MTBE Fouls Groundwater Around County

 

In the past few years as the state enforced underground gas tank cleanup - MTBE has been found in both soil and underground water contaminating wells up and down the state.  With evidence clear that MTBE  - whatever its air quality benefits - “posed an unacceptable threat to the environment.”  Governor Gray Davis banned its use in gasoline in March although oil companies have until two years from today to remove the stuff.

This past week the state Air Resources Board adopted new rules for cleaner burning gasoline without MTBE making it easier for refiners to make the new gas and promote ethanol as a possible substitute for MTBE as an oxygenate in polluted areas like the San Joaquin Valley.  Davis wants to use ethanol - made from corn and other biomass - as a substitute throughout the state.  Davis was in the Valley a few weeks ago offering grants to companies who would consider stepping up biomass processing.

The use of MTBE in gasoline has affected Tulare County’s groundwater at leaky gas stations throughout the County.  The County’s Environmental Health Division monitors the clean up of about 175 former and current gas stations in the County and in the past few years has tested the ground and water near the sites for the presence of MTBE at many - although not all of them.  Staffer with the agency, Mark Bairstow, says the list includes over 60 sites where MTBE has been detected in the soil or groundwater.  “When they started using this material they didn’t know it migrated so easily and was a potential health hazard.”  In fact, MTBE is a carcinogen.  But, Bairstow believes drinking water supplies remain safe throughout the County.  “However, we believe there is a need to continue to monitor and test more sites.”

A state program that helps property owners clean up polluted gas tank sites should also help them clean sites where MTBE is found, says Bairstow.

Clearly some sites have a great quantity of MTBE detected.  That includes the Tosoco bulk plant on El Monte in Dinuba.  MTBE contamination from that now closed site forced the closure of a water well in Dinuba, says Dave Meinert, the community development director of the city of Dinuba.  The city has recently spent about a half million dollars adding equipment to this particular well.  Now the equipment has been moved.  Meinert says the city has joined the city of South Lake Tahoe filing suit against petroleum companies to pay for the contamination that has cost their cities.

The Beacon station at 357 E. Tulare in Dinuba was tested in 1997 and found to contain high levels of MTBE in groundwater as well.  Gas For Less in Dinuba is on the list.

In Orosi both the Super 7 and Orosi Chevron have MTBE in groundwater.  Felix Chevron and Kwik Serve Market in Woodlake, Gifford Market in Springville, Pinky Liquor in Strathmore and the Grant Grove gas station in Kings Canyon all show high concentrations of MTBE in groundwater.  One of the gas tanks that leaked in Visalia is the Visalia Unified School District bus maintenance yard at 801 N. Mooney tested in late 1998 and found with a high concentration of MTBE in groundwater.

The Regional Water Quality Control Board is overseeing the cleanup of some of the sites in the County.  Bairstow says the state is about to adopt priority rules of which sites will be cleaned up first.  Preference would likely go to those sites near well water supplies.  The issue of who will pay for a massive contamination problem has yet to play out.  “There was a lot we didn’t know about MTBE when it was proposed,” says Bairstow.

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The site currently zoned for agriculture is at the entrance to the city at one corner of the new Akers freeway offramp.  To the south of the project the new Cigna office complex is being built.

The site was appraised based on the value it might be as commercial property.  The sales price was $5 a sq ft bringing in about $6 million to the city.  The property will be purchased in three phases. Westland Development is owned by a partnership that includes Craig Mangano, Eric Shannon and Mike Shannon.

The project has been controversial on a number of fronts.  First the 2020 plan had called for the land to remain agricultural.  But for the majority on the council the fact that three corners of the important intersection were now developed for commercial use made the rezoning idea less controversial.

Secondly there was the issue of price tag.  Some argue that the land should be sold in a bidding process through a formal request for proposals. Instead, after getting the property appraised the buyer met the market price.  Critics suggest a bidding process might have fetched a better price.  But council member Link says he is satisfied with the price and understands that fellow council member had appeared sometime ago they “had a handshake deal and needed to honor that.”  A majority of the council had told Mangano they would sell him the property earlier this year informally.

Sale of the city owned property had been the talk of the development community for the past few years promoted as a way to both sell off the excess city property and stimulate more sales tax development in the city.

Developers who could have bid to buy the property had notice - one could argue that the council was considering a sale there.  Yet it was Mangano that persisted asking for an exclusive purchase arrangement and a period o negotiate a final deal.  All that happened earlier this year reported by the Valley Voice.  Cities can sell property on an exclusive basis if they choose as Visalia has done and is doing now downtown with two different projects.  Still the issue is controversial - even coming up during the last council campaign when candidates were asked if they would sell the land on a bidding or exclusive basis.  In this case the company’s home town credentials and the fact they met the market appraisal may have satisfied the majority of council members.  Mangano is an experienced developer.  He built the nearby Save Mart center on Akers and Walnut.

