COSTCO Polls Council Members

Visalia - Costco reps and their broker were in town earlier this week quietly huddling with Visalia city council members to find out first hand whether their proposition to site a new 150,000 sq. ft. warehouse store on Caldwell between Demaree and Chinowth had a chance to fly.

The big discounter wanted to know which way the wind blows.  “We will withdraw our application if there is strong consensus at the city,” says Jeff Brotman, chairman of the board of Costco, in a telephone interview.  “We want a different facility, but we can’t wait much longer to see if there is light at the end of all this.”

Costco has been working on a 14 acre site on Caldwell for about 7 months having been advised it might be the place where the could build a new store “laid out just like we wanted” sooner than in other locations.  But the property which has a specific plan on it is zoned commercial - not regional use.  The city had advised Costco to apply for a General Plan Amendment to allow them to locate there.

That set off some controversy since the 2020 General Plan is not altered too often without lots of attention and sometimes a real street brawl.   That happened last year when a developer sought to build a shopping center at Plaza and 198 - the issue ended up dominating the election and the project went down in flames.

But property owners at the Demaree/Caldwell site don’t know why there is all the fuss this time.  “The city told us this would be a good site for a power center and the surrounding neighbors know or should know there would be a 320,000 sq. ft. shopping center here,” says one of the property owners, Maxine Brock.  But now that its known that Costco wants to build a store on the site, a growing number of neighbors have organized a petition drive and several of them have contacted city council members to voice their displeasure.

“I’ve gotten quite a number of calls from neighbors, from people I don’t know, objecting to the Costco project,” says council member Bob Link.  “Costco would have a real struggle” at a series of public hearings that would need to take place, says Link.  He feels Costco doesn’t want all the controversy that the project is likely to cause.  “The 2020 plan calls for putting that kind of development on Mooney,” says Link.

That’s how council member Wendy Thomason sees it too.  “I met with Costco reps” and told them “I’d rather see them stay where they are or south of Packwood Creek on Mooney.”  Maybe there are “other opportunities” there.”
Council member Jesus Gamboa says “I’ve made my position at the public hearing pretty clear” that he would prefer to figure out how “to stay where they are” or as an alternative “go south of Packwood.”  Packwood Creek “has met all the thresholds to go south with new development,” says Gamboa.

Mayor Don Landers while saying he would not comment specifically, says he has indicated before “that it would be a stretch” to do a zone change on the Demaree/Caldwell property.  Council member Jim Harbottle could not be reached for comment.

So if Costco was looking for a consensus this week, there apparently is one.  The Washington based company has already withdrawn their application for a zone change but have indicated they might apply to the city for the project under a conditional use permit.  But first they want to get this  reading which they are now digesting.

Will they now flee to Tulare?  No, says chairman Jeff Brotman.  “We think Visalia is the place to serve the marketplace.”

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Property Owners Make Case For Caldwell

Visalia - Since 1993 some 14 property owners have been working together to clean up the S/E corner of Demaree/Caldwell.  “It’s really an eyesore now,” admits Maxine Brock, one of the property owners, “that’s why when the city approached us we were eager to listen to the ideas.”  The upshot, 6 years later is an approved specific plan for 28 acres at the site for a 312,500 sq. ft. shopping center.  “When Costco heard about the project and the fact that it was already to go, with city approvals, they put 14 acres into escrow,” says Brock.

Now controversy over the possible relocation of Costco and construction of a 150,000 sq. ft. warehouse and gas station on the site at the corner of Chinowth and Caldwell has spurned opposition from neighbors and closer scrutiny by city planning commissioners and council members.

At issue is the fact the specific plan does not allow uses above 125,000 sq. ft.  The project would require some sort of space approval to allow Costco to go in there.  “That shouldn’t be a big deal,” says property owners Don Buhl since the total square footage of the approved center - 312,000 sq. ft. maximum - would not change.  “We think all that is required is a minor text change” in the plan to allow the store to come in, says realtor Laura Walhiem of Zeeb Commercial who is representing the sellers.  Walhiem says the proposal of locating a commercial shopping center at the site was a long range plan to provide a Community Commercial Center in the 4 quadrants of the community that should have the effect of relieving traffic on Mooney.

