Especially since additions in recent years have nearly

doubled the size of the center, and consequently its already unmet need for

more water.

The center relies on water from a 40-plus-year-old well, and

county parks commissioners have petitioned the city to allow the center to

share its water.

Because the decades-old center sits just outside city

limits, Tracy will not extend its jurisdiction to accommodate the building’s

need for better plumbing unless residents in the unincorporated neighborhood

pay city tax for water, sewage and all other city services.

“You can’t just ask for water. It’s no city service or all

of them — plumbing, electricity, landscaping and all that,” said Mary Mitracos,

county parks commissioner.

Residents voted down annexation when it was brought to

ballot a few years ago by Larch Clover property owners, though the city offered

the tax without annexation as another option.

“Some cities have sort of trial periods where they’ll tax

for certain things to test the waters before they consider annexation,” said

David Beadles, the San Joaquin County parks director.

But residents in most unincorporated communities around

Stockton and Tracy like being outside city rule, Beadles said, even if it means

more of a hassle in the short-term.

“This is not unique in that regard. For many years the city

and residents have been going back and forth on whether it would make sense to

annex the area and the center into the city. The water line that supplies the

Larch Clover building and park is residential in size,” Beadles added. “I would

guess they outgrew it 20 years ago.”

The county allots roughly $5,000 a year to maintain the

center and pay its bills, and has recently focused on expanding it to keep up

with growing Larch Clover neighborhood.

Construction on a new playground just finished. For now,

it’s just the plumbing that needs catching up.

The Larch Clover community, which lies against I-205 off

Larch Road, is one of many unincorporated “islands” in the county that over and

over again refuse to annex into nearby cities and pay higher fees for the

services that come with assimilation. Others like Larch Clover include many

poor neighborhoods like Boggs Tract and Garden Acres in Stockton.

County officials now say Larch Clover’s annexation into Tracy

seems a “dead issue,” and that if they were to annex Larch Clover, it’s

unlikely to happen sooner than 20 years.

“There’s kind of been mixed messages over the years on

whether or not the city would incorporate the community,” Beadles said. “So

we’re trying to figure out how to get the center what it needs without it becoming

a part of Tracy.”

Because the lack of water in recent years, center employees

have had to look out for lawn fires, which sparked easily in the dry un-watered

brush.

“We had a bunch of them about three or four years ago,”

Beadles recalled. “And we’re fine now, but it shows that we didn’t have the

resources to irrigate the landscaping properly. That’s part of the challenge

out there. We’ve got to be careful.”

In the meantime, Beadles said the county will make due with

what they have — an old well.

“What we’ve done in the interim, to kind of help, is make

improvements to the well water supply, which we can’t use domestically, but is

good for irrigation,” he said. “And we can do a reasonable job with that, but

we need to think about where to go from there. Imagine if you will, your house,

and all of a sudden adding about 12 restroom fixtures and 12 acres of lawn.

It’d get to be too much to handle.”

•We

want to hear what you have to say. Comment on this story at www.tracypress.com, or to reach Tracy Press reporter

Jennifer Wadsworth, call 830-4225 or e-mail jwadsworth@tracypress.com.