Under the terms of the agreement, approved by a majority of the Council and announced today, the developer will have six months to research the feasibility of the project, prepare architectural and site plans, identify tenants, and begin the process of applying for a General Plan amendment and appropriate zoning of the parcels.  The Planning Commission and the City Council will hold public hearings at that time.

“This is an important piece of land because of its strategic location at the entrance to our community,” noted City Manager Steve Salomon.  “The City Council has shown great concern for the aesthetic design of development at this key intersection, as they want the first impression presented by our city to be one of quality design and sound planning.”

Mangano said he “will not consider Costco” and the center will not include a grocery store.  It will instead be a community retail center that serves the Northwest neighborhoods of the city.  He indicated that it will not compete with Visalia’s regional commercial malls on Mooney Boulevard.  Mangano will be required to receive city approval on his architectural plans which consist of building materials, including color and pattern, roof shape and design, landscaping and signage.  The architect, Stan Canby, AIA, designed the neighboring Mission Oaks Plaza.

One possibility is that with the fall of the Kashian project out on West 198/Plaza that Westland will work to bring in a family fun park to the center.

Even with the sale of the property, the project must go through a zone change and general plan amendment process that will take some months to accomplish.  But Mangano can market this property in earnest in hopes a year from now as the new freeway is just opened up he will have something breaking ground.  The use a the center will depend in part how the property is zoned.  If it is zoned for regional retail, grocery stores won’t be allowed.  But in other commercial designations a grocery store may be allowed.

There is still one more controversy.  The city will be in the odd position of approving a zone change that will benefit itself.  The property is the old sewer farm that has been excess municipal inventory for decades but now stands to bring in a windfall $6.6 million if the city uses its powers to bless the deal.

Link, for one, says he hopes regional retail is concentrated on Mooney where he hopes the mall and Paynter will joint venture a mall perhaps double the size it is today.

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Mall Could Cross Mooney  

Visalia - Some people are thinking big when they discuss the possible joint venture between owners of the Visalia Mall - JP Realty - and David Paynter the developer of the vacant Sin City property across the street.

The Visalia city council tabled a discussion on a possible rezone of part of the Paynter property for 60 days in early December to allow the two developers to study a possible joint venture on the site.  “We met with JP Realty officials last March,” says CB Richard Ellis broker John Marshall who is helping Paynter market the property.  He says while talks have not made any breakthroughs, the decision by top city officials two weeks ago to travel to Salt Lake City Utah, where JP Realty is located, may have set in motion what could be the biggest commercial project the city has ever seen.

New council member Bob Link who traveled to Utah with mayor Don Landers and city manager Steve Salomon says it “was an excellent trip.”  Like us “JP wants to expand their mall but feels if they don’t do it someone else will.”

Link says JP officials said if there “are at least two major department stores that aren’t in Visalia they believe they could get to come here.”  In addition he says he was told that “Penney’s wants a larger store and different location” in the mall.  “This idea is a great opportunity for Visalia.”

While neither side is eager to reveal the gives and takes on the project, discussions include the possible location of one or two new department stores to Visalia - top candidate is Dillards who is just entering the California marketplace with two stores to date.  Robinsons/May or Macy’s are other possibilities JP is working on.

In addition, the talks include relocation of Sears from its present location to a Visalia Mall location where it could possible double its size.  Besides that the discussions include joining the mall over Mooney not just with a walkway but a mall corridor full of stores spanning the big boulevard.

That approach is seen in at least two other urban malls in the West including the Glendale Galleria in the southland.  There, a three level mall joined at the mid level with a corridor joining Macys on one side of a street and Nordstroms on the other.  The mall has five large anchor department stores and over 250 stores altogether - a huge draw regionally.

Of course, that is LA and Visalia is - well - a little bit smaller.

Still there are real possibilities here because the Visalia Mall wants to expand and has no where to go but up.  The trick is to get shoppers to use both sides of Mooney when they want to shop at the mall.  That would convince JP Realty there was incentive in jumping across Mooney because it would benefit both properties.  A possible scenario would be to site a department store on the Paynter property with a parking garage and another new department store on the Visalia Mall site with a new parking garage.  Like all mall projects - the developer makes their money on the increased values of the space leased out to smaller outlets who want to be in the hottest mall in town.

Increasing the chance to do this deal was the recent election that seemed to reinforce the long term city policy to promote infill development in town apparently with new shopping centers.  The downside - infill cost more money than developing on bare land.

