California’s political watchdog agency has formally dismissed claims that Mayor Gary Singh had any conflict of interest at all involving property his father is a part owner of northeast of the Austin Road/Highway 99 interchange.
A complaint had been filed with the state Fair Political Practices Commission in 2022 by Frank Aquila who helped assist Lei Ann Larson with her unsuccessful mayoral campaign.
It was part of a series of high-profile efforts during the 2022 campaign that tried to alter incidents and accomplishments in Singh’s life including the allegation that he never graduated from either Sierra High or the University of the Pacific.
School and university officials more than once confirmed Singh was a graduate but some of Larson’s supporters refused to accept that as fact and continued spreading false information about Singh’s education.
Singh graduated from Sierra High in 2020 and then earned a double major at UOP.
Larson at an early October 2022 council meeting during the public comments section by channeling an “anonymous letter writer she said left information in her mailbox — implied that Singh had a conflict of interest due to a property deal his father entered into with other investors in 2019.
The letter writer also contended Singh arranged to get taxpayers in Manteca to cover the cost of two additional lanes on the replacement bridge for Austin Road.
At the time, Larson demanded a city investigation.
City Attorney Dave Nefouse, as well as San Joaquin Council of Government legal staff, both had looked into the allegation at the time. Both — independent of each other — indicated there was no conflict under state law.
Aquila went ahead anyway and filed the complaint with the FPPC along with hundreds of pages of documents that he alleged were proof of a conflict.
The FPPC after reviewing the information determined Singh had no conflict and that all city and SCOG decisions surrounding the Austin Road/Highway 99 interchange project were legal and above board.
The land deal involving the group of investors that his father is part of happened long after decisions were made to upgrade the interchange.
The city in 2012 when Karen McLaughlin was city manager had decided that based on growth and zoning the city had put in place for the 1,080-acre Austin Road Business Park that would access the interchange to have the new overcrossing built as four through lanes.
Caltrans, when they do interchange upgrades, will not fund improvements that induce growth. Making Austin Road four lanes instead of two lanes would accommodate growth — such as the Austin Road Business Park — that has yet to happen.
The initial council discussion and a decision to pay SJCOG $60,100 for project management services for a future replacement interchange was made in August of 2012.
When the Austin Road Business Park project stalled in 2015, the city stopped efforts to proceed with an updated interchange.
Then a gift horse of sorts was dropped in Manteca’s lap.
Based on extensive regional lobbying led by former Mayor Steve DeBrum and later on by Singh, the Caltrans schedule for improving the 120 Bypass/Highway 99 congestion issues which wasn’t even on Caltrans’s list of potential projects until almost 2040 was moved up to next year.
2012 widening decision was
prior the 2019 land purchase
The city succeeded by obtaining the support of other cities. Manteca’s elected leadership — which did the heavy lifting of outreach — pointed out how the congestion was impacting commerce throughout the Northern San Joaquín Valley.
They also noted the last two miles of the 120 Bypass eastbound was six times more dangerous than a typical freeway sec when it came to accidents and fatalities.
In other words, the entire region and not just Manteca would benefit immensely from a more functional and therefore safer 120 Bypass/Highway 99 interchange that required reconfiguring the Austin Road interchange as well to make it work.
With Caltrans picking up the tab for replacing the existing Austin Road freeway bridge in a three-phased endeavor unveiled in late 2018, a rough estimate was given of $8.8 million of the planned replacement bridge of two lanes was made four lanes at a future date.
It was just that — a preliminary estimate made without the exact known cost of the added issue of also clearing the railroad tracks.
When the final design was made for the first phase of the $154 million 120 Bypass/Highway 99 interchange upgrade, the actual cost of the oversize was determined to be $4 million.
Of that, $3.3 million will come from a regional transportation fee collected from developers in Manteca on new homes they built to go toward projects such as the Austin Road interchange.
For additional perspective when Caltrans was trying to fine tune costs, SJCOG associate regional planner David Ripperda in March 2019 indicated the four-lane bridge conversion would cost $18.8 million and a two-lane version $12.6 million.
At the time, Ripperda shared it would cost $8.8 million more— as opposed to $6.2 million more it the bridge was widened to four lanes upfront — to make it four lanes at a future point. However, Caltrans would not be able to purchase the right-of-way at a future point.
In the same email, Ripperda stated, “Phase 1C (which restores the ramps) is anticipated to be built when the Austin Road Business Park development moves forward.”
In other words, the ramp restoration was designed primarily with development south of the interchange in mind and not north where the investment group Singh’s father is a part of purchased property.
The oversizing will not cost Manteca taxpayers a cent as Larson alluded was the belief of whoever placed that letter in her mailbox.
Singh not part of deal &
based on law has no conflict
Singh did not handle the transaction nor does he own a part of the 47.86 acres that the Austin Investment Group that his father is a part of that acquired the property on June 28, 2019 for $2.9 million.
The property originally was placed on the market in April 2018 for $3.7 million. It sat on the market for 362 days. The agent listed was Dan Holly from Stockton, who represented both sides of the transaction.
In March of 2021 Singh indicated he was working with SJCOG to try and secure the $53 million needed for the third phase.
The $53 million would widen part of the 120 Bypass to six lanes plus pay for elaborate braided ramps to allow the replacement of the northbound onramp and southbound off-ramp from Austin to Highway 99 that will be removed in early 2023 to allow work on the first phase to start.
The ramps will not be replaced until funding is found for the third phase which, by Caltrans’ estimate, will be a minimum of 10 years after working starts on the first phase.
A question was raised that Singh committed what amounted to “insider trading” by providing information to his father about the interchange going to be replaced with four lanes.
But that was a very public decision made in 2012 seven years prior to the land purchase, and four years before Singh was elected to the council.
Singh’s first connection with city government was in 2014 when he was appointed to the Planning Commission.
There has always been an interchange with freeway access at Austin Road since 1955.
The Caltrans project getting underway next year will remove half off the off-ramps at Austin Road for at least 10 years reducing the commercial value for parcels that require ramp access to the freeway for at least a decade if not longer.
Why that matters is because there was a belief the investment group would ultimately like to pursue a truck stop and hotel on the property. Neither could work without full freeway access.
The question whether Singh should have recused himself because his father was part of a partnership that bought land near the interchange has been answered by the City of Manteca and SJCOG with a “no”.
One could argue that Singh should have done so but under the law given he doesn’t have a direct benefit from the project that is not the case.
The preceding may have qualified as a “bombshell” in the eyes of the supporters of Singh’s political opponents but under state law it’s a dud.
To contact Dennis Wyatt, email dwyatt@mantecabulletin.com
