City of Manteca to consider next steps on revitalizing downtown
One of the fastest-growing cities in Northern California is looking to its future. The Manteca City Council is considering plans to revamp its historic downtown in an effort to turn it into a destination area.
"Basically, what you are seeing in Lodi and Livermore, we're on the front end of that," Manteca Mayor Gary Singh shared. "It's going to be exciting times here."
This is all part of a plan that was being put in front of the city council on Tuesday.
"It's an exciting time for our downtown," Mayor Singh continued. "We're awarding the contract for Ascent [Environmental] for our downtown civic plan, which is a long time coming for our city."
The plan is comprehensive and will look at architectural designs, traffic flow and what businesses the city would like to bring into the area.
The goal is to create a downtown that will last.
"We're looking at some dining within our downtown, some nightlife, and all of those aspects will have it all work together," Mayor Singh said.
Locals have their own vision of what they'd want to see in the area.
"I'd like to see a gathering place, a restaurant, something like that," Manteca Bedquarters owner Steve Lewis added.
"I'm feeling a glass of wine on a certain day that's legal to walk along downtown with my wife and and and go into these shops," Manteca resident Karl Kunsten said.
The contract with Ascent Environmental will cost just under $1 million. It's all funded by downtown businesses and property owners who taxed themselves to get the job done.
Mayor Singh said they will be keeping historical buildings intact, especially the old IOOF Hall, where Lewis has worked for decades.
"Hopefully they remodel it because it needs it," he said. "The building is very old, but it'll be exciting. My hope was that it doesn't sit empty."
While this is the sixth downtown plan that's been created over the past sixty years, the city says this time, it isn't an empty promise.
"This time, a lot of these plans are interactive, ongoing, and something that our development teams, as new development projects are coming in downtown, they'll be looking at to make sure it follows through with what the vision is," Mayor Singh said.
If approved, the city and Ascent Environmental will be holding community meetings to get local input.
City council will also be discussing the Parks Master Plan where the city will discuss short and long-term visions they have for existing or future parks within the community. That will cost nearly $1 billion.
