Manteca’s days of kicking the proverbial can down the road appears to be ending when it comes to paying for the impacts of growth.

The latest example is the Hat Ranch project.

The 738-home project in southeast Manteca that will replace the 30,000 square-foot Hat Mansion and the surrounding 184.7 acres with 738 homes. It will do a number of things that weren’t required of proposed subdivisions just two years ago.

The stipulations Manteca is placing on the project before it goes forward will cost the builder an additional $7.4 million upfront. Richland Planned Communitas agreed to the add-ons that once extra off-site infrastructure work is included will take the additional development costs past $10 million.

The add-on costs are in addition to existing growth-related fees including sewer and water capacity connections that requires the developer to pay between  $45,000 and $70,000 — depending upon the square footage and location of the home in reference to major street impacts — at the time they request a building permit for a house.

The Hat Ranch development agreement requires an additional $10,333 per home in fees.

The development agreement before the Manteca Planning Commission when they meet Thursday, Sept. 7, at 6 p.m. also requires the proposed neighborhood to be annexed into a citywide community facilities district put in place for new projects.

The CFD generates revenue above and beyond existing property and sales tax to help pay for an expansion of frontline police officers and firefighters.

It also covers future street maintenance needs for the neighborhood.

What that means, is the Hat Ranch streets won’t take away from street maintenance funds needed elsewhere in older potions of the city.

It is an ironclad obligation requiring those who purchase Hat Ranch homes when they are built or on the resale market in future years to essentially fund roughly one police officer and one firefighter using a community facilities district fee tax.

That’s on top of the public safety funds the 738 households would generate through property and sales tax.

 “We’re not scared to do the right thing for the future of the city,” noted City Manager Toni Lundgren.

Lundgren is referencing to what many critics over the years have attached as sitting councils’ “lack of political will” when it came to growth.

Back in the 1990s, it was reflected in the comments of then council members that imposing 100 percent of recommended growth impact fees — or even imposing basic community facilities district fees for common landscape areas along sound walls in new development — was taxing people who weren’t living in Manteca yet.

One council member was quoted repeatedly as saying it was unfair to the future buyers to impose what he construed as a tax without them having any input.

The argument against the most robust fees allowed under state law to help pay for municipal needs was then replaced by the argument making growth pay its  way and sustain itself would make housing too expensive in a market where the dominate buyers by far are from the Bay Area.

  “We did a lot of negotiations . . . this is the future. We want development to pay its way,” said Manteca Mayor Gary Singh. “And we’re not just looking at one-time development funds but ongoing money to sustain the city.”
The Hat Ranch proposal before the commission is the third version of the  development.

Development agreements allow the city to ask for things beyond what the basic requirements are.

The Hat Ranch is the best example, though, of how Manteca City Hall has changed in its approach to growth.

The current Hat Ranch project moving through the final phases of the city approval process is the third in close to a decade.

What is in the development agreement is light years away from what originally was required — and what was being offered — by the developer.

As an example, a breakdown of the $10,333 per home fee provides:

*$2,000 (overall $1,476,000)  to fund a new police headquarters.

*$2,003 (overall $1,478,214) to fund a new fire engine.

*$1,500 (overall $1,107,000) to go toward Phase IV sewer expansion and help pay for the city’s wastewater management plan.

*$1,500 (overall $1,107,000)  that will go toward improvements of the city’s water, sewer and street networks beyond impact fees already charged.

*$1,600 (overall $1,180,800) to go toward the purchase of CNG powered solid waste collection trucks.

*$1,400 (overall  $1,033,200)  available for the council to use at their discretion.

“We need a new police station better roads, a new swimming pool, and (other amenities),” Singh said.

The mayor said the stepped up costs put on the back of developers and passed on to future homebuyers is part of the puzzle the council is pursuing to provide adequate funding for city services.

It will also require new revenue from other sources.

“We have to make up for the years when there weren’t adequate funding collected if we want to sustain municipal services and (the quality of life) in Manteca,” Singh said.

To contact Dennis Wyatt, email Wyatt @mantecabulletin.com