Motor Sports Track Ready to Rumble
EIR Says Project Could Have $1 Billion Impact

Tulare - The long awaited draft environmental impact report to build the 711-acre Tulare Motor Sports Complex in the southeast part of the city been released and will be available for a 45-day comment period. The three-inch thick document outlines the impact the largest commercial project in Tulare County history is expected to have on the environment including air quality, agriculture, noise and transportation.

In many of these cases the study done by Fresno consultant Michael Brandman Associates finds the impacts are significant. On the other hand, if the company's projections come true, the race track, visitors, facilities and stores could rival Sequoia Park as a visitor destination and compare to milk production in Tulare County as a new source of income generation.

Significantly, the impact report also offers a perspective on whether the project would have a negative effect on business in the city prompted by a Bakersfield lawsuit that demanded the city study the effect of a Wal Mart on that community. In this case, the EIR sub-study done by The Ramsey Group addressed whether the race track might cause “urban decay” in Tulare. Currently, Tulare suffers from 37.6% retail leakage factor, says Ramsey – over $416 million being spent out of town that could be spent in town if services were offered.

Sixteen Thousand Jobs

The Ramsey report included in the EIR, says at build-out the Tulare Motor Sports Complex will have 1.2 million additional square footage of building space that would bring in an additional $224 million in sales activity that could offset the $416 million loss of retail sales.

The report suggest the Motor Sports facility will attract as many as 1.6 million visitors annually if it reaches full capacity – about as many visitors that head to Sequoia and Kings Canyon every year.

These Tulare visitors may be expected to spend $732 for a three day visit according to a California Speedway study done in 2003. At full capacity, visitor spending could reach $735 million that could engender business spending of $1 billion plus, claims the EIR. Over $400 million of that would be in accommodations and food service.

The EIR says the Tulare Motor Sports Complex would support 16,359 jobs in the city and surrounding area.

The bottom line is that the project will mean enough growth to fill any empty storefronts that result from other businesses coming to town, according to the study.

Ready to Rumble?

If urban decay isn't a significant problem, the EIR says the rumble of noisy race cars and “Top Fuel” dragsters might be. Residents in the area not far from the proposed race track complex might be ready to do some rumbling of their own, some expect, when this issue comes to public hearing.

The two race tracks – a one-mile long D-shaped oval race track with seating capacity of 52,600 would be near a drag strip with seating for 39,800 fans. The project would feature up to 350 condos, a go-cart track and a 59-acre RV park. Added to this would be a tech-oriented business park, retail stores, hotels and commercial offices. Four larger lodging facilities with 1,000 total rooms are planned.

Regarding the noise, like that produced by the Indy car and stock car races, the EIR says these races would occur only a couple times a year. Oval track races will be the loudest at just under 100 decibels during the daytime hours when the races would occur. That exceeds the city's 60-dB limit. While some mitigation would be offered, including the grandstand, other barriers to the noise would be unavailable, says the EIR.

The drag strip would be far busier with 174 events a year. Again, grandstands would help a little and that noise would be above the 60 dB level in a large area around the project including where they expect condos will be built but affecting no existing residences. The EIR offers to study building a noise barrier. Noise levels of 60 dB and above are considered intrusive from those having a normal conversation. At 100 dB – listening to a jet take off from 2,000 feet way can cause damage if the exposure is sustained. Noise from concerts is expected 10 times a year. The study suggests noise levels of the Motor Sports Complex should not affect dairy cows – of which there are numerous in the area.

Mitigation for Ag Land

Regarding water supplies, the EIR suggests the 700-plus acres converted from farming to this urban use would use a fraction of the water that is pumped for ag use.

The project will increase the light and glare in part of the community now and its impact is significant and unavoidable. Likewise for air quality, says the report, both during construction and during races. The taking of 711 ag land acres out of production is significant and unavoidable too, says the report. To mitigate taking land out of the Williamson Act – about 419 of the 711 acres – the report says the proponents will buy on a one acre for one acre basis, equal quality farmland to be offered to a land trust like the Sequoia Riverlands Trust to compensate for the land conversion.