She says debate over what is “regional” uses is cloudy and believes only malls fit that category - not power center tenants like Costco or Home Depot.  The proposed site is located across the street from Home Depot so it shouldn’t be such a stretch to approve a Costco as well, she believes.

Brock says property owners worked with the city for many years to come up with the Specific Plan spending $50,000 to bring it to fruition.  “Now we’re confused on what the city wants,” she says.  “We’re not regional but we’re not neighborhood commercial for a grocery store either?  We played by the rules, but now we get calls from neighbors who are objecting to a shopping center here.  Were they not told that a 312,000 sq. ft. shopping center was planned for the land next door?” she wonders.  She remembers city plans calling for residential uses around the center.  “We’re not angry or mad but we think the project is in the best interest of Visalia.”

Walhiem notes that Costco thinks it’s a good site and the city should be working hard to keep its number two sales tax generator happy.  “In a few weeks if Costco senses the city’s support, they will file a site plan application and conditional use permit asking the Planning Commission to approve a “Minor Amendment to the Specific Plan allowing the store to cover 48% of the entire center vs 40%” as is detailed in the plan now.  He says that “this should be a technical issue, not  political.”

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Mineral King - Sequoia superintendent Mike Tollefson has moved on this month becoming the superintendent at the great Smokey Mountains National Park.  But before he left he bought members of the Mineral King Preservation Society up to date on the Park Service’s work in the past few months to get the old mining district, road and cabins of Mineral King Valley listed in the National Register of Historic Places.

Tollefson wrote Ora Kay Peterson September 28th that the so-called Mineral King Road Cultural Landscape District was accepted as eligible by the National Register - a “very important procedural hurdle,” writes Tollefson.
Tollefson says that by law the properties to be included in the listing even though the have not been listed yet, will now be managed by the Park Service as if they are already registered.  Tollefson says Park Service people have been meeting to work on how the district will be managed.

The Mineral King property owners are hoping that the listing of their district will help preserve the cabins of Mineral King once the Parks Service General Management Plan is adopted in the next few years.

Park Service interpreter Bill Tweed will act as superintendent in Tollefson’s absence.  Mike was superintendent here for the past five years.

In other park news SCE is putting about 15 miles of over ground poles underground as it winds its way up to Giant Forest - an improvement in the view.  The Giant Forest Museum is taking shape this winter in the old Giant Forest market building.  Most of Giant Forest has been cleared of buildings but the museum will remain.  Work on the museum will go on in the winter and open next summer.

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TID To Start Canal Project Despite Court Ruling

Tulare County - What part of “no” does Tulare Irrigation District not understand?  Only days after a judge denied TID’s “urgent” request to take possession of property next to the intake canal so they could immediately begin to line the canal with concrete.  The irrigation district announced they will begin the lining anyway - Monday October 9th.  “We think the court’s ruling applied only to a small portion owned by Dr. Mitts,” says general manager of TID Gerald Hill.  “We will begin the lining project elsewhere where we have clear right of way,” says Hill.  But attorney for some 14 landowners along the canal east of Visalia says the irrigation district owns very little property along the canal on a fee title basis.  Instead, it has easements which TID believes gives it the right to line the canal while opposing attorney Don Mooney disagrees.  He says as soon as TID begins the work on any property affecting one of the land owners “we’ll be in court” to call for an injunction.  That may be the only way the complicated legal battle over the irrigation’s right to line the canal and take down over 200 mature oaks in the process can be sorted out.

Concerns over the project had boiled for the past year involving politicians, city councils, follow irrigation district on one side and the Maverick-like Tulare Irrigation District on the other.  The district wants to save water lost to the underground as it winds its way into the Tulare District.  Area agencies and property owners have offered to compensate TID for the loss of water but the two sides can’t seem to come to an agreement on a formula.  TID vows to build a $12 million project that may have barely cost them more than $3 million without a shovel full of cement being poured.

