Fair, Agri-Center Revisit Joint Facility Idea

Tulare - Tulare County Fair and International Agri-Center officials are again exploring the possibility of sharing facilities at the Agri-Center site.

Both the Agri-Center and the 24^th District Agricultural Association (Tulare County Fair) boards support the move in concept but realize they have issues to work out before the idea could become reality, officials of both organizations said.

“In principal, it just makes a lot of sense,” said Jerry Sinift, Agri-Center general manager.

“There are some issues to work through—not insurmountable at all—and the ball’s kind of in their court.”

Pete Alvitre, who agrees such a move makes sense, said the board has asked Michael Treacy, director of the state Department of Food and Agriculture, Division of Fairs and Exposition, to research the hurdles.

“Director Treacy has found the prospects are exciting and has personally taken charge of determining whether such a move is possible,” Alvitre said.

The challenge facing the state-funded county fair is how to “co-mingle funding, budget and staff with a private non-profit,” he said. “Director Treacy is kind of a ‘glass is half-full guy’ and has indicated there has to be a way we can do this.”

Beyond the Edge

Lynn Dredge, an Agri-Center consultant and former Tulare city manager, agrees with Treacy.

“We’ve come right to the edge of finding out what that [way] is, but have never pushed beyond the edge,” Dredge said.

Two 2001 studies that explored joint use of the Agri-Center facility by the Agri-Center, the fair and the National Reined Cow Horse Association found the idea both financially and logistically feasible. Members of the Division of Fairs and Exposition were excited about the idea and “were really pressing us to move forward on this,” Dredge said.

The key question became how the three entities would work together.

State officials came to Tulare with an attorney to discuss the matter and later sent a proposed agreement to study the issues, including the thorny question of how the state’s union employees and the Agri-Center’s non-union staff could work on the same grounds, Dredge said.

Fair Agri-Center representatives learned during the discussions that in a couple other areas of the state joint use facility operations were made possible by special state legislation.

“We thought we would try to create legislation to create a special entity,” Dredge said.

“We got to the point of sitting down and really seriously discussing this…when the head of the Reined Cow Horse Association resigned and that organization put it [the idea] on hold.”

The fair also lost its executive director and later had financial issues that made it difficult to resume talks, Dredge said. “Everything just kind of fell apart. It wasn’t anybody’s fault. It was just circumstances.”

Third Party?

The possibility still exists a third party will want to locate at the Agri-Center, Dredge said.

People involved with equestrian shows, including the daughter of one of the principals in the Tulare Motor Sports Complex project, have told him there is a tremendous need for show facilities in the central part of California.

“We’ve even furnished copies of the layout and feasibility studies to these folks and they’ve looked at them and have been very impressed,” Dredge said.

“I think what you’re looking at possibly is a developer-investor or an association that has the resources coming together to build a permanent facility that is leased or used by a variety of equestrian organizations,” he said.

The 2001 facilities study had the Reined Cow Horse Association building an enclosed arena with an adjacent warm-up area, where riders could get ready and exhibitors could set up. The Agri-Center’s World Ag Expo and the fair also would use the facilities.

Alvitre said fair board members are “keenly aware” the fairgrounds need a facelift, renovation, retro-fits and general beautification, which is one reason they are open to discussions with the Agri-Center.

“The problem … is anytime we stick a shovel in the dirt, we then have to shift gears and also comply with all the ADA [Americans with Disability Act] requirements,” he said. “When that happens, the price tag is astronomical.

“If that’s the case, the question begs: We’re sitting on a piece of valuable real estate; if we sell this, could we go out in a cooperative way and integrate our operations with the Agri-Center’s operations.”

Speaking for himself only, Alvitre said he is “very excited about the prospects. I think it could be a real fit. The key component is both boards having a comfort level for budgeting, funding and staff.”

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Tulare Graduates Return Home to Teach

Tulare - If more than a few of the 63 new teachers in the city's public schools felt a tinge of nostalgia when the first school bells rang  in August, that is understandable since 27 of them were returning to the districts where they once were students.

That nearly 43 percent of the new hires have their educational roots in Tulare impressed Councilman Richard Ortega and others who attended a recent Chamber of Commerce luncheon to welcoming the new teachers.