To protect Elk Bayou natural area the project plans to offer a 100-foot buffer between the waterway and the RV park that would be maintained as a wildlife corridor.

Regarding transportation and road issues, the EIR notes the project will contribute its “fair share” to a number of road improvement projects including the new Agri-Center freeway interchange that will be the easiest way visitors from Highway 99 will get into the project built back a quarter-mile from 99. Still, despite this, the EIR notes this mitigation would still mean impacts that are significant and unavoidable.

Critics are going to point to traffic jams as a way of life in Tulare, although the placement of the project on the extreme south end of town and that new freeway interchange will clearly help.

Other mitigation offered of note is that the project intends to plant a canopy of trees to shade the area, and install solar panels to meet at least 5 percent of the electricity demand for the project. With a planned fire department/emergency medical facility on site, the proponents propose to pay their fair share for its operation including acquisition of equipment that could include an aerial ladder. Likewise for the police department.

If you are wondering why they go through this exercise, it's because CEQA – the California Environmental Quality Act - mandates a project consider all these impacts and whether the project can provide feasible mitigation measures to offset them. If it can't, they state the impacts are unavoidable.

Only when an opponent files a lawsuit showing the applicant has not adequately considered an impact is the project delayed by a judge and returned for further study. That's part of the reason this study has been delayed for months due to its size, complexity and the desire by the proponents to move forward as soon as possible. By covering all the bases, they hope to dissuade a suit.

The EIR also offers several reduced-size projects as well as no project alternatives to consider.

Now, once the comments are received next month, the city will compile those comments, reply and issue its final EIR. Only then would the project come back to the council for final approval later this summer.

Summary of Controversies

The EIR shows that the following potential impact may be controversial. They include:
• Impacts on regional air quality during construction and operation.
• Impacts on local air quality from toxic air contaminants from racing vehicles and diesel trucks servicing the commercial uses at the site.
• Greenhouse gases/global climate change impacts.
• Conversion of farmland to urban uses.
• Impacts to Elk Bayou.
• Threatened and endangered species and wildlife corridors.
• Managing water runoff and prevention of discharge to Elk Bayou.
• Noise generation from facility operations and increased traffic.
• Traffic congestion on the local and regional road network.
• Increased light and glare from the project, impacting the view of the night sky.
• Potential impacts to cultural resources.
• Potential aviation/airport land use conflicts.

Rome wasn't built in day and neither will be the Motor Sports Complex. The EIR states it will take three years, 2009-2011, to build out the more than half million square feet of retail uses, 752,000 square feet of retail free-standing stores and nearly 2 million square feet of general office buildings along with the hotel rooms, amusement park, condos, campgrounds and warehouse.

For the next three years project will take in another 250 acres. During this three-year construction phase, the air pollutants are likely to be worse led by diesel exhaust fumes and fugitive dust. The applicant says it would limit construction during times of high pollution levels and it plans to install bike racks around the project site. New trees will cover 50% of the paved surface over the project site. Regarding use of leaded fuels in race cars, NASCAR has phased out leaded fuel but some races may have vehicles that still use leaded fuel.

Outside the EIR, but critical to the future of this big project, is the need to annex this land into the city limits – altogether 965 acres that will go through the LAFCO process. Potentially holding that up is a lack of any revenue sharing agreement with the county that could be at least several months away.

Developer Bud Long had been hoping to break ground early this summer. But major hurdles that include a city council decision, complaints by residents over noise impacts, a potential lawsuit and the County of Tulare could each hold up the show.

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Hearing Set for Settlement
Dispute Between TDH, Former CFO

Tulare - Tulare Local HealthCare District officials and Lucy Reimche, its former chief financial officer, negotiated a $600,000 settlement four months ago, but the lawsuit remains unresolved and is heading toward a court hearing.

Reimche, who alleged employment violations when she filed suit against the district and former Chief Executive Officer Bob Montion in 2006, has asked Tulare County Superior Court Judge Lloyd Hicks to enforce the settlement all parties agreed to in writing on Jan. 15, following a full day of mediation.

