City
Plans To Develop Scenic Corridor
Auto Mall Options Studied
Visalia - Visalia's leaders sat at the table this week viewing alternative plans for the city's western entrance from Highway 99 - a gateway that has had a rural character pretty much forever. A Visalia community group dressed it up with plantings of hundreds of oak trees in the 1920s to line the road into town from Highway 99.
But in 2002 - this group has a different vision for the famous entrance called Visalia's Scenic Corridor and it doesn't include agriculture.
Rather, it assumes development and annexations while it sets aside "open space" in what planners hope will be an "acceptable balance" of green and concrete.
Told by a consultant that the price tag for the vision could run in the millions, the group struggled with how and where to put urban type uses - subdivisions, office and retail complexes - without tearing up the city's highly regarded 2020 growth plan and concentric growth principles.
Long off limits to development largely because about half of its 2000 acres is in the county jurisdiction, the issue of how to plan for the long range future of this corridor has been on the back burner for decades in part because the issues are so tough.
But with the completion of the West 198 freeway project and renewed interest by some Visalia car dealers for a freeway auto mall area - a new look at West 198 appeared to be in order by another generation of planning commissioners and city council. Some months ago the city hired a consultant to come up with alternative visions for the area holding two workshops for the public.
Meanwhile, car dealers played their cards appealing to the county for a site outside the city limits. This forced the city to respond almost a year after they had approached the council to allow them sites with freeway exposure.
Getting the city's attention in recent weeks, car dealers have now filed an application with the county in a request to rezone the west side of 99 at 198 outside the Visalia city limits.
For our city leaders it was the potential loss of millions of sales tax dollars that was pressing them to come to a conclusion in what most would agree was a "hurry-up offense" put forward by city management, meant to get some sort of decision by council in place before the February 5 county supervisors hearing date.
"We've danced around this issue too long," says council member Don Landers. Now he believes it's time to designate a site.
So this week a joint meeting of the Planning Commission and Visalia City Council suggested strong support to develop Visalia's western entrance. "Ag is dying out there," believes council member Wendy Rudy "it's not functional," agreed Don Landers despite the fact there are hundreds of acres of orchards in production in the corridor that runs from Akers west to Highway 99.
Instead of farming the emphasis is expected to be on "open space" primarily along the freeway and creeks and ditches that course through the "scenic corridor" entrance to Visalia along West 198.
A study commissioned by the city last year brought three options to the table this week and consensus built behind option two that included an open space corridor along the freeway and commercial development on all four corners of Shirk and 198 with residential housing both to the north and south of the freeway.
The city group liked this framework but had strong reservations about the details of the location and type of development that would be appropriate however, based on the fact the existing general plan of the city has plenty of room yet for all uses all within the city. That was a key insight consultant Bruce Race shared with the group noting that if the city opened this new 2000 acre area for development investment in some other parts of town would be hurt.
Consensus was that there should be only a small amount of business office space, limited residential acreage and no commercial big box users in order to protect the areas already being developed in town for those purposes.
That would leave little use other than an auto mall for the major intersections (Shirk/Plaza) despite the fact they are considered "prime" the consultant told the city.
"We just annexed almost 700 acres for new residential development on the north side of town and just agreed to expand our urban boundaries to add more housing in the next few years," notes Don Landers.
All council members agreed that they didn't want more big box commercial sites on West 198 to protect Mooney Blvd. Regarding office development most agreed "there's office locations we can't fill right now." With this agreement, big box commercial and office uses out, and little residential, what kind of development does the city envision for this area?
That's very much up in the air. The only pressing issue is for auto mall sales space of 60 to 100 acres somewhere along the corridor. That issue is time sensitive because the county has scheduled a February 5 hearing on an application by consultant Bob Dowds representing two Visalia car dealers for a 150 acre site across 99 outside the Visalia city limit. At that time the county is expected to approve a launching of the general plan amendment for the site. Both the City of Visalia and American Farmland Trust are expected to vehemently object.
