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Some Builders Oppose Expansion Of Visalia’s Urban

Boundary Homebuilders Want More Land

Visalia - Some Visalia home builders are siding with the city’s planning staff against “premature” expansion of the city’s residential development boundary.  The issue that has divided the industry will come to the Visalia City Council and Planning Commission at a joint session August 21 at a 4 p.m. work session.

The 1991 adopted 2020 growth plan had set growth boundaries for new housing developments to be examined in approximately ten year intervals.  City staff claims some thresholds have been met to move to the next 2010 growth boundary bringing in an additional 9000 acres for new residential development.  But one key threshold has not been met.

The city currently uses about 200 to 300 acres of undeveloped land per year to satisfy the need for new subdivisions.  But staff says there is some 3,898 acres of undeveloped land in the city - over 6 square miles - and that includes 431 acres of land with nearly 1500 tentative lots.  The city issues building permits for 500 to 600 new homes a year.

Disagreeing with city staff and suggesting that all the thresholds outlined in the city’s 2020 plan to the next growth boundary have been met is Jim Robinson representing the Allen Group and consultant Randy Zeeb each have projects just outside the current boundary.  They say city staff agrees that 2 of the 3 thresholds for development have been met.  But the staff is misinterpreting a 30% flexibility factor built into the 2020 plan.  With 13,032 acres of residential land in the city now a 30% vacancy factor would be 3906 vacant acres.  Since staff says we have 3898 acres available now we’ve already reached the acreage threshold, they argue.  Staff’s arithmetic uses language outlined in the city’s General Plan that calculates at 130% of actual or projected developed property.  That math reaches a conclusion that the 30% vacancy factor has not been reached until there is under 3007 vacant acres within the development ring.

With the city reaching 100,000 population - over the population (98,700) threshold for the development “growth begins to proceed at an exponential rate,” argues Zeeb.  The addition on new lands for building will help keep Visalia home prices affordable, they argue.  This gives home buyers more “choice” says Zeeb.

But arguing against any expansion right now are builders Centex Homes and William Bogard each with substantial investment in new home subdivisions within the current 2020 growth boundary.  Centex Homes have recently invested in major new projects on the city’s norther tier and expansion of boundary “would stifle efforts to establish a viable new home market in the north,” writes Dave Hatch of Centex.  “If homes were selling at a faster pace the company’s position might be different,” continues Hatch.  Bogard writes that two large parcels he has invested in would be adversely affected by expansion of the boundary.

Staff is making the argument that if the boundary is breeched prematurely it would require an EIR.  Others disagree that an EIR would be required.  The County too has weighed in support of “compact urban boundaries.”

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Visalia - Not since last year has the issue of regional retail growth been up there on the radar screen for the Visalia City Council.  In 1999 Fresno developer Ed Kashian proposed a major shopping and entertainment center at Plaza and 198.  For much of the year the community discussed and debated the idea.  The plan appeared to freeze other development projects in Visalia (because of the uncertainty of tenants) while the leadership sorted out the direction for the city’s all important retail growth areas.

In the end the 99/198 complex miles out of the city’s core was not a popular idea and after last fall’s election the project went away.  The prime tenant for that center other than the theater was Costco Wholesale Co. who was looking for  a place to put a 150,000 sq. ft. store - about a third larger than they have on Mooney right now.
Now the issue of regional retail is back and so is Costco formally applying last month for zone change and general plan amendment to allow them to build a 150,000 sq. ft. store at Chinowth and Caldwell where a new shopping center is planned.

Assistant city manager Dianne Guzman says the council will take up the issue. “Do we let Costco decide where it wants to locate or is this a community decision” on the location of regional retail uses.  Instead of waiting months for Costco to process their application the community and the applicant may get an early reading on which direction the council might want to take - an approach the County takes on preliminary applications for general plan amendments.  Soloman says that whatever discussion comes out of the study session next week it won’t be a firm decision but it could provide a clue to the applicant if the expense and time are worth their while.

