LATHROP - City planners are in the early stages of mapping out yet another massive development proposal that, if approved, would add nearly 700 acres to Lathrop's quickly expanding boundaries.
Previous efforts to take on more building through annexation has increased the city's land mass threefold in less than 20 years, a rate faster than any other city in San Joaquin County.
Roseville-based developer Richland Communities, which already is building thousands of homes in town west of Interstate 5, is eyeing a 689-acre parcel of unincorporated property south of Lathrop between the city and Manteca.
Planners envision 3,100 homes within two pedestrian-friendly communities divided by Highway 120, tied together by walkways and bicycle paths, and possibly anchored by a new Altamont Commuter Express station.
There are no formal plans yet, and the city is just beginning the bureaucratic maze that could take more than a year to complete. Plus, county land-use officials would have to agree to annex the property into Lathrop's city limits.
Community Development Director Marilyn Ponton, the city's chief planning official, said the city would be excited to pursue the project because it falls in line with Lathrop's approach of building various community pockets of homes, schools and businesses within one town.
"We have no downtown, so we're creating town centers," Ponton said. "We're a town of villages."
Lathrop is creating those villages at a pace unseen in the rest of the county, said Bruce Baracco, executive officer of the San Joaquin Local Agency Formation Commission, the agency that oversees land-use decisions such as annexation.
When Lathrop incorporated in 1989, the city limits stretched some 4,150 acres. Today, it stands at about 13,250 acres.
The city's first and largest-scale annexation was in 1996, when it absorbed about 7,600 acres west of I-5 for what are now the developing River Islands and Mossdale Village communities.
Last year, Lathrop annexed another 1,500 acres nearby, where about 6,800 homes are planned.
The latest proposal for more land may not be the final one. City planners in January will ask the county to add another 2,100 acres north of the city limits to its sphere of influence, a guide local governments use to map out future growth boundaries.
If approved, that would open the door to another annexation, although city leaders maintain the land will be used to spray sewage produced by other developments onto farmland.
Ponton said Lathrop's limits likely will max out if the proposals to the north and south are given the OK.
While the city's swift population growth is well-known, Lathrop has proven to be one of the most aggressive cities in the Central Valley at pursuing physical growth, said Carol Whiteside, president of the Great Valley Center, a Modesto-based nonprofit group that monitors regional issues including growth.
"There's a certain opportunistic land rush in the Valley," she said.
Whether that land is being used for its best purposes, Whiteside said, is up for debate. "We can't just keep building suburbs," she said.
Contact reporter Daniel Thigpen at (209) 239-3361 or dthigpen@recordnet.com.