Modesto leaders may address urban limit to contain sprawl

Modesto taxpayers have one of the best opportunities in years to impact future fees. Water, gas, electricity, police and fire coverage are all impacted by sprawl. The more land government must cover to get services to customers, the higher the cost.

San Francisco covers 30,000 acres, fixed, with a population of 898,000 and growing. Modesto covers just over 28,800 acres, population 222,000.

As the population grows, legislators do little to improve the jobs-housing imbalance. Modesto may start to show signs of abdication, as was the case recently in Manteca when their mayor stated, “We are going to get bigger whether we like it or not.”

Are we going to accept Bay Area bedroom status? Hoping not!

If you hope not, do something about it! The Modesto City Council is considering an urban limit line to provide more certainty to taxpayers — more certainty for long-term planning and funding city services.

Thousands of acres are available in the existing Sphere of Influence, including nearly 12,000 acres outside city limits. Additionally, the plan includes an open east side, where inferior soils have little impact on prime farmland, and it’s not a high water-recharge area.

Additionally, Riverbank won approval to expand west over some of the best farmland and water recharge area in the county. How? Why?

How is a simple answer. The Local Agency Formation Commission is supposed to consider factors when approving city requests to expand their urban footprint. One of those factors is the quality of farmland. One would think that water recharge would be a factor as well. As we get pinched for important resources like prime farmland and water, one would want to expect better protection from the costs of sprawl.

The why? Perhaps Riverbank’s concern that they need to get it before Modesto does. Only problem with that logic is that everybody loses the prime farmland and water recharge area to yet another “shopping experience!”

So, here’s to hope.

Hope that the consideration of an urban limit for Modesto, the largest city in Stanislaus County, will lead the logic of retaining our urban-agriculture community. Newman has an urban limit. Why not all our cities? Why not give taxpayers more certainty?

Lead, follow, or get out of the way. Taxpayer-citizen initiatives are right around the corner.