A reading of Superior Court Judge Paul Vortmann’s ruling can’t give comfort to TID that the next round in court will be much better than the last.  Vortmann said the court needed to examine the public interest of the project and not just TID’s economic interest.  He said the court needed to take into accord the effect on ground water of the project and the impact the “esthetic impacts resulting from destruction of oak trees in the project area.”

“These same concerns pertain to the question of whether the project is planned or located in a manner that will be compatible with the greatest public good and the least private injury.  The court must look to the public affected and not just to the Tulare Irrigation District and its water users,” said a court statement.

Further, the judge said he doubted the project could be completed this winter and ready for use by Spring 2001 given the fact that TID has not even talked to other property owners who have similar deeds as Dr. Mitts, like Larry Lyles across the canal.  However, this week TID will attempt to condemn another property as well, Mr. Hutchenson’s.
But TID’s Hill says that the purpose of trying to get some of the properties was to “go around some the trees and back yards” and that now the project will proceed on the right of way they do have possession of.  That will take the controversy to the next level as soon as next week.  Hill says he wasn’t sure where the construction would start the project along its 9.7 mile stretch.  But if they want to get answers before they sink more money into this effort they might just test the court sooner rather than later.

Meanwhile the case of TID’s eminent domain efforts to take Dr. Mitts interest on one piece of property TID wanted will move forward - but too slowly for the irrigation district to use the land for lining this winter.  One option for the water district - line what they can along the canal and leave what they can’t line in dirt.

The bigger issue will be when the court hears the issue of whether TID even has the right to line the canal an issue that won’t be heard until the irrigation district gives its contractor to the go ahead.  When the bulldozers move on one of the litigants property involved in the suit called Hutchenson et. all. Vs Tulare Irrigation District - we will know if this project will happen this winter or not.

In a related matter, the question often comes up if TID wants to line the canal to sell water to LA.
Is TID planning to sell water to LA?  “A project that comes with that much controversy attached to it would not be attractive to us,” says Metropolitan Water District representative Tim Quinn.

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Lindsay Hospital On Life Support

Lindsay - There are no patients in Lindsay District Hospital this week and there may never be any again.  That’s the bleak assessment of most people including Madelyn Burkhart chairman of the board of Lindsay District Hospital who leases the facility to Porterville’s Sierra View Hospital.  An electrical problem a few weeks ago forced the relocation of some 34 patients and all medical staff left at the 106 bed hospital to Sierra View - an electrical problem that has not been fixed yet.

The switch on a backup generator was out and the hospital had no alternative but to move many of their patients who are on life support themselves, to Sierra View.  The cost of fixing the problem could be too high to fix, says Sierra View sources.

“The bigger issue is how long we can go on losing $100,000 a month - over $1 million in the past year” on leasing the hospital says spokesperson for Sierra View Lucy Garcia.  She says the board will be meeting shortly on the issue but could pull the plug on the lease of the hospital.

From Lindsay’s point of view the two boards are negotiating, says Burkhart but would understand why Sierra View may not choose to continue any longer.

Lindsay had 52 acute care beds, and 53 extended care beds of which about half were sub acute patients - long term residents on ventilators, says Burkhart.  “We had done wonders for these patients, many of them had been in traffic accidents,” she says.  A number of them have recovered and left the hospital, she remembers.

To date Sierra View has no approval to reopen the Lindsay facility from the state and may not unless they fix the auxiliary power and perhaps do other things.

Burkhart says long term the building “could still be used for the good of the community for other medical uses like elder care.”  “We found out we could keep our sub acute license” so that portion of the service could be reinstated if Sierra View doesn’t want to carry on.

Other hospitals are unlikely to come in to help since they have problems of their own paying bills right now.  Kaweah Delta is losing money on its purchase of Exeter Memorial and Dinuba’s Alta hospital has been on the ropes for about a year.

Bill Sanders chair of the Board of Supervisors and a Lindsay resident says he isn’t surprised by the news remembering the hospital was having trouble as far back as the 1970s.  “They’ve done a valiant job hanging on,” he says, but it is “a sign of the times that small hospitals can’t make it” because of the low reimbursement offered by federal and insurance payers.

