On a clear day crossing the Altamont Pass from the west you can make out the biggest house ever bult in Manteca — the 30,000-square-foot Hat Mansion.

The mansion built In the mid-1990s by grape broker Michael Hat aligns perfectly with two rows of palm trees planted over a century ago that line aptly named Palm Avenue that ends just before Highway 99.

The mansion will be demolished and the surrounding 184.7 acre grape vineyard removed as part of a plan to build 734 more homes in southeast Manteca.

The environmental impact report for the project that, based on yield factors, could add another 2,200 residents to Manteca will offer a number of firsts for Manteca.

*The first Ripon Unified school site within the Manteca city limits. There would be 16.1 acres set aside for a K8 school housing up to 630 students.

*The first halfplexes south of the 120 Bypass.

*The construction of the first segment of the east-west alignment of the envisioned Antoine Raymus Parkway.

A project for the property advanced in 2013 was rejected by the Manteca City Council for its layout that placed smaller lots and higher density housing against existing homes on 8,000 to 11,000 square-foot lots.

The revamped project solves that problem by placing the environed 104 halfplexes away from existing homes. Most will back up to soundwalls separating the neighborhood from the extension of Atherton Drive and the segment of Antone Raymus Parkway that will be built.

The 104 halfplexes will consist of 52 sets of attached units that each will be sold separately.

The living space in the halfplexes will range from 1,518 to 1,788 square feet. They will sit on lots ranging in size from 2,520 to 4,042 square feet.

It will be the second largest concentration of halfplexes in Manteca.

The largest would be the 114 duplexes planned on 13.2 acres on the northeast corner of Airport Way and Center Street south of the golf course.

That duplex neighborhood is going immediately south of where the 99-home Yosemite Greens is currently under construction on the southeast corner of Airport Way and Crom Street along the western boundary of the municipal golf course.

The last halfplex project build in Manteca was in 2005 when a dozen or so were built on Pearl Place off of Alameda Street west of Walnut Street.

The 634 single family homes would be built on lots ranging in size from 4,500 to 7,000 square feet with living space ranging from 2,554 to 4,563 square feet.

The project includes two park sites. One would more than double the existing Pillsbury Estates Park while the second would be adjacent to the school site that is less than a block west of Atherton Drive.

More than half of the dwelling units — 343 homes — will be east of Pillsbury where the bulk of the higher density housing (64 halfplexes) would be built along with a future elementary school site for the Ripon Unified School District.

 That is being done in an effort to get most trips to and from those homes to use the extension of Atherton Drive south of Woodward Avenue. Atherton Drive will have a connection built by Caltrans to Austin Road as part of the $154 million Highway 99/120 Bypass interchange access to provide the shortest distance to local freeways.

The land would need to be annexed to the city.

To contact Dennis Wyatt, email dwyatt@mantecabulletin.com