Grasping for a compromise Landers suggests "Instead of losing them" lets look at promoting an auto mall site mostly within the city limits just west of the Westland Development project around Roeben.
Landers believes some kind of land swap would allow a 70 acre auto mall area (see map) along West 198 between Akers and Roeben on the south side of 198.
Landers says he hopes offering this site would satisfy the auto dealers. An Akers/198 auto mall was once considered by the city years ago but rejected for an east 198 site.
"We don't want to repeat the mistake of the past," says Bob Link limiting the size of an auto mall in the future.
"I'm getting mixed messages from the auto dealers," admits Link - they want freeway visibility and good access, "but price is an issue."
Link says the best the city can do is offer a couple of options to the dealers. He says he favors offering the site suggested by Landers, and the northeast corner of Shirk and 198 - the only corner of intersection within the city - and a Plaza Ave. site up toward Rd. 68 - part in the county.
Landers says the plan he liked postpones development of most of the scenic corridor until later while accommodating the needs of the car dealers in a timely way. "They could be pulling permits within 6 months," asserts Landers.
"We can't afford to lose the dealers," says Landers. "In one year the city of Sacramento lost an annual $5 million in tax revenue when dealers left the city for Roseville," he says.
Link says he isn't so sure this site will work considering it requires piecing together different land owners and auto dealers will need to agree to the price. The Westland property was priced at $5 ft. - more than dealers want to pay, says Link.
Consultant Bob Dowds, who advises the car dealers Frank Surroz and Tim Razzari, suggests the Landers' proposed site "is substandard" when compared to a Highway 99/198 site, but admits that none of the Highway 198 sites the city controls would be as good as 198/99. "That's where the auto mall consultants say you want to be."
But what are dealers options? Going to the county would be a longer process - and an uncertain one. The matter is likely to be contested in court by farm interests or perhaps the city itself who will argue that urban businesses belong within cities.
One school of thought was to split the study for long range development of the scenic corridor and plans to site an auto mall into two. But assistant city manager Dianne Guzman says the plan for now is to keep them together.
On January 14 the planning commission will adopt wording of some direction to the staff to begin the process of a plan for development of West 198 expected to include options for an auto mall site and some development zoning along the corridor and a plan for how to pay for the open space everyone appears to want to keep.
A public hearing will be held Jan. 25 and a joint city council/planning commission meeting will be held on the 29th.
Consultant Bruce Race had noted that a city parks development fee already in place could help offset some of that cost but still leave the area millions short to acquire the land for open space. Still the city has just begun to look at how it can design a scenic corridor into the city that has the "travel experience" people feel comfortable with - the right balance, suggests Guzman.
For some that balance was to leave it in ag for all these years. With plans to bring this land into the city the council and planning commission appear to agree that ag will be out but have no plan they can agree on yet for just what kind and how much development ought to take its place.
Consultants hired by the city warned that opening the 2000 acre development could "shift development" from other parts of town - an inevitable consequence from breaking with the current general plan. Figuring a course of least damage to the precepts of that plan, former mayor Landers says he hopes the idea of siting an auto mall just west of Akers will allow the effort to develop the rest of the corridor for now "to go the way of the 1995 plan" - that is to let the whole matter languish.
Indeed, without the pressure of an auto sales rezone, there is no urgent need to develop an area that the city council says will hurt other parts of town and an area where no one can seem to come up with a suitable land use proposal. If an auto mall is off the table - what's the rush?
Some fear a long drawn out war between the city and county over this issue causing all sorts of repercussions in their relationship. Even if a majority agree on the Board of Supervisors to allow the general plan change to move forward there are voices on the board who say ag land should not be developed outside the urban boundary - long time farmland protection advocates like Jim Maples who may yet persuade his colleagues that despite their budget troubles, this is not good policy. Others will argue that this is the right site but ought to be in the city. That's Planning Commissioner Jim Armstrong's view that the city should proceed to annex the land. Its not clear that the County LAFCO agency would approve that. Currently the City of Visalia doesn't even have a voting member on that board with the retirement of Jim Harbottle. In fact, the city worries that with a battle brewing over the 198/99 proposal all annexation requests could be delayed, put the idea of development in much of the 198 corridor in doubt until the auto mall controversy is solved.