While the hospital is likely to remain closed the health clinic remains open at the site.  Sierra View leased the space in 1995.  The city owns the property.  In 1999 they closed the ER, one of the most expensive parts of the hospital to operate and moved it to Porterville.  Then they relocated OB/GYN to Sierra View and the County moved its clinic there as well.

All hospitals face a deadline of 2008 to upgrade for seismic safety - something that will surely shut the doors if the latest problems don’t.

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San Joaquin Valley - While Friant Water Users continue their bloody battle with brother valley water district, Westlands, over the westside district’s application to take San Joaquin River water, talks continue with Metropolitan Water District of Los Angeles to work some sort of water swap sooner rather than later.

Westlands, representing its 600 growers, has filed an application with a state agency to take about 30% of the San Joaquin River’s runoff, a flow that now goes largely to Friant Water users, irrigating districts on the eastside that represent some 15,000 mostly small farmers.

Looking to divide and conquer Westlands even lobbied one city on the eastside, Orange Cove who gets Friant water, to pull away from Friant and apply themselves under the same area of origin statue that Westlands is applying for.  “They even offered to help them fill out the papers,” says FWU general manager Dick Moss, referring to a discussion between a Westlands officials and Orange Cove mayor Victor Lopez.  Orange Cove was among the 24 public agencies who condemned Westlands actions including the City of Visalia now.

Last week Friant accused Westlands of violating the Brown Act in their discussion of the application never made public until August 11.

Moss believes the next step for the State Water Resources Control Board will be to decide if they will even accept the application, a matter the board may hold hearing on.  Even then it could be next summer before the agency rules on their application and years before they make a decision on its merits if they accept it.

Meanwhile Friant continues discussions with Metropolitan Water District to Los Angeles on a possible swap of Friant water for state water the big agency is entitled to.  Moss says the two agencies have a memo of understanding on how to carry out a study on how a water swap would: 1. answer the question of impacts on Friant ground water quality and; 2. the capability of the existing channels to move water in both directions, between the Friant Kern and State Water Project.  Those conveyances are few and far between, says Moss and there is question of the ability to move state water to Friant farmers when they need it, he says.

LA may help pay for expanding storage on Millerton to help increase water capacity for the Friant in return for some of that good quality water.  Expansion of Millerton will be studied this coming year as part of the Cal Fed process.
But in the short term MWD could exchange water that is sitting in Millerton right now, left over from the irrigation season, a move that would drain Millerton allowing it to be ready for the winter snow melt and flood water capturing season like they do at other eastside reservoirs.  Currently Millerton is about half full.  Then next spring MWD would “replace” the water with state water they get out of Oroville and elsewhere, says Moss.  In the past wet years Friant dam had to release flood control water out of the reservoir to make room for the expected surge of new flood waters.

It’s possible that the study could lead to the conclusion that MWD might need to help fund another cross valley canal.  One place an exchange could take place - the old lakebed that has both Friant water and state water along with Kings and Kaweah rights.

“We could do something on a demonstration project as soon as next year,” confirms MWD rep Tim Quinn.  Quinn says congress is expected to appropriate $20 million this year for Cal Fed and some of that will likely be used for study of storage on the San Joaquin River.

In other Friant news Moss says the Bureau and Friant “have moved closer” on language that would give contractors more control over the right to renew long term contracts after the 25 year period.  The two sides have been in discussion for years on the sore subject.

In addition Moss says a pilot program to do reorganization of the San Joaquin River has led to a move forward on doing the project - an $18 million restoration to be funded by monies Friant puts into a restoration fund since 1992 and “now may be some of that will come back to the area” instead of just in northern California.  A restoration plan has been in the works since 1997 when Friant and NRDC agreed to settle a lawsuit over the issue.  Habitat restoration would be first with the idea of re-establishing a fishery between Friant Dam and Merced River.  The project seeks to restore a full run chinook salmon population.

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October 4, 2000