(MANTECA,CA) - Residents are in strong opposition to a new four-story apartment complex that is planned for construction right in the middle of a semi-rural neighborhood community.
Photo Credit: OpGov.news
“The developer requests to amend the general plan land use designation from VLDR to high-density HDR and zoning from Residential Estate, RE to Residential Estate ,R3 to allow for the construction proposed,” Assistant Planner Toben Barnum stated.
As it stands, the parcel of land for the project only allows for VLDR (Very Low Density Residential) infrastructure to be legally built. By reclassifying the land to a Residential Estate 3 High Density status, the developer would be able to legally build the four-story complex without conflicting with zoning requirements.
“I don't want people looking into my backyard,” Jim Zimmerman, a Manteca resident living right to the construction site said during the City Council Meeting
Zimmerman explained he believes four stories is “ridiculous” as he described it, and moved away from the Bay Area to get away from things like this. He added, “..We are in country homes basically, and now you're going to put this big old thing right in the middle of these country homes?”
Photo Credit: City of Manteca
Madelyn, another Manteca resident and neighbor to Jim, shared similar concerns. ”The rezoning from very low density to high density, along with a four-story building, is completely incompatible with the surrounding one- to two-acre parcels.”
She also noted the large four-unit structure wouldn’t match the semi-rural community that’s home to her and other residents along Airport and Wawona, where the project is being built. “This is a drastic and abrupt change to the character of my neighborhood,” she added.
Specific issues regarding well-water contamination and CEQA were brought before the council as well. Heavy machinery contaminating well water through trucks leaking oil, and the vibrations of construction machines moving the earth around, were key highlighted concerns.
In response, MCR Engineering Principal Sean Samaniego said, “A lot of their wells are potentially old. They don’t meet today’s current environmental health requirements. I don't know that personally, but typically, that's the case.” To ease these situations, Samaniego suggested a Geotechnical engineer be involved to survey and monitor the affected residents' wells to mitigate worries.
Photo Credit: OpGov.news
Despite these mitigations, an often revisited point throughout the meeting suggested an inevitably that residents in the area would soon need to connect to city water lines and that water wells aren’t a long-term venture for residents.
“There may be some things you don’t want right now, but clean water, abandoning wells, and things are just inevitable,” Councilmember Morowit said. With this, the Mayor and council members called for the applicant to be more proactive in addressing these concerns with residents and in their communication with the affected community.
Council Member Regina Lackey shared the same sentiment when addressing the issue of the influx of children the new complex will bring, as the MUSD (Manteca Unified School District) is already dealing with student overflow.
”So here's my concern: we are already outsourcing our kids, and to rezone to a very high-density project, we know that we are going to be bringing in more kids than we would on a low-density project,” Vice Mayor Lackey said.
Photo Credit: OpGov.news
She referred to a letter from MUSD stating that while growth is supported, they don’t support unfunded growth, and questioned if there had been any discussion between the District and developers working on the complex.
“Normally when you have an issue, you’d like to mitigate with neighbors,” Council member Morowit said, speaking to the applicant. Further deliberation displayed an apprehensive Council not entirely ready to make a decision on the matter.
Mayor Singh acknowledged the awkward “L-shaped" parcel, the awkwardness of a large complex in a semi-rural area, and the residents' concerns.
This resulted in the council tabling the discussion for Sep. 1 to the applicant time to remedy existing concerns and build a stronger relationship with MUSD and the affected community at large.
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