Ortega, a former high school trustee, later told fellow council members the number should be “reassuring” to the community, which at one time had serious concerns about the “brain drain” that was occurring.

In the Tulare Joint Union High School District, officials reported 9 of the 22 new teachers—or 41 percent—are graduates of Tulare schools. And in  the Tulare City School District 18 of 41 new teachers—nearly 44 percent—attended its schools and/or one of the city's high schools.

This is good both for the district and the students, said Luis Castellanoz, an assistant superintendent in the elementary school district.

“These individuals have gone through the system and when they come back, they know the system and its clients,” he said. “I also think it's very important for kids to see teachers who went through the same system they did.”

Castellanoz and Superintendent John Beck are both graduates of Tulare schools as are seven of the district's 14 principals. They are: Barbara Xavier, Ira Porchia, John Pendleton, Terri Slover, Philip Pierschbacher, Mark Jensen and Greg Anderson.

To get a sense of why young people return home to teach, the Tulare Voice spoke with three first-year teachers in the elementary school district. They are: Melody Macias, a fifth grade teacher at Mulcahy Middle School, which she attended as a student; and Garden School teachers Ashley Howarth and Kevin Philpot, who both attended that school as youngsters. Howarth now teaches fourth grade and Philpot sixth grade.

'Full Circle'

“I've always loved school; I guess that's why I'm back,” Macias said. “It's a full circle.”

She had many good teachers when she was going through elementary and middle school and many still work at Mulcahy or elsewhere in the district, she said.

Macias' principal, John Pendleton, rarely misses a chance to tell students that she is a Mulcahy graduate and she understands why.

 “We stress to a lot of kids that, 'you come here, you can do anything,'” she said. “I tell kids, 'Hey, I went here, so you can be a teacher too or whatever you want.'”

Macias said she is grateful for the veteran teachers at Mulcahy who readily collaborate with her to make sure her students get what they need in the classroom.

“There's a lot of support with this district,” she said. “You talk with people w ho went to other districts and they say, 'You had two weeks of training! We had only two days.'”

She also finds support from the “Character Counts!” program in which the district participates.

“We just totally push Character Counts things—being  good citizens, being good to each other and caring toward each other,” Macias said. “Just having the six posters up [representing the six pillars of good character] helps. I always refer to them.”

While this is Macias' first regular teaching job, she did work for the district as an office assistant and later in the bi-lingual department, while she attended California State University, Fresno. She did her student teaching at Lincoln and Garden schools.

Giving Back

Howarth remembers feeling safe as a Garden School student and having a strong sense that both her parents and her teachers wanted her to learn.

“I had such a good experience that I wanted to give back what I got,” Howarth said. She also noted her decision to teach was reinforced by the six summers she spent teaching swimming.

Fourth grade, which she is teaching this year, was one of her favorite years at Garden.

Terri Slover, who was a first-year teacher and is now Maple School's principal, was her teacher.

“She's so awesome,” Howarth said. “I remember she had this money system where we rented our chairs and other things—it was like a real life situation and it was fun.”

Several of her former teachers are still at Garden and now serve as her mentors, she said.

Howarth is a graduate of California State University, Fresno (CSUF), and did her student teaching at Heritage School.

Math Woes

Philpot did not start out to be an elementary school teacher. It was only after he spent five years as a youth minister at the First Church of God and worked at a couple other jobs that he decided he wanted to teach.

“I came home one day and told my wife, 'I've got to go back to school,'” he said.

With the support of his family—including his parents—he was able to finish 19 college units in two semesters, while also working as a teacher's aide at Mulcahy School, he said. He did his student teaching last year at Roosevelt School.

Philpot wanted to teach in Tulare because, he said, he loves the community.

His memories of school here include a struggle with seventh grade math that he was able to win, thanks to the help of a caring Cherry School principal.

“My principal took time out of his lunch to work with me in math,” he said. “Because of that, in my eighth grade year I excelled in math. That principal is now the superintendent [John Beck].”

Beck's patience probably sparked “just a little bit” in him the realization he needed to take math and learning seriously, he said.