What about just going with a tax sharing arrangement with the county? "How would you feel sharing your paycheck with me?" asks Don Landers. "We have the responsibility of providing the services within the city boundary," he notes.
Supervisor Bill Maze says he will be meeting with city manager Steve Salomon and some council members "very shortly" to broach the idea of some tax sharing agreements to avoid a long battle. "We're working on some numbers" and says he expects to present them to the city in a matter of days.
Siding with Landers on the development issue is mayor Jesus Gamboa who was the only council member preferring an option offered by the consultant to largely not develop the corridor, leave some land in ag and provide lots of open space. The consultants delivered a high price tag for this option but Gamboa pointed out that leaving land under the Williamson Act - in agriculture - delayed any need to buy land to "protect it" since it can't be developed under the agreement for at least 10 years anyway.
Also noteworthy was council member Wendy Rudy's plea to keep some zoning in the corridor, if the plan moves forward, for a college. Planning Commissioner Victor Perez says he likes the idea of continuous greenstrip - "a forest" lining the road coming into town. Phil Cox said he thought the commercial uses in the corridor could be acceptable with the proper setback.
American Farmland Trust director Greg Kirkpatrick says "the County proposal is driving the process. We would not be here discussing this if the car dealers were not playing the county and city off each other."
Kirkpatrick has harsh words for the city's decision to move forward on urbanization of the corridor saying it "should be a wake up call that the city council is selling the community's vision down the river."
Regarding the County consideration of the general plan amendment to allow urban uses on the west side of 99 Kirkpatrick says the "it is clear this prime agricultural land and a rezoning would violate the county Rural Valley Lands Plan - essentially changing 30 years of policy."
Farm Bureau is expected to weigh in again their proposal as well.
County supervisor Connie Conway says the issue will come down to private property rights vs preservation. "The farmer wants to develop it," she says. Conway says "many other communities develop their part of the 99 corridor and it seems like the right place for this." Conway says while not ready to approve the idea she is willing to let it go forward allowing the processing of the general plan amendment proposed by Mr. Dowds and Visalia car dealers. "That way everybody can have their say so.
Cutler Lawsuit
County Claims It Does Not Have To Deliver Drinkable Water
Cutler - Cutler citrus packer Tokkie Elliott was approached back in 1988 by then county planner Rita Hill with an idea that seemed like it made sense. The town of Cutler is one of the poorest in the county - and in the state, per capita. What it needed was jobs. The way to get jobs into Cutler was to attract companies to town. The idea was set up a small industrial park. Successful farmer and banker Tokkie Elliott was just the guy to do it.
Elliott wanted to build a box manufacturing plant nearby and others he knew had interest in food processing - a natural for the area since Cutler-Orosi is in the heart of this diverse ag county. Elliott found 37 acres on Ave. 404 just east of town along the railroad tracks that would work - a vineyard he could buy and lay out a nice little industrial park for the area offering 6 or 7 parcels.
But it needed city services including sewer, a road built and of course water.
No problem the county figured out. They got a $1,153,000 loan from the State of California Department of Commerce targeted just at this kind of situation - providing money for infrastructure to rural areas to provide "a draw" for economic development.
By 1989 the state funds were approved and grants were put in place for the Cutler Public Utilities District to extend services to this new industrial park with sewer and water. Money to pay for a road into the project were approved.
By June 1991 Cutler Public Utilities District said they would serve the area as long as the Redevelopment Agency dug a well to provide water that could hook up to the Cutler system helping the entire community with higher capacity and more even water flow they figured. Elliott donated the land to the County to site the well, part of an agreement that divided up the cost and benefits of the entire project between Elliott's company - Kaweah Container - and the rest to community-wide benefits that all these improvements would provide. A little under half the original $1.1 million that was ascribed to Elliott's Cutler Properties to be paid back over a 25 year period with payments starting in 1997.