The plan remains a controversial decision since the relocation would move the town’s largest retailer off the biggest retail strip and would involve a change in the 2020 growth plan.

On Monday, August 21 at 4 p.m. the Council and the Planning Commission will discuss regional retail policy and the possible expansion of the city regional retail growth area south of Packwood Creek.  Growth boundaries will also be the subject of council review of residential land in the city at the same meeting. (See other story.)

Some believe the city has reached the trigger threshold outlined in the city’s 2020 growth plan to allow new retail development south of Packwood as an alternative site for Costco, Lowes and other major retailers if the option was clearly laid out.  At the moment there are no approvals in place that gives developers or retailers assurance that the barren ground just south of the hot retail area is available or not - creating uncertainty.

That leaves developers like Monterey’s Don Orosco who has two of the parcels south of Packwood on Mooney in escrow without a firm timetable of offer prospective users like Costco.  That uncertainty may give retailer the idea that approvals could drag out over a south of Packwood center.

 “They think they can get into the Caldwell site faster,” says Visalia city manager Steve Soloman who defends the application as Costco’s choice,” of the Chinowth/Caldwell site.  Still Soloman is sensitive to the fact that long time city policy has favored clustering of retail users like malls and big retailers on Mooney (or 198) because of the synergy it brings and the fear that loss of big retailers will leave big vacant shopping centers and affect the rest of Mooney.

Council members say Costco has assured them they have a tenant or multiple tenants to fill the site but no names have been mentioned.  It is unclear if a Costco rep will be attending the meeting at city hall.  Competing developers will all be there.

In the back of people’s minds is the fact that Costco always has the threat of building a store outside the city limits, in Tulare or some other plan that would deprive the city the retail dollars it brings.  That was an argument made during the debate on the Kashian center.

Don Orosco says his plan for two new shopping centers south of Packwood is moving forward having started the environmental study four months ago and a draft of the study to be submitted next month.  He says he hopes the city will give all approvals by the first of the year and a new Costco store could open perhaps 6 months later.

Whether that is faster or slower than a Costco site at Chinowth/Caldwell is unclear although that project is months away for approvals as well.  The center’s real estate agent Mike Mele has said that Costco selected the cite for a number of reasons including being close to 99, close to Tulare, on a major arterial and just the right layout for a new store.  He says while the center is approved for development up to 125,000 sq. ft.  It needs to add 25,000 sq. ft. to allow the store.  Still the issue remains - the center is not zoned for regional retail and would require an amendment to the city’s general plan.

Orosco, who has been working with Costco on the coast on a project, says if for whatever reason the big retailer doesn’t want to work with him Costco could choose another parcel south of Packwood that he doesn’t have in escrow.

Costco has done such relocations before in the valley including in Modesto where their old store remains empty and in Bakersfield where they seek to relocate to an area that requires annexation.

There are clearly two schools of thought.  One says let the free market decide and the other says follow the long term growth policies of the city and allow the free market to decide within those guidelines.   It was about 15 years ago that WalMart came to the city looking for a site south of Packwood Creek and the Visalia council said no.  The big retailer didn’t “leave town” because of the rebuff but built a store along east 198.

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At press time (Wed. Aug. 16) the Valley Voice learned the following initiatives were underway:
On the court front, 12 property owners readied a lawsuit to be filed Thursday that will claim TID has no right to line the canal despite whatever easement they have.  Attorney for the group of property owners, Don Mooney, says the filing will ask a judge to consider an injunction to halt the project.

Mooney is also waiting for a Sacramento court to consider an injunction on the appeal of the CEQA lawsuit over the project’s EIR.  The injunction would seek to delay the project while a court considers an appeal of an earlier ruling allowing TID to proceed on the $10 million project.

