man of elected public service, the engineer that helped Spreckels Park raise from the rubble of the Spreckels Sugar refinery, businessmen that keep the economy rolling, an affordable housing advocate, and even the loyal opposition.
Their ages ranged from 20 to 90 at the time they were appointed by the Manteca City Council in 2017.
They were a healthy mix of generational Manteca residents and those who have moved here since 1970 when 13,284 people called Manteca home.
They are the most diverse group perhaps every to shape a general plan in Manteca with this being the third time around.
The general plan addresses circulation, public facilities and services, land use and community design, conservation and open space, economic development, housing, safety, noise, and air quality strategies designed to guide Manteca’s growth.
The members of the committee were:
*Jack Snyder: Now deceased, Snyder served 26 years on the Manteca City Council including 10 as mayor. His most enduring accomplishment is a toss-up between securing the 120 Bypass and arguably the biggest real estate bargain since $24 in trinkets bought Manhattan Island — the $1 deal that got the city 52 acres for Woodward Park.
*Demetri Filos: The legacy developer who is the son of Bill Filos, the numbers guy that teamed with the big dreamer associates call “Coach” who goes by the name Mike Atherton that put together deals that delivered Spreckels Park, Del Webb at Woodbridge, and The Promenade Shops at Orchard Valley to name a few.
*Ron Cheek: A civil engineer and an owner of RLC Associates, he was the detail guy behind a lot of development in Manteca including the tricky effort led by AKF that took the 362-acre shuttered sugar refinery that investors avoided like the plague and turned it into an economic juggernaut that helped power growth at the dawn of this century.
*David Cushman (Alternate): The youngest candidate to ever run for council, the 20 something knows firsthand how hard it is to secure affordable housing to rent in Manteca while doing on a young family’s wages consisting of decent paying Manteca jobs.
*Jose Nuno: A Manteca Planning Commission member at the time who brought arguably some of the best working knowledge to tackle one of Manteca’s biggest issues — affordable housing. He served as an affordable housing administrator.
*Parminder Singh Sahi: He’s a solid family man that is heavily involved in the community and is a typical Manteca commuter that is pursuing the American Dream. An immigrant from India, he has been employed with Western Digital in San Jose.
*Victoria Brunn: Like the others, she loves her community and has lived in Manteca for more than 20 years. But what she brings to the table is a first in the three times general plans have been conducted for Manteca. She was picked as much for her ability as Manteca Unified School District community outreach coordinator and to help plug the school district into municipal planning.
*Jason Laughlin (alternate): He’s exactly what every elected official over the years says they want to make sure Manteca can accommodate — a recent Manteca graduate who was going to Modesto Junior College while working in a starter job with the dream of building his life in Manteca at the time of his appointment. He now works on Assemblyman Heath Flora’s staff.
*Ronald Light: The retired project manager for Medical Diagnostic Isotopes who served as chairman of the Manteca Water Conservation Citizens Committee, served on the San Joaquin County Commission on Aging and was a member of the San Joaquin County Health Services Agency’s Walkability Program.
*Matthew Sickler: The owner of The Emory has a background in human resources, worked 23 years as a licensed real estate agent and was employed at Pilkington Glass for 19 years.
*Bill Barnhart: An active member of Del Webb at Woodbridge who moved to Manteca 15 years ago from Bakersfield, he has been active within the Del Webb community and Manteca with the Mural Society being high on his list. Always the gentleman, he has a reputation for using a fine tooth comb to review development agreements in a bid to make sure promises are kept.
*Richard Paz (Alternate): The retired general building contractor for American Select Builders is a volunteer with various social organizations.
*Joann Beattie: The Manteca Chamber of Commerce executive director at the time, has been a longtime worker bee for many nonprofits that give Manteca its caring character.
*James DuClair: He brought a wide array of experiences to the table. He worked for 10 years as a San Jose police officer and was district manager for Avnet Electronics Marketing Group in San Jose in addition to six years as a real estate sales representative for Toll Brothers Luxury Homes in Dublin and for two years was a co-owner of an international sales and marketing firm based in Florida.
*Stephen Tompkins: He retired after 45 years in the print publications business including 20 years handling lead of administrative duties. He’s a quintessential Manteca volunteer with a stint as youth football and baseball coaches when he was younger to more recently as a member Sunrise Kiwanis that stages the Pumpkin Fair that helps support numerous local non-profits as well as a Manteca Seniors Helping Area Residents and Police volunteer.
*Marco Galeazzi (Alternate): He is a retired United States Postal Service employee that helped plan for growth. He has served on the Manteca Parks & Recreation Commission since 1995.
*Wendy Benavides: A 46-year Manteca resident who has worked for more than 30 years in real estate. She has also been active in community issues and has been active member of the Friends of the Manteca Library.
*Daryll Quaresma: He has been a self-employed farmer for 41 years and understands the impacts growth — including flood control initiatives to protect the city — will have on farmers and rural residents. He is a past Manteca Chamber of Commerce president and served as Chairman of the Oversight Board of the Successor Agency to the Manteca Redevelopment Agency.
*David Tenney: The owner of Manteca Trailer and Motor Home at the time, he has an extensive understanding of government through city, state, and county agencies he routinely deals with. He also has a grasp of what powers city government and the local economy His firm in 2017 had a $5.8 million annual payroll and was the second highest source of sales tax for the City of Manteca generating $700,000 in 2016.
+Benjamin Cantu (alternate): The land use planner and designer who went on to become mayor in 2018 retired 35 years working as a planner in what is now known as the Community Development Department. Cantu was part of the staff that worked on the city’s first general plan.
Cantu — as an added note — was Steve DeBrum’s opposition in the 2014 mayor’s race.
As such, it demonstrates how the advisory committee that helped forge the general plan wasn’t a bunch of cronies and often had diametrically opposing views on growth issues.
To contact Dennis Wyatt, email dwyatt@mantecabulletin.com