Then the worst happened as the County was digging the well in early 1992 they found the water was badly contaminated with DBCP-14 times acceptable levels and considered a very high dose.
The farm chemical, a reproductive toxin and carcinogen, was used widely in the area between 1955 and 1977. Made by Shell and Dow and others, the manufacturers had been successfully sued for damages and the County was advised by the Cutler Public Utilities District they ought to go after the makers, in this case suing for the damage and delay the unexpected contamination was causing.
Mr. Elliott, of course, had to put plans on hold for a food processing plant (called Cutler Foods, Inc.) since there was not adequate, drinkable water or water pressure for more than the one company, the box company, to be built.
The county decided to sue the DBCP manufacturers and got a $1.14 million settlement that ended up shrinking to $856,000 after lawyers got hold of it. The agreement was straightforward. The money was to fix the well in the industrial park - Cutler Public Utilities District well number 7.
Now more than six years later the industrial park and Elliott, the County Redevelopment Agency and the Utility District are tied up in court over this situation and the well has yet to be fixed.
In the original agreement Elliott promised to make regular installment payments of about $16,000. He did for 3 years but stopped in November 2000. Elliott says he believes the agency has already breached the agreement and that they owed him money and not the other way around.
Elliott filed a tort claim in 2000 and a full-blown lawsuit against the county agency in March 2001 - a suit still pending.
In the suit Elliott claims the county agency breached their contract after the years of delay over correction of the contamination problem they promised to fix noting that companies had requested information on locating in the park but that because of the uncertainty the prospective tenants could not be advised.
Sources say one possible tenant was Contesano Foods - an Italian food processor that ended up in Selma. Elliott says that even as the Redevelopment Agency now claims it never proposed to deliver potable water it joined a marketing effort to bring in food processors to the park that clearly need good water to process food.
Elliott alleges it had to raise more than $2 million as part of the project and the agency was supposed to use the state funds to do the public improvement that included "providing sufficient potable water." As such Elliott was deprived of use of the Cutler Project and seeks at least $3 million for the lost funds, damages and attorney fees.
Here was another chance for lawyers to get involved and in fact after a mediation hearing of the matter last summer the county decided to file cross complaints against Cutler Public Utilities District and even their engineer Keller and Wegley. They had earlier countersued Mr. Elliott wanting him to pay all the remaining money owed to the state now up to $653,456.
The Redevelopment Agency filed a counter claim in December 2001 taking not unexpectedly a different tack on the course of events suggesting Elliott had breached the contract because he had stopped making the payment he had promised to, halting payments after November 2000.
Regarding the contamination of the well the counter suit notes that Elliott "did not inform them" of the contamination prior to making the agreement. The suit says the Cutler Public Utilities District broke their agreement not to connect the well to the community line and did not cooperate with the agency as they tried to remedy the situation. They make the same charge with Mr. Elliott who they say did not cooperate with their contractor BSK as they tried to test the well site.
Regarding the remediation of the contamination, the county agency says it promised only to use the funds outlined in the agreement with Elliott - the state monies and nothing more to complete the project including the well that was to be handed off to the local utilities district who after all "is in the water business" - unlike the Redevelopment Agency, says the complainant.
The agency also notes that their agreement calls for both the Cutler District and the engineering firm agreed to hold the agency harmless.
The bottom line: to the degree the agency loses in court and must pay out a sum they will be looking for others to pay as well.
Clearly nobody wants to take ownership of a contaminated well. But equally clear the county agency sued Shell and got money to fix it - money that may have been spent paying for studies and paying lawyers but still hasn't fixed the problem through the installation of carbon filters to filter the poison water.
