Vote on massive 5,000-home annexation in Stanislaus County will be held in April.

The Patterson City Council voted 5-0 Tuesday evening to proceed with the annexation election for the Zacharias and Baldwin Road development in western Stanislaus County.

Mail ballots will be sent to residents in the 1,300-acre annexation area in north Patterson, starting next week, and ballots will be tallied April 9.

Tuesday’s council decision followed a week of confusion over whether the April 9 annexation vote would be held as scheduled.

Deputy City Attorney Doug White said a council decision last week to cancel the annexation election was “incredibly effective” in bringing the developers to the table to address city concerns about the large development.

In the past week, conversations between the city and a group of developers led to verbal agreements with the city, except for one developer who’s still talking with city staff, White said. The city expects to bring development agreements to the Planning Commission on March 18 and to the council in April.

The Zacharias-Baldwin project represents a major expansion of housing, commercial and industrial development, along with schools, parks, recreation and other public facilities.

The Feb. 28 decision putting a pause on the annexation vote came as a surprise to the developers, but city staff said uncertainties about the development had come to the city’s attention.

City Manager Ken Irwin said at last Wednesday’s meeting that the city was facing a $60 million shortfall in the infrastructure costs for the Zacharias-Baldwin project, planned on the north edge of Patterson. Mayor Michael Clauzel also said Patterson has suffered from poor development agreements in the past, leaving the city without funds to repair roads and pay for other needs.

The city has not updated development fees since 2006.

City officials have also been in talks to address concerns of people in the Ivy-Rose ranchette neighborhood, who will participate in the annexation vote.

The ambitious Zacharias-Baldwin project calls for 5,391 residential dwellings and would add 855,000 square feet of retail development, along with 6.9 million square feet of business park space to continue expansion of the city’s employment base.

Patterson’s population could grow from 23,800 residents to around 40,000 with the residential portion of the project. One argument for the Zacharias-Baldwin project is more housing for people to work at distribution centers and other industrial plants in Patterson.