Philpot, who attended College of the Sequoias and CSUF and is finishing his credential work at Fresno Pacific University, seems to have found his niche in teaching.

“I love that I'm able to work with kids and have the ability to make at least one light bulb turn on,” he said. “If I've done that throughout the day, I'm gratified that I've done my part."

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500 Manufactured Houses Proposed for West Tulare

Tulare - Planning commissioners, who want more information and public comment, have delayed until Sept. 10, a decision on a unique affordable housing project that would cluster 519 manufactured houses on 79 acres on the northwest corner of Bardsley Avenue and West Street.

Commissioners will meet at 7 p.m. in the City Council Chambers, 125 South M St.

The proposed Tullin Meadows manufactured home park would involve a partnership of private, public and non-profit entities.

“What we’ve done is put together a combination of manufactured housing in a park that is under the jurisdiction of the state Housing and Community Development Department and is owned and operated by a non-profit organization,” said Dana Rudebeck, planning specialist for Advantage Homes, which is a partner in the project.

“That has not been done in this same way as before,” Rudebeck said. “We’ve gotten letters from all of the state of California because they’ve heard about it.”

Residents of the park would own their home but rent the land, a situation similar to mobile home parks. The difference is the long-term 30-year lease will set rents at an average of $300 per month, with increases allowed only for actual increased operation and maintenance costs, the developers said.

When completed, the project would be sold to a nonprofit organization that specializes in the management, operation and maintenance of affordable housing.

Public Input

Commissioners raised concerns about the project’s size, location and long-term durability and were reluctant to vote on the project without more input from the public and the Redevelopment Agency.

“We didn’t really get a good read from our community here tonight,” Chairman Richard Miller said at the commission’s Aug. 20 meeting.

Chuck Miguel said the Redevelopment Agency board “might have a better pulse on the neighborhood than I do.”

The Redevelopment Agency board, in fact, had approved a letter of support for the project, which commissioners had not seen. Board members reaffirmed their support at their Aug. 22 meeting.

“The board is all about removing blight and providing affordable housing,” redevelopment board Chairwoman Judy Silicato said after that meeting.

“I support this as one option for affordable housing,” said redevelopment board member Mark Richmond. “I thing it’s a viable option, proposed as they have.”

Miguel expressed strong concern about the project’s location.

“I can’t get past the fact we’re going to be putting a manufactured housing park with 500 units on the west side,” he said. “I don’t think we’d ever consider this project in any part of the city.”

Redevelopment’s Richmond said his personal preference is that a project of this density not be on the edge of town, “whatever kind of homes they are” because the infrastructure, including grocery stores, are not out there yet.

Planning Commission Vice Chairman Jeff Killion and others expressed concern about the project’s size.

“I wish it was half the size,” Killion said. “I’d feel better about it.”

Commissioner Deanne Rocha agreed.  “That’s a lot of people,” she said. “You’re talking over 2,000 people on 79 acres.”

An earlier project that the commission approved for the site in 2006 would have put 312 single-family homes on 80 acres.

Commissioners worried the size of the project would make it less manageable and the park would become blighted over several decades.

“I’m reluctant to vote for a project I have a strong feeling we’d be answering for in 30 years,” Miguel said.

Thomas DaRosa, vice president of sales and marketing for Advantage Homes, said measures will be taken to make sure the houses remain owner-occupied and the park does not become blighted over time.

The management company will screen potential buyers, checking on criminal history as well as ability to make mortgage and rent payments, and owners will not be able to rent out their home if they move, DaRosa said.

The project will include an on-site manager and assistant manager around the clock, he said.

Several members of the City Council, Redevelopment Agency and Planning Commission recently visited two large, well-established, well-run mobile home parks in San Luis Obispo and Five Cities to “answer a lot of concerns they had about what a pre-manufactured housing development might look like in a number of years,” Redevelopment director Bob Nance said.

In one of the parks, many of the mobile homes were taken out and replaced by pre-manufactured housing, he said. “On the second site, we got to go through one of the units.”

Silicato, who visited Advantage’s Lindsay factory, said she was impressed with the construction.

“I would love to have an acre of ground in the country and put one of them on it,” she said. “They are beautiful. You would never know you were in a pre-manufactured house. They have every amenity you can imagine.”