On the alternative front the city of Visalia and Kaweah Delta Water Conservation District are preparing a proposal to the TID board of directors that would offer a funding source to keep water imports at their current high 104,000 acre feet per year average.  TID has said because of the expense of federal water brought into the region through the Friant Kern Canal, they would drop the average importation of water to 80,000 acre feet a year if they lined the canal and 60,000 if they didn’t.  That threatens the region in the sense that less water will be percolating into the ground water from the earthen canal. The idea appears to be TID imports its full allotment but has another source to help pay the high costs and the city and KDWCD get the benefit of some of that water.

In theory the city which does not get Friant Kern Canal water now could be a beneficiary and as such Cal Water could be involved - the city’s franchisee for water service.  Cal Water, sources say is considering if the PUC would approve a slight rate bump so the cost of water that benefits the community here is paid for by the users.
Details of the proposal are not available now but should become public Monday.  This week the Visalia City Council met in closed session on the project. “We’re trying to be a constructive force,” says mayor Don Landers noting that negotiating in the press is the wrong way to try to solve the problem.

One angle that is apparently no longer on the table is the idea to reimburse TID from the Bureau of Reclamation monies available for environmental restoration.  That’s the fund all Friant contractors including TID pay into anyway.  In meetings with reps of both Congressmen Dooley and Radanovich and Senator Feinstein along with TID and POWER members the fact came out that any decision on funding might not come for a few years came out, says POWER leader Brian Blain.

Instead “local agencies” are making the offer, says Dennis Keller engineer from the Kaweah Delta Water Conservation District.  The offer would preclude the lining of the canal.

Confusing the issue in recent days was the bombshell that Westlands Water District filed an application to take San Joaquin River water for their own westside farms - a move that if successful could mean eastside contractors who get their water out of the same river - including Tulare Irrigation District - might not have water to save in a concrete lined canal!  It could be 5 to 8 years of “civil water wars”, says Keller before everyone would know who would win in this inner valley hand to hand combat.

Keller says Friant users who serve a far larger population including the city of Fresno, Orange Cove and over a million acres to 15,000 small farmers all the way down to Arvin can logically make the argument that the water is being put to beneficial use and has been for the past 50 years.

The staff of the State Water Resources Control Board must either accept or reject the application from Westlands in the next couple of months and Friant will try to torpedo that application now and not let the uncertainty of it drift on.  Westlands is claiming rights to water under a County of Origin statute.

Westlands like TID is reeling from the high cost and decreased supply of federal water in the state.
After Westlands made public the application two top staffers with the district resigned.  Sources says despite protests to the contrary they did not approve going after their brother water districts.  Just what role it will play in TID’s decision is unclear.

State Sen. Jim Costa, D-Fresno, who heads the Agriculture and Water Resources Committee, said “A civil war over water in the valley does no one any good, I represent Orange Cove east side and Mendota west side.  I don’t want to see ill will served on the citizens of either community.”

U.S. Rep. Cal Dooley, said he doesn’t think the sides will negotiate their differences soon, in part because Friant officials view Westlands’ action as a “breach of trust...I think temperatures are pretty high.”

How big a deal is federal canal water for Tulare County?  It makes up about 2/3 of our annual water supply.  Without it - we would dry up and blow away.

Lastly, on the opponents front the citizen POWER group will file a petition at the Visalia council meeting Monday, Aug. 21 having collected several thousand signatures against the lining of the canal and will compliment the council and other agencies like the County and KDWCD for all their efforts to head off this crisis. “We want to thank them for all their hard work,” says Blain.

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Visalia - Visalia is experiencing a warehouse building boom late this summer with construction underway of well over a million square feet of new industrial space on or near Plaza Drive in the Visalia Industrial Park.  Instead of just one builder doing the work, there are at least 4 available developers vying for the business.

