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For a while in 1998 the old K-Mart center was vacant except for Albertsons when the big discounter pulled out of town.  They reopened in Fall 1999 as the new freeway project was nearly half complete.

Like all major chains, Albertsons wants a modern 50,000 sq. ft. store to replace their 30,000 sq ft outlet.  The  store will remain open until they open next door in a year or so by the time the 198 freeway and overpasses are complete.

Uhlmann says they may demolish the old Albertsons or remodel it for a new tenant as they did with K-Mart.  Likewise at the old Title company building may be removed, although no decision has been made. Zeeb Commercial Real Estate is marketing the pads at the center.

Albertsons says they believe Visalia is a one-grocery-store town.  They had sought the Walnut/Mooney location- the old Sin City, but this plan was shot down by the Visalia City Council.  That same site is now the number one choice for the new Ralphs says their head of real estate. (See other story) Albertsons bought up Lucky’s in the past 6 months and now all the stores like Tulare are Albertsons.  Albertsons is the number two grocery chain in the nation.  They have some 2,400 stores in 38 states.

Albertsons will be getting a long-term ground lease at the new Visalia store.  Then Albertsons will be the newest grocery in town since Save Mart built two new stores in the past decade.

Uhlmann says the new store “is bringing more shoppers from out of town since K-Mart closed in surrounding towns -Hanford and Porterville.  “That brings more loyal K-Mart shoppers to Visalia,” he says. 

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Visalia - Ralphs Grocery Stores want to open outlets in both Tulare and Visalia says their real estate manager Paul Loubet.  “Our sales projections show we could support a store in each town,” says Loubet. “The recommendation is going to our real estate committee next month,” he says.  Ralphs has been in the expansion mode since it bought a number of Albertsons stores last year and acquired the properties owned by Smiths including locations in Fresno and Bakersfield.  The LA based company has been searching for sites in both the Central Valley and Northern California since, he says.

“We would build our prototype 58,000 sq. ft. stores in both towns although the Tulare store is likely to be a Foods Co. warehouse store and Visalia - with a little higher income level would be a Ralphs, he says. He says the preferred location for the new Ralphs in Visalia is Walnut and Mooney - the old Sin City location.  That site has been shot down in the past by the city council.”  We think there are other good sites in Visalia,” he says.
Loubet says the new Ralphs stores have a pharmacy, a bank and sell general merchandise along with food.

“We even sell TVs,” he says.  Loubet says the new store in Visalia and Tulare would likely open in 2001.  “We will negotiate  with property owners “after the plan by the real estate committees has been approved. Besides Tulare County, he says they are studying Hanford as well.

Loubet says the largest volume stores in each town are the warehouse stores.  Sources say real estate developers who work with Ralphs have a number of properties under contract.  In Visalia, the corner of Houston and Demaree is under contract, Court and Caldwell is another.  The same developer has the corner of Hillman and Prosperity behind the mini mart in escrow as well.  That would be the  second such warehouse grocery outlet in Tulare.

Ralphs is based in southern California with some 400 plus locations.  It is the number one retailer there.  Owned now by Kroger which acquired its parent company, Fred Meyer in 1999, the parent company is the number one supermarket chain in the U.S.  In southern California, Ralphs runs Food 4 Less stores but an agreement keeps them from using that name north of the Tehachapis.

Ralphs has 30,000 employees and is a union shop.

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Visalia - For almost a year a promising alternative to lining a 10-mile stretch of canal with concrete by Tulare irrigation district (TID) has been under active consideration. Now an application to a federal agency to approve the funding of the plan has been pulled just last week -in part because TID doesn’t believe the word of the federal government. "I think the Bureau of Reclamation has shown they have not honored their contracts" say Jerry Hill, general manger of TID.

Described by supporters as the environmental alternative -"win-win situation" - the alternative to lining the canal was to set up a repayment mechanism to Tulare Irrigation District. They lose about 10% of their federal water allotment in seepage transporting it from near Ivanhoe -off the Friant Kern Canal -into the Tulare area in a earthen ditch. The alternative was to set up an environmental restoration project along the route that qualifies for Bureau of Reclamation monies - monies that Central Valley Project contractors like TID pay into anyway. "We pay $1 million a year into the environmental fund" say Hill." All we wanted was about $300,000 of that to come back.”

For months Kaweah Delta Water Conservation District and property owners along the canal route had been meeting with TID who was supportive of this alternative even as they pursued their other plan -lining the canal with$10 million worth of concrete. But according to KDWCD manger Bruce George -it wasn’t until December as the application was about to be presented to the Bureau that TID " came up with these new requirements" including asking the Kaweah board to pay the cost of the annual payment if the federal government fails to. In addition, they asked them to secure a $5 million bond if they, the KDWCD failed to pay the annual payment. About the bond says George, “I realized how weird it was to ask an insurance company to pay if the government didn’t honor their word" George said last week the Kaweah Delta board decided it couldn’t meet TID's request to guarantee the payment.