City manager Steve Salomon says “the city has an interest in preserving what we have and the voters made it clear that that’s what we should be working on. Nevertheless Salomon says a realistic look at this possible project show that “it’s not going to be easy.”  There are plenty of constraints, two property owners separated by a state highway to name a just a couple of things.  Still, if it were to happen “we think everybody on Mooney Blvd. would be better off.”

Doubters that this idea will get off the ground say the place can’t sustain the rent needed to pay for the project and that the city’s redevelopment fund doesn’t have the horse power either to provide that kind of assistance to make it happen.

But if they did bring it off - a 4 anchor mall with over 100 plus stores and restaurants on the heart of Mooney Blvd. it “could be awesome” admits Gottschalks store manager Joe Pinto.  “I think the mall needs to go vertical,” he says.  Even though a new Dillards would compete against Gottschalks, it wouldn’t be a bad thing, he believes since more people would come to the mall.

If in 60 days the talks between JP Realty and Paynter have not gone far enough it will be Paynter’s call what to do next.  For him the meter is running since he has to make payments on what is already a $1 million investment with no return cash flow.  Paynter has applied to put a grocery store toward the eastern edge of his 15 acre property but pulled the request to rezone to the city when this joint venture idea surfaced again. It’s not just Paynter but property owners on Mooney who have sale agreements with Paynter to sell their properties - some of which are empty because tenants know they can’t stay for long.

One concern - while Visalia city officials and Paynter are eager for a deal, JP Realty has many malls across the West to manage and Visalia may or may not get its full attention.

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Wehmueller says the board addressed the issue and appears to favor the idea of appointing an interim “at the right time” that could carry the district through any transition period.  He says he isn’t sure when that time will come.
The board is reportedly considering some names already, however, people who are local and experienced.

Wehmueller says his first goal as board chair is “to bring the three new board members up to speed - especially on the state of various lawsuits” the district is facing.  The district has complaints from former employees and employees who have filed complaints alleging wrong doing by Gonzales.

Possible legal action is pending by three former principals who claim their performance evaluations were altered without them knowing.

Wehmueller was elected board chair and Milt Morrison was elected clerk this week as three new board members - Niessen Foster, Larry Jones and Robert Stephenson - took their seats.

The issue of Gonzales’ evaluation was back on the agenda this week.  But nothing was reported out of closed session.  However, the evaluation must be completed and in Gonzales’ file by the end of January, says Lindahl.

The matter of the two other administrators evaluations - Don Trigg and Georgia Renne - will go back to a subcommittee of the board made up of three members with at least one newly elected member who will serve, says Lindahl.  “They will take a new look at the proposed contracts,” he says.  The contracts have been criticized in the community as being over generous.  But others believe they are fair.

Lindahl and Bassett face a possible recall from a local citizens group. The group has until December 27 to turn in 8345 valid signatures.  If the recall took place it would appear on the March 2000 ballot.  Prospective opponents are already jockeying for a chance to run against the two.

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This past month the Historical Society was able to come to an agreement with the owner of the Gallery 198 art gallery to sell the property to the Historical Society for $91,000, says project manager Janine Chilcott.  “We will close the escrow on the gallery building in February,” says Janine who has been working on a museum for Three Rivers since 1994.  The museum will likely open in May or June she believes.  “We have over $100,000 worth of artifacts in storage ready for display and lots of people waiting to donate items, she says.

The museum is tied into a new Visitor Center for this Sequoia gateway town.  Tulare County Association of Governments have raised $552,000 in special transportation monies though CalTrans and the County itself has thrown in more than $100,000 for the project.

The latest news is that the County will maintain the Visitor Center although the property will be owned by the Historical Society, says Chilcott.  They will keep another small house on the property located on the eastside of the highway for a maintenance person who will live at the site.  The Visitor Center will have the town’s first public restrooms - no small comfort to travelers.  By June the new Visitor Center complex should be breaking ground, she predicts and opening in the Fall of next year.  Altogether, the project will cost $693,000.  Supporters hope the Visitor Center will attract folks who will use the bike trail along 198.

The Three Rivers Historical Society sent out a letter this week saying it was “very grateful for the donations that have been received to date for the purchase of the Gallery 198 to be used for our historical museum.  However, donations received are still falling short of the desired goal of $91,000 and we are hoping that our community will continue to show their support of our efforts by remembering this project before the end of the year.

All gifts and donations for the acquisition of the Gallery 198 will be deposited in the Museum Project Account at the Bank of the Sierra.  To reiterate, please keep in mind that all donations are tax deductible and should be made payable to the Three Rivers Historical Society, P.O. Box 162, Three Rivers, CA 93271.

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