LDA Partners – the Stockton-based architectural and engineering firm that designed the Lathrop Generations Center and the new Lathrop Police Department – will get another chance to leave their mark upon the growing city.

Last week the Lathrop City Council approved an agreement with the firm – headed by East Union alum and Manteca native Eric Wohle – to renovate the city’s existing corporation yard facility on Louise Avenue in order to keep up with existing growth and comply with new regulations.

According to the contract, LDA Partners will provide the schematics and construction plans that will include architectural, structural, electrical, mechanical, and pluming engineering for the site at a cost not to exceed $131,000.

In addition to an ongoing relationship with the City of Lathrop, LDA Partners also completed the construction plans for the remodel of the Lathrop Manteca Fire District’s Station 31 on J Street in Historic Lathrop.

That project is expected to be completed by next month.

The 10-acre site on Louise Avenue – which houses the Louise Avenue Water Treatment Facility, which removes arsenic from the city’s wells among other things – allows for the city to store materials and equipment and also has the ability to serve as a command center in the event of an emergency.

The duplicate controls for the city’s existing IT systems are also located on the site – which, unlike Lathrop City Hall, is not located within a flood plain and would therefore become the base of operations in the event that a flood were to take place in Lathrop.

One of the biggest reasons for the enhancements on the site is compliance with the 2018 America’s Water Infrastructure Act bill that aims to improve drinking water standards and requires systems that serve more than 3,300 people to develop risk assessments and emergency response plans.

The law also requires that the Environmental Protection Act mandate restructuring assessments for public water systems that frequently violate health-based standards, and which have unsuccessfully attempted “feasible and affordable actions to comply.”

The restructuring portion of the law isn’t expected to into effect until after 2023.

Much like with other public projects, the city sought proposals before recommending that the council approve the contract with LDA Partners.

To contact reporter Jason Campbell email jcampbell@mantecabulletin.com or call 209.249.3544.