Hill explained that while the Feds may agree to the project today, “it takes an appropriation by Congress each year to fund their alternative each year meaning their payment is not really guaranteed.”

Why not go with the alternative and line the canal later if it doesn’t work? Hill explains that the $10 million construction cost must be amortized over the life of the contract -25 years in order to pencil out. Waiting to line the canal 10 years later would mean the water district might come up short.

But both property owner and environmentalist, and indeed the City of Visalia have complained that the quality of life and drinking water will come up short if the canal lining is allowed. Property owner Dr. Tom Mitts and the City of Visalia have an active lawsuit against the canal-lining project forcing TID to do a new EIR - Now under way the revised EIR was prompted by an order from a Sacramento judge who found the last EIR lacking. Hill expects a final EIR on the canal lining to be completed in early February and presented at a TID board meeting. Then, within a month or so the judge will review the new document and rule whether it meets the objections he found last year.
Hill says TID and the City of Visalia “have been holding regular meetings" to see if they can work out their differences. If things go right for TID they would be under construction next fall after the irrigation season and the canal lining would be complete within a year he believes.

But Tom Mitts isn’t ready to give up on his battle saying he has riparian water rights on his property- and that the canal was originally a natural stream. In addition he says he hopes the City of Visalia doesn’t give in on the issue. He says the natural flow of river water through the Kaweah Delta east of town "is what makes Visalia a beautiful and healthy place" that's why it has all the trees, compare that to Tulare". Environmentalists’ point to the fact that the Kaweah delta has a natural flow of water into the ground that nurtures the Valley oaks and wildlife that includes endangered species. A number will die  because the natural seepage along the canal will be lost. The canal will not just carry CVP water but Kaweah river water that TID has a water right to.

Mitts believes TID by their own study will over pay for water figuring the cost of the $10 million they must pay to line the canal and that the board is doing a disservice to it’s members by making this investment.  He says their own EIR will report that water levels in the Kaweah delta will go down as a result of the lining.  Sinking the water in the underground aquifer “is the best place to store it” and sinking it east of Tulare helps TID as well, he believes.

On the issue of uncertainty over the intention of the federal government Hill remembers his district had a 40-year contract for a fixed price that they broke in 1986 increasing the price and restrictions on the water. Also in the 90s the price of water was raised and now floats and environmental fees kicked in.

 "About 50% of the cost of water is environmental fees," says Hill with restoration going exclusively to the (Sacramento) Delta. This plan would have kept some of that here.
Water prices rose some 10 fold in the past decade and there is every indication the price will continue to go up.  “We don’t know if we can continue to afford this water.” The district supplies about half the water farmers use in the TID district- the other half-coming from ground water, says Hill.

Despite his own frustration with having tried to craft this alternative deal for months, only to have it crash, KDWCD engineer Keller understands the consternation with Dept. of Interior. "They are very confrontational in our long-term contract negotiations,” says Keller “All you hear is no -no" to water district requests to work with them on the higher cost and other water issues.” “The scary thing is that they are saying there may be no guarantee on long-term water contracts,” says Keller. He says that uncertainty is already hurting real estate deals that depend on long term water contracts. “That’s an issue that is really at impasse," says Keller, who represents a number of Central Valley water districts.

While Interior secretary Bruce Babbitt visited the San Joaquin River in December and Kern County's Arvin Edison in January to boost co-operative joint efforts-his staff is openly hostile says Keller. “Lack of long term contracts is the biggest problem I’ve seen as water engineer for the past 30 years."

Indeed Bruce Babbitt could have, and still could come to Tulare County to highlight a 10 mile avian corridor made possible by property owners allowing a 50ft easement along the route- the plan that was ready to submit to his agency until last week. Conservationists seek to connect wildlife areas to allow species to thrive. Such a connected corridor is what is being planned by the Four Creek Land Trust.

Hill says he would still go along with the alternative if some kind of secure trust would be set up by the Bureau that would insure their payment over 25 years but he sees that as unlikely.

The decision not to pursue this environmental alternative comes as the Central Valley faces a likely drought year, the first dry year in five. This weeks' wet pattern is of some comfort but the lack of water in the bucket is disappointing says Bruce George. Dennis Keller says orange growers are reporting some drop on their navels because of lack of moisture in the ground.  So called “puff” pulls moisture back out of fruit to help the tree hurting the quality of the fruit. Dry land wheat growers hoping the current storm pattern is enough to save the crop. Cattle ranchers are applying for funds to buy feed because there is little grass on the foothill range say UC Farm advisor Jim Sullins, "It’s critically dry up there."