On Plaza Drive, Fresno’s Diversified Development Group has broken ground on a new 122,000 sq. ft. warehouse that will house a warehouse distribution center for Real Fresno and a distribution/route center for Pepsi who will moving from Tulare.  Diversified’s VP Marcus Pignotti says a second 172,000 sq. ft. industrial building will follow with permitting coming in 6 weeks.  The Fresno company owns 20 acres where it plans three buildings south of Goshen Ave. on the east side of Plaza.  In addition they have an option on another 60 acres.  “We plan to just keep building,” says Pignotti who leases sites for companies in both Fresno and Visalia with company founder John Brelsford.  “There are some tenants who prefer a smaller community like Visalia - quality of life and all,” says Pignotti who says the presence of the UPS hub here is a key factor for many distributors as well.

UPS ground service can reach most of the state overnight helping draw national and regional firms who want to take advantage of this service.  These companies who sell and distribute parts, clothing, software, etc. are the prime prospect for these buildings now under construction by at least four developers here “on spec” - that is before a signed lease is in place. Companies in this category often have quick time lines to set up shop and find the ability of the developer to deliver the keys to these sprawling facilities in a matter of weeks very attractive.

The company that has taken spec building to an art form is the Allen Group who has the 300 acre Mid State 99 industrial complex just west of Frito Lay. “We expect to make a major announcement,” soon says Harvey May, the Allen Group’s industrial coordinator, another lease expected to fill hundreds of thousands of sq. ft. the company has built or is at the planning stage.

All together the company has built a 113,000 sq. ft. building at the corner of Goshen Ave. and Plaza, a second 18,000 sq. ft. truck hub for Condor Freight Lines and is in for plans on another 175,000 sq. ft.  May has plans for a Midstate building number 4 on 30 acres recently purchased from the Hayes family. They also have an option to buy another 170 acres from the family along Plaza.  Taken together Mid State 99 covers some 300 acres and could accommodate some 5 million sq. ft. when it is built out.

“There is very strong interest in the property,” says May, in part fueled by the Jo Ann store 650,000 sq. ft. distribution center now under construction north of the Sequoia Beverage on Plaza.  “We have interest from over one million sq. ft.” he says.

The Allen Group has a second industrial park in the Valley, a 700 acre park in Shafter.  Already the company has build and is leasing another 750,000 sq. ft. of industrial space in the Visalia Industrial Park built in the past few years.
A new player to the spec building game is Tulare developer Danny Freitas who has two warehouse buildings in the works at Doe and Shirk - over 65,000 sq. ft. under construction leased to Power Equipment Co. - the largest distributor of Briggs and Straton engines and parts in the county, says realtor Doug Burr who handled the lease.  Freitas has a second 60,000 sq. ft. warehouse planned adjacent to this one.

Freitas says he plans to continue smaller spec buildings in Visalia “one after another” although he hopes he can do it down the line in Tulare too.  Freitas credits the city of Visalia’s planning department and Dianne Guzman with assistance in getting tenants for the buildings.  “They are real easy to work with.”

Sacramento builder Buzz Oates is still building in the Visalia industrial park as well.  The hand full of competitors vying for business here makes it clear Visalia has found a niche it can count on.  In many cases  there, huge complexes don’t hire lots of people but there are notable exceptions.

Of course Jo Ann Stores is building a 650,000 sq. ft. warehouse north on Plaza that will mean 350 new jobs for Tulare County residents.

Helping to feed the development is city efforts in the past few years to lay sewer and water along Plaza and now heading east along Riggin.  Also some $4 million will be spent to building the Betty Drive linkup with highway 99 over the next few years to provide an alternative route for trucks coming into both Goshen and the Visalia industrial park.  The city and county received more than $2 million grant to fund the project.

Also federal grants to upgrade sewer capacity could pay off if some of the warehouse spaces are taken by manufacturers and food processors who require this key infrastructure be in place to locate here.

Mayor Don Landers says the city is working with a Bay Area manufacturer that could bring 50 jobs to Visalia.  The company is expected to make a decision soon.

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Visalia - On Friday, August 18 Visalia’s Westland Development Company will deliver a $100,000 non- refundable check to the city of Visalia - down payment on purchasing around 30 acres from the city for the new Village West shopping center.