Mr. Elliott's attorney - Tom Campagne says the key disagreement was not over who owned the well, the county did and not that they didn't have an obligation to deliver water to the industrial park, they did. But according to the county's own filing they "didn't have to guarantee the quality of the water delivered to the industrial park." It didn't have to be potable - drinkable.
This revelation came in an interrogatory request made by Mr. Elliott's attorney to the County Redevelopment Agency asking them "Do you admit that you agreed to provide the Cutler Project with water fit for human consumption (i.e. potable)?" The county response "Neither the agreement between Plaintiff and Defendant, nor the grant and loan agreements, refer to or include any provision regarding the quality of the water that may be produced in the well to be constructed."
But, asks Mr. Campagne, did the county get the DBCP settlement from Shell precisely to deliver drinkable water? The county attorney says he doesn't have the documentation for that.
But the agency in the suit against the makers of DBCP filed in 1994 said that the reason they were suing the company specifically over well number 7 was because they "would incur expenses to deliver potable water to its customers." The county board certified that the fund the court awarded "can be spent only for development of an estimate of the cost to correct the contamination and anticipated cost of operation and maintenance of the well," namely "the Agency-owned Cutler Industrial Park's well" in a resolution signed December 1995.
A 1996 letter to the Board of the Cutler Public Utilities District from Bill Hayter redevelopment staffer who is still there today, lays out the situation suggesting the county knew it was to provide drinking water "By written agreement between the Agency and District, the completed water and sewage systems were to be operated by the District, with the well assisting the District in providing fire flow to the industria park development and in meeting its water demands for the eastern portion of the community. However, after completion of the final well, it was discovered that multiple water bearing strata in the well were severely contaminated with dibromochloropropane (DBCP). As a result, the well was disconnected by the Agency from the community water distribution system and left to provide only fire suppression and landscape irrigation to the industrial park.
This unfortunate occurrence and resulting idling of the well was unsatisfactory to the District ad the Agency and left the community short by one production well. In early 1995, the Agency participated in a class action lawsuit against the manufacturers and distributors of DBCP with a subsequent award of damages for remediation of the well in December 1995. The Agency has reserved these funds specifically to remediate and restore water production from this well for domestic consumption by the community.
This letter is, therefore, to notify you that the Tulare County Redevelopment Agency intends to initiate a project to remediate the DBCP contamination in the water supply well at the Cutler Industrial Park during its Fiscal Year 1996/97."
Despite this assurance delay was the order of the day with the Cutler Utilities District writing to the Redevelopment Agency in April 1998 saying they had not heard from the agency on the remediation effort for a year.
While there may have been the best of intention it's pretty clear that in 2002 the matter remains unresolved. Sources say the awarded DBCP funds to be dedicated to Well Number 7 are still there and has built up to $1.1 million although that is before the latest round of county countersuits.
It is not clear the source the county is using to defend itself and countersue.
However never say die. A letter from the County Redevelopment Agency from Doug Wilson dated December 18, 2001 promises now to "move forward" on the remediation of the well at Cutler Industrial Park but requires Mr. Elliott to dedicate some more land to the County Agency to put it in.
Each guy in this case points the finger at the other guy. But a settlement judge who heard the case this summer advised the county to settle the matter or likely lose in court. He also reportedly suggested the county tell the state of California that loan money they sent the county paid for water that came up poison and that the state just might forgive at least a portion of the loan. In the meantime why not fix the well with the settlement money they received now over six years ago?
In a February 11, 1992 memo from the executive director of the Redevelopment Agency to the Board, George Finney noted that "it appears that the development agreement with Cutler Properties does not provide for a sharing of financial responsibility for costs over allocated REDIP funds ($915,000)."
Since the issue is in litigation its hard to get the other side of the question - why the long delay? Some say the matter comes down to falling through the cracks in an agency that was short on staff. Others argue that once both sides got riled up there was no more compromises. Still others wonder if someone was out to make sure Cutler didn't have an industrial park. Today Kaweah Containers site at one corner of the big parcel is a daily reminder of an industrial park that never grew.