A hearing on the matter is set for 8:30 a.m. next Thursday in Department 10 of Tulare County Courthouse in Visalia.

“I consider it [the case] settled and I'm going to court to get the agreement enforced,” said Reimche's attorney, Shelley G. Bryant of Fresno.

Bryant contends the mandated formal settlement and release agreement the hospital developed after the mediation session attempts to expand the scope of the original settlement and said Reimche has refused to sign it.

The original agreement was signed Jan. 15, by Reimche, Bryant, Dennis McCarthy, who is the hospital district's Monterey-based attorney, and John Church, the hospital's interim chief financial officer. Court records indicate the settlement called for:

• Tulare District to pay Reimche $600,000 and for each party to cover its own attorneys' fees and costs.
• A formal settlement and release agreement “containing terms and conditions commonly used for the resolution of employment disputes.” The mediator identified points to be covered and then added it would also contain “such other terms as are appropriate for the resolution of the dispute.”
• A separate agreement between Reimche and Montion and a mutual release of claims they might have against each other.
• A mutual release of claims between Reimche and her former attorney, Leonard Herr, who is now the hospital's general counsel.
• Ratification of the formal agreement by the hospital board.

The language in the formal settlement and release agreement drawn by the hospital required Reimche to dismiss the complaint she filed with the California Bar Association against Herr, who dropped her case against the health care district when his firm was hired as the district's general counsel. Herr, in turn, would have to forego his claim against Reimche for unpaid attorney fees.

According to court records, Reimche did not want to drop her action against Herr and argued, through her attorney, Bryant, that California's Rules of Professional Conduct prohibits a settlement that blocks the reporting of a violation of these rules.

Records also indicate the hospital district agreed with that argument and Herr is now unwilling to waive claims against Reimche.

The arbitrator working on the case said the portion of the settlement involving Reimche and Herr could be severed from the original agreement and handled separately and the parties have agreed to do this.

Bryant, in his motion to enforce the original agreement, said the hospital is refusing to pay per the original agreement because it does not believe that document is binding and because Reimche continues to refuse to sign the longer new agreement. Bryant said he believes a valid settlement agreement exists.

The hospital board fired Reimche in a 3-0 vote on Nov. 30, 2006, after a public hearing in which a human resource specialist hired by the district to investigate concluded Reimche's relationships with other employees were significantly impaired.

Reimche's lawsuit against the district and Montion alleges she was a victim of retaliation, slander and sexual harassment, which the defendants denied. They maintain those allegations were thoroughly investigated by the human resource specialist and were unsubstantiated.

The settlement agreement that came out of mediation called for a clause in which no parties would admit wrongdoing or liability.

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More than 50 “Kids” Reunite for Revue

Tulare - More than 50 current and past Encore Kids will present eight performances this month of “Can't Stop the Beat,” a revue written, compiled and directed by Susan Burley.

The action will take place at Encore High, where students are getting ready for the annual talent competition between seniors and underclassmen.

“The principal has decided the staff will participate this year and the staff is rebelling, because they think their principal is wacky,” Burley said. The first half of the production focuses on the rehearsals and the second half is the concert.

Nancy Grissom Gregg, an eighth grade teacher at St. Aloysius School and a member of the first Encore Kids group in the 1983-84 season, will play the principal.

“She's sort of been the glue that's held it together with every revue we've had,” Burley said.

Encore Theatre puts on a revue every five years and Burley said she has had no problem getting former “Kids” to participate.

“You can't say no to Burley,” Gregg said. “She's meant a lot to a lot of kids on the stage and I've known her a long time.”

Irene West was the founder of the group and when she moved to Los Angeles, Burley, who had assisted her, became director.

“I love it because it's a healthy thing for children and music and theater –it's my passion,” Burley said. Her two daughters, Karen and Sharon, have been Encore Kids.

Gregg said she use to hang around Encore Theater when it started because her older sister, Tina Grissom, was involved. Almost from the beginning there had been talk of forming a junior group, but that didn't happen until her senior year of high school.

Organizers wanted to limit participation to elementary and middle school students, but she and others protested.