The center is located at the southwest corner of Akers and 198.  General partner Craig Mangano says the project is at least two years in the making still has a way to go with the actual purchase of the land - dependent on all city approvals - not expected till next April.  The purchase will bring in around $5.5 million to the city coffers.
Westlands plans a 175,000 sq. ft. center with winding streets and walkways heavily landscaped with scattered buildings.  “It will have the feeling of a village or campus,” says the developer and not dissimilar to the layout of the Mission Oaks office complex across the freeway.

Mangano says they have letters of intent from most of the major tenants that include a 70 room, 2 or 3 story Hilton chain hotel (the chain operates Hampton Inn, Embassy Suites among others), a 14,000 sq. ft. drug store believed to be Walgreens at Akers and Cypress, a coffee drive thru run by Carol Vartainian, a 15,000 sq. ft. branded furniture store, an 8000 sq. ft. national steakhouse, a 6 acre family fun center (miniature golf/batting cages) on the northwest corner of the property, a 55,000 sq. ft. retailer in the middle, a gas station/mini mart on Cypress and Akers, and 24,000 sq. ft. of smaller shops.  “Most of the stores will aim to serve the northwest part of town,” says Mangano although “it will be a tourist friendly spot” at the entrance to Visalia where kids can visit the fun park, families can sleep at the hotel, eat at the more than one restaurant and shop,” he notes.

Mangano says he can’t name the names of major tenants but other sources say the 55,000 sq. ft. retailer is probably Orchard Supply.

Mangano says the next thing people will see, likely in September, is that the freeway contractor R.L. Brossemer who has been using the area for staging, will move the ditch from the middle of the property over toward the freeway alignment allowing the development of the project to move forward.  The city will own and landscape the ditch to riparian standards making it look more like a natural creek at the entrance to the city, rather than a barren ditch.

The land is the former city sewer farm once on the outskirts of town and still zoned ag in the city’s General Plan.  Over the next few months, Mangano must complete his EIR, file for General Plan amendment and a zone change on the property.  City officials have suggested that they can see developing this piece in part because of the heavy development of the remaining three corners of Akers and 198 that have taken place over the past few years.  Across the highway a new Fairfield Inn by Marriott is rising this month.

Just how the city will accommodate the needs of the Sierra Village folks, who want the next piece of property to the west of the center, isn’t clear.  Sierra Village wants to expand its campus on land adjacent the new center, but Cypress that will be extended on the south side of Village West next to the Cigna property will be stubbed into the Sierra Village land.  The retirement community wants the city to detour Cypress to the north of the campus and not bisect it but those talks are still on going.

Because of the complication of moving the ditch and accommodating Cypress, Mangano says his team that includes the architectural firm of Canby and Associates had to put together some 35 site plan layouts to accommodate everybody’s needs.

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by John Lindt

Visalia - What a wonderful life. That description fits the productive journey of 94-year-old Miss Annie Mitchell who died this week in a convalescent home in Visalia.  Mitchell held a mirror up for Tulare County literally teaching us who we are – offering us a vision of our identity. She did this by helping to found the local historical society and as an inspiration to others in part because she lived through our county’s formative decades. “She was born the year of the San Francisco earthquake in 1906,” says historian and friend Terry Ommen “Her birthday, July 10th was the same day Tulare County was organized as a county,” says Ommen.

Indeed Mitchell’s parents came to Tulare County during the Gold Rush just as the white man was settling Tulare County. She was born in Tailholt – now White River in southern Tulare County where her father was a merchant.
Annie’s pioneer roots come out in her descriptive writings. She penned seven local history books. She was a founding member of the Tulare County Historical Society in 1922 and then helped revive it in 1944 working to site a museum at Mooney’s Grove.

She taught students at Redwood High School before it was Redwood – teaching at all levels here since 1931 until she retired in 1964. As Dean of Girls, she helped women of Tulare County take their place as critical thinkers in their own right, former students say.