A few weeks ago Judge Melinda Reed took the matter under submission and ordered another settlement conference on the issue and a full trial in September if the matter can't be resolved.
KDDH Plans Upscale Surgical
Wing Downtown
Visalia - Borrowing a page from its new competition, Kaweah Delta Hospital plans to upstage the proposed Visalia Surgical Hospital's upscale approach to surgery with an 11 bed wing of their own that would open far sooner. The hospital's plan is to remodel a third floor wing featuring its own entrance and have the unit ready to open as soon as June of this year, says CEO Lindsay Mann.
"It will be a pilot program that could change the way services all over the hospital are delivered in the future," says Mann.
The hospital had code named the project "Virtual Surgery Hospital" because unlike the private competitor or an alternative plan KDDH was considering earlier this project doesn't require the construction of a new complex be begin offering the new approach.
Mann says the new wing will be "beautiful" offering comfortable accommodations with a high level of service, over night accommodations for guests and roomy decorated suites that have become a new standard in a number of hospitals.
Next week the board of Kaweah Delta is considering naming the new wing after a person - something they have avoided doing in the past. The new hospital's service is being overseen by Dr. Victoria Gerkin. The new wing is on the east end of the hospital just north of the statue at the entrance.
To remodel the rooms, a maternity wing will be relocated within the hospital, says Mann.
Kaweah Delta has been telling anyone who would listen that the coming of the new private surgical hospital will remove a major profit center for district hospitals. Already the hospital faced its first red ink quarter ever and in the past few weeks announcing the shut down of Exeter Memorial Hospital in part because it lost money for Kaweah Delta.
Now instead of wringing its hands, it looks to compete with the new private hospital with a little moxie of their own working to upgrade the delivery of service to patients who have a choice. The wing will be aimed at private patients with insurance ad the need of elective surgery and clearly will have the comfort and care they might get elsewhere with the service of a critical care hospital to back that up.
Some will agree that this is proof - competition in health care is a good thing.
Orosco Project Could Be Heard January 28
Visalia - Don Orosco's south of Packwood shopping center may be heard as soon as January 28 by the city planning commission now that the draft EIR comment period is closed.
According to city planner Mike Olmos the shopping center that could be the city's largest at 1 million sq. ft. is now moving toward final approval with the project going to the city council as soon as early March.
The project is controversial in the community with some favoring the tax dollars that could come to the city (sales tax is 40% of the general fund budget) and others worried that the big development will hurt the rest of the retail strip.
Just across the creek the 100,000 sq. ft. House 2 Home warehouse store is now nearly empty expected to close its doors in a matter of days. About a mile to the south the Lumberjack store closed only months before. Store closings have jumped nationwide in 2001 (to 6000 according to the International Council of Shopping Centers from an average of 3345) as a recession hit most of the country. Orosco has said he planned to buy the existing Target store and release it if he is successful in building a new 150,000 sq. ft. Target south of the creek.
In the first draft comment period a public hearing at city hall got a room full of listeners but few comments. The next phase will start with a public hearing in front of the planning commission.
Another issue raised during the EIR has been the cost of infrastructure to serve the new area and who pays.
Proponents say the city has designated this "retail reserve" area for decades and should now allow the area to develop.
City To Acquire St. Johns River Islands
Visalia - The City of Visalia is filing a grant application with a state parks agency to acquire more St. Johns River frontage east of McAuliff to Cutler Park including two islands in the channel. "We're going to the Visalia city council January 21" to get the nod from the council to make the grant application, says city engineer Lew Nelson.
The application is part of the city effort to acquire and protect the riparian area along the St. Johns for public access, habitat protection and restoration, says Nelson. The city is applying for some $275,000 and would look to acquire around 45 acres. "There is good reason for the farmers who own these islands to get them off the tax rolls," says Nelson, since they don't produce any income anyway.