“We begged them to make it go through high school,” Gregg said. “So we got to be in it one year. We loved it. We were totally theater geeks.”

Several Encore Kids have gone on to have a career in music and/or the stage.

Tony Wichowski, a singer/dancer in the off-Broadway production of “Rent” and Kasi Beck Beaney, a singer, are two who participate in the revue this year, Burley said.

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Busy Clinic Plans for Cartmill-Hillman Site

Tulare - This is a busy year for the growing Tulare Community Health Clinic, which has moved pediatric services into a much larger space and is developing plans to construct a complex to consolidate existing services on the northeast corner of Cartmill Avenue and Hillman Street.

Tulare Community also has welcomed a new chief medical officer and is exploring the possibility of offering new services in spaces it now occupies in The Village shopping center at 1101 North Cherry St.

The federally qualified clinic opened an escrow on six acres on Cartmill and Hillman in late 2007 and is expected to close the transaction by November, Chief Executive Officer Graciela Soto-Perez said.

“Right now we're trying to decide how big we want it, how much it will cost and how to finance it,” Soto-Perez said, adding the goal is to have a new clinic up and running by the end of 2011.

Tulare Community had hoped to open a new dental clinic in the Blackstone Professional Center this year, but that project is not moving forward so the dental clinic will now be part of the Cartmill/Hillman project, she said.

The clinic also wants to build a pharmacy on the site and would like to partner with Tulare District Hospital to have laboratory and medical imaging services as well, Soto-Perez said.

The plan is for Tulare Community to continue leasing space in The Village shopping center at 1101 North Cherry St. once the new clinic is built, so it can provide new services. “We are exploring bariatric services and a diabetes clinic,” Soto-Perez said.

‘Temporary Fix'

Tulare Community moved its pediatrics clinic in January into a new 5,067-square-foot building at 1186 East Leland Ave., which it is leasing.

“This is a temporary fix until we move [to Cartmill-Hillman],” Soto-Perez said.
Both patients and doctors seem pleased with the new pediatrics clinic, which is nearly double the size of the building at 1008 North Cherry St., where doctors saw children for four years.

“More rooms help a lot,” said Dr. Asit Shah, one of five local pediatricians who treat patients at the clinic in addition to their private practice. “It's less noisy for physicians.”

Alyssa Castrillon, who had brought then 4-month-old Jonathan Munoz to the clinic, found the building was “a little hard to find” but worth the search. “It's bigger and it's a lot nicer,” Castrillon said.

Another mother in the large waiting room agreed. “It's better, it's bigger and the playground—the kids are going to love it,” Crystal Nunez said.

The growing number of children seen at the clinic has prompted Tulare Community to recruit for a full-time pediatrician.

“There's just too many patients; our providers need help,” Soto-Perez said.

The clinic logged 83,736 visits in 2007 by 19,289 patients, about 50 percent of whom are children and teenagers, Soto-Perez said.

Only 23 percent of the youth are seen at the pediatric site, probably because the teenagers prefer to be with the adults at the main clinic in The Village shopping center.

Tulare Community had hoped to open a Teen Pact Plus clinic for youths between the ages of 12 and 20 at the former pediatrics site, but the landlord had other plans for the building, so that is on hold for now, Soto-Perez said.

New Director

In January, Dr. Inez Fabella joined Tulare Community as its chief medical officer, replacing Dr. Nauman Quershi who had left.

“She's got so many ideas and such great vision and charisma,” Soto-Perez said. “She's got a great patient bedside manner.”

Fabella and her husband Dr. Emmanuel Fabella, both internists, began practicing medicine in Tulare in November 2007. She previously worked at Daviess Community Hospital in Washington, Ind., where she garnered a national award as medical director of the rehabilitation unit.

She also worked at Harper University Hospital in Detroit and at Lockland Air Force Base in San Antonio, Texas, training resident physicians and medical students at both places. She was also a clinical assistant professor at the Indiana University School of Medicine.

Her medical degree is from the University of Santo Tomas in Manila. She did her residency at Wayne State University-Detroit Medical Center.

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