“Without Annie Mitchell there wouldn’t be any local history,” says Ommen. Fellow historian, the late Joe Doctor, described Mitchell as “his inspiration.”  Students of history have used her research and cite Mitchell’s interviewing settlers from children to grandparents.  She knew everybody.

Friend Alan George says “her knowledge and documentation of local history leaves a legacy” and her presentation of life and memories of the early days was always a pleasure with Mitchell’s sense of humor.”  George and others helped produce a “living biography” of Mitchell on video tape that is available through the Historical Society including lots of storytelling from Annie.

Tops in Alan George’s memory is the development by famed rose breeder, Ralph Moore, of a miniature rose in her name on the occasion of her 90th birthday.  Mitchell said event touched her deeply and that this “was one of the highlights of my life.”

Terry Ommen gave Annie a treat a few years ago when he climbed Mt. Whitney in Tulare County and we printed a picture of Terry holding a sign on the top of the state’s biggest peak that read “Hi Annie!”

The Mitchell name is carried on the Redwood library, having been dedicated in 1989.  She helped found the Tulare County History Room at the main library in Visalia where much of her decades of writings, research and an incredible photo selection can be found alongside the works of other local historians including Exeter’s Joe Doctor.  The historical publication Los Tulares continues the tradition of periodically revisiting local history penned by people who learned through Annie Mitchell.

At the dedication of the Annie Mitchell Library, fellow historian Harold Schutt quipped that Mitchell “has forgotten more Tulare County history than we’ll ever know.”

Supervisor Bill Maze is a big fan of Annie Mitchell noting how she “shared her knowledge.  When Annie Mitchell spoke, people sat up and listened.”

For this reporter, Annie Mitchell was a mentor who shared her extensive research files with me and highlighted the roots of Tulare County that if you have an observant eye tell the story of the way it was and still is today, its Southern sympathies, its economy based on irrigation technology and our connection to Sierra and Sequoia Park founded only a few years before Mitchell was born.

In the history room at the library you can find the letters of George Steward, the then editor of the Times Delta who pushed for the ongoing of Sequoia Park.

Mitchell was living proof that we - Tulare County - is unique, has a face and aren’t just another Central Valley wide spot in the road.

If you want a treat - visit the Annie Mitchell History Room open each afternoon Monday through Thursday at the Tulare County Library.  Of course you can find her books in the general library section too.  Some of her well known titles include “Land of the Tules” and “The Way It Was - The Colorful History of Tulare County.”

In the end Annie would have rather been in her cozy little house on Watson St. surrounded by her research, books and garden and connected to her friends with by the telephone.  Instead she spent her last few years bed ridden and in recent months friends say she was mostly uncomfortable.  So, it’s with regret we see Annie Mitchell pass from the local scene - our living link to who we are - but it’s time for her to go.

There are other landmarks out there that are the result of Annie Mitchell’s hard work alongside plenty of other good people.  The Tulare County Historical Society has set out some 25 permanent markers to identify “sites to see” in Tulare County - the name of one of Annie’s books.

Mitchell’s colorful style is evidenced in this description of the early days of the Butterfield Stage that connected Los Angeles to the Bay Area through Tulare County.  There were six Butterfield stations in Tulare County but it was strictly buyer beware.  “Very little comfort was provided for passengers, who were advised to bring a rifle, a revolver, ammunition and a sheathed knife.  The fare was $200 and the passenger provided his own food.  The mail had to get through on time, and the drivers’ slogan, ‘Gallop, Gulp, and Go’ was extremely realistic.”

Annie never married and has only one living relative - a god-daughter, Dorothy Grisco of Springville.  Her funeral is Sunday, August 20 at Hadley Funeral Chapel in Visalia at 2 p.m.  With so many admirers of this incredible lady - better arrive early.

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The above stories are the property of The Valley Voice Newspaper and may not be reprinted without explicit permission in writing from the publisher.