The decision to back off this alternative puts talks between the City of Visalia and TID in the spotlight. Sources close to the negotiations say they are hoping even though the lining may go forward that there still might be some sort of a win-win situation.” I can tell you that's what we are aiming for” say city engineer John Dutton.

If Visalia is close to accepting a deal with TID you couldn’t tell by last months vote by the city council - five to zero to oppose the new TID Environmental Impact Report.
Congressman Cal Dooley says, he believes that there ought to be some mechanism-some compromise that TID should accept that would give them a “significant degree of confidence” that they would be funded each year under the alternative plan. “I hope this idea is not dead. I’ll do what I can to work something out,” he says. “Lining a canal in the Kaweah delta would be a bad precedent,” says Dooley. If everybody lines their canal that would be as significant impact on our underground aquifer in the area,” he says.

The city's position  is made clear by their December 15 letter to TID- their response to the revised EIR, "The city encourages the District to pursue  a non-lining option," says the letter and argues 1. lining the canal is too expensive "the interest on $10million .....is $500,000 per year"  2.the lining does have significant impacts on groundwater 3. the project could help pull more water out of the Kaweah Delta given Terminus dam will soon be enlarged and the total volume of water leaving the area could increase. Intriguingly, they highlight a compromise solution lining about half the canal and leave the rest earthen. Leaving the upper portion for example in the heart of the Delta would spare the oak trees and endangered species would be unaffected. The letter doesn’t say but the lawsuit with Dr. Mitts is no longer an issue.

The letter points to a real concern  everyone in Kaweah area has -that due to the higher price of CVP water that the irrigation district will take "substantially less" over the years -meaning less imported water into our area and less groundwater recharged. 

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Sequoia National Park - The non-profit, "Save the Redwoods League" has obtained a two-year option on the largest privately--owned stand of Giant Sequoias the 1540-acre Dillonwood grove at the southern edge of Sequoia National Park. “The League is looking to buy the acreage for $10 million to donate it to Sequoia National Park,” says Kate Anderton, executive director of the League. “This multi-age species forest would have a high value in the timber market,” says Anderton who says the owners' brother and sister Dave Reed and Susan Mathews seek to sell it to someone who will protect the resources, preferring the land become public property.

Located at the head waters of the North Fork Tule River the Dillonwood Grove is a part of the Garfield Grove of Sequoias, says Anderton, not far from South Fork campground. The grove is one of five of the largest groves of big trees in existence.

“In addition to 159 monarch trees the truly ancient ones Dillonwood contains a healthy multi-age second growth Giant Sequoia forest that is unusually diverse,” says local conservationist Harold Wood.

The forest is unique in that unlike most of Sequoias Park, at this rugged private stand fire has not been suppressed and the timber cutting has allowed a more diverse range of Sequoias not just the old growth.

“Dillonwood’s second-growth Sequoia forest will be some of the only multi-age Sequoia in the National Park. Fire suppression since the turn of the century has impaired the regeneration of Giant Sequoia. Without the forest openings and specific conditions created by fire, Giant Sequoia seedlings have not competed successfully with white woods,” says the League.

Anderton says, “We’ve talked to Senator Dianne Feinstein who has agreed on the Senate side to sponsor legislation that would authorize $5 million in Federal funding to match $ 5 million private and state donations to raise the $10 million. “We’re looking for  congressional support like from Congressman Bill Thomas” whose district the grove is in. Congress would need to approve an amendment to the boundaries of Sequoia National Park. The rugged site is accessed by Jack Flat Rd. near the Balch Park turnoff north of Springville. An old Forest service road provides access to the acreage which ranges up to 5,000 ft near 7,000 ft. and is fenced off now. Anderton says the Dillonwood has a number of natural artifacts including a 19 century sawmill, a high elevation Indian encampment and 1800 year old archaeological site.

Dillonwood is populated by mountain lion, California spotted owl, pileated woodpeckers, and goshawk. It is suitable habitat for the Pacific fisher and the wolverine. California Condors were seen as recently as the 1960's in the sweeping valley of Dillonwood at the foot of Moses Mountain.

Poaching bear hunters frequent the remote area with coon dogs to harvest bear gall bladders for the foreign aphrodisiac market. The sellers, who have worked actively to eliminate this practice, wish to have Dillonwood included in the National Park so that the wildlife and trees are permanently protected.

National Park Service Officials are excited about the project as well with the Dillonwood project in its General Management Plan EIR to allow analysis of alternative uses for the land. “We think there are lots of recreational opportunities as well as research uses that might happen here” says Anderton including possible use by UC Merced. Other uses include trail improvement from the North Fork of the Tule into Sequoia Park. There is a possibility of a small commercial tent cabin recreational facility served by van to limit the influence of automobiles.

Anderton says, even small private donations are important since it shows public officials the extent of local supporters to save this grove.” While the League is more active with the coast Redwoods, they have helped in adding land near Mineral King.

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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. 

January 19, 2000