Home prices in Tullin Meadows will range from $89,000 to $129,000, plus city impact fees, developers said. The project will be a mix of detached and zero-lot line homes and will also include a clubhouse, maintenance facility, an RV/boat/self-storage area, pedestrian paths, tot lots and a 6-acre park.

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Infante Wraps Up 30 Years on City Board

Tulare - Daniel Infante, chairman of the Tulare Redevelopment Agency board, has retired after serving more than 30 years. He was appointed to the board on May 1, 1977.

When he first joined the board, redevelopment was in its early stages and facing opposition in the Alpine area, where a major effort to improve housing was under way.

“Being almost a native of the area, I knew many of the people there and I felt I could help convince them that redevelopment is a good thing,” Infante said, adding that as a school teacher he also had contact with people in the area.

He leaves the board at a time when redevelopment is working in West Tulare, as well as downtown and along the South K Street industrial corridor.

“I would like to see the agency continue to work steadily to get the west side done like what we did in the Alpine area,” Infante said. “The west side really needs a lot of help, a lot of work.”

Infante, 77, has lived in Tulare since 1945. He taught for 31 years in the Tulare City School District, where he was assigned to Roosevelt Elementary, Lincoln School and finally Cherry Avenue Middle school, where he taught Spanish and reading. He retired in 1989.

Since then, he has worked part-time as a barber, something he has done since he was 17 years old.

The decision to retire from the redevelopment board now made sense to both he and his wife Nancy, Infante said.

“It gives us a little more flexibility in our lives. And after so many years, I felt it would be a good opportunity for someone else,” he said. “I really enjoyed it.”

Judy Silicato, a long-time member who was elected to replace him as chair of the board, said she was going to miss Infante.

“He’s dedicated first and foremost to the community, because he believes in the community,” Silicato said.

Infante was a quiet board chairman, “but when the time came, he said what needed to be said,” Silicato said.

“He had a big-picture vision of improving Tulare,” said Howard Edson, retired development services directors. “He really believed that redevelopment was the answer to lot of the issues in Tulare and he never wavered in that belief.

“People had tremendous respect for Dan, both on the board and publicly. In his quiet way, he just made sure everything got taken care of.”

Infante also helped set “some major redevelopment direction,” including two expansions of the Alpine Redevelopment Area, the expansion of the downtown area and the introduction of redevelopment into West Tulare, Edson said.

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Benders Propose Commercial Project in West Tulare

Tulare - West Tulare residents often complain about the lack of commercial development in their area of town, but if Bob and Richard Bender have their way, they could one day see a 5-acre retail and office development off of West Prosperity Avenue.

The Bender brothers are proposing to build the following on the commercial site on the south side of Prosperity Avenue between A and E streets:

• Three 4,000-square-foot medical buildings;

• One 4,000-square-foot commercial office;

• One 3,400-square foot convenience store and gas station;

• One 5,000-square-foot restaurant near Prosperity Avenue;

• Four 5,000-square-foot retail pads;

• One  4,500-square-foot retail pad;

• And 226 parking spaces.

The family owns another 5-plus commercial acres immediately to the south, which they are asking the city to zone for multiple family development.

The site would include seven buildings, each with eight apartments, which are separated from the commercial development by a block wall. Further south, five duplexes would be built next to existing housing. The development would include a club house.

“Either we'll work with somebody around here to build the various components or we'll sell the pads,” Bob Bender said. “We think that eventually someone is going to want to serve all those people living out there—you've got two big schools and a lot of traffic.”

All 10-plus acres, including land the family use to farm, were annexed to the city about 20 years ago and zoned for commercial use, Bender said.

“The advice we got now is it's too big a piece for just commercial,” he said. “We didn't have a pre-plan so much as we went to the city and said, 'What's viable here? What would you like to see?'”

His family has owned the land since about 1956, Bob Bender said. His father, the late Bill Bender and a partner, once operated the B & E Market on the southeast corner of Prosperity and E.  In 1947, when his father was still renting the land, he built the B&E Tavern, now Pato's Place, on the southwest corner.

Planning Director Mark Kielty said the Bender project will likely go to the Planning Commission

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