The two islands on the stretch of the levee they are looking at are St. Johns Island and Ghost Island that are genuine islands during the wet season and a youth playground in the dry season where many 4-wheelers and dirt bike enthusiasts ride the riverbed east of town. "They tear up the area pretty good. You can go out and see the damage they've done," says Nelson. Instead the goal would be to restore and replant this Kaweah River channel back to native plantings and protect it with cable to keep the motorized vehicles out. Nelson has a picture of one jeep that got stuck in the middle of Ghost Island that he is including in the city application.
"We'll post it and be in a better position to control the area now that we will own the river frontage clear to Cutler Park," says Nelson. Still the city must come to an agreement with four property owners over the next few months to complete the acquisition.
Nelson says the city already has funds to complete the St. Johns walk/bikeway from McAuliff to Cutler Park that will give Visalians a four mile paved trail to enjoy.
Nelson says the city is applying for the parks funds from an agency who has funded millions of dollars to parks statewide but not in Tulare County - in part because we haven't applied. "Tulare County hasn't been getting its fair share," he notes.
Recreation Park To Get New Look
Jardin Landscape Architecture
Visalia - Imagine a water play area with sprays and squirts and arching streams that cool and delight the kids at play and the watching adults. Imagine a teen center that lets teens organize creative and safe fun for after school and weekends. Imagine the Visalia's Cental Park lighted and lush for walking and picnicking by residents and new offices along Center Street. That's part of the plan for renovating Recreation Park and expanding the existing Activity Center to include a new gymnasium building.
Don Stone, Recreation Manager, describes the park Activity Center as, "Much in demand for community program activities for teens and other youths, but lacking in appropriate and sufficient space. We desperately need a proper gym. Plus, while we've recently built new outdoor play facilities, more an be added to serve the neighborhood along with a general renovation of the park. We need an overall plan for the park to apply for grant funds."
Recreation Park is one of the oldest parks in Visalia. It used to have a swimming pool and heavy use from the nearby residential area. In recent years, however, it has suffered from vandalism and has been taking on an image of a bad neighbor. The Activity Center is lacking in properly designed space for its use. The addition of a popular skate park is bring users from all of Visalia and surrounding areas. But it too has had some image problems.
A team of designers from Canby Associates, Inc. and Jardin Landscape Architecture were hired to organize the problems, concerns and dreams that people had for Recreation Park and recommend solutions.
Workshops held by the Visalia Recreation Division and the designers with the public and the City Council identified the value of Recreation Park as a neighborhood and Community Park. Located on Center St., it can help contribute to the image of Visalia as a safe, progressive city that has beautiful parks and recreation facilities. A teen center, an indoor basketball court and a water play area were identified as priorities. An underutilized area of land near Giddings was recommended as a parking area for the Oaks ball field.
The final building and park master plan recommended by Canby and Jardin designers maintains the existing skate park as it is, adding a wrought iron fence to focus its activity. The existing Activity Center is to be renovated to include a teen center and a basketball court building with rest rooms is to be constructed.
Architect Dana Stahl emphasized, "Renovating the existing Activity Center and building a new gymnasium is a cost-effective way to meet increasing demand for meeting and indoor play space." Council members stressed the importance of making the new gym of sufficient size.
The park plan utilizes as much of the existing features as possible, but adds parking, walks for strolling, lighting and upgrades and increases play areas. At the corner of Center and Jacob, an entry plaza is proposed that leads through a water play area to the existing playground. Landscape architect, Wayne Maynard added, "Water play areas are the newest additions to parks. They're fun, colorful, safe and water efficient." The plan could cost from two to three million dollars to construct and will be built in phases. The Recreation Division is now applying for grant money for the first phase. Many of the new features in the park would make excellent service club projects. Contact the Visalia Recreation Division at 713-4397.
Sunkist Agreed To Back Now
Bankrupt Health Plan
Sunkist SGP Benefit Plan has folded leaving some 2,300 members scrambling for other health care and perhaps 500 health providers with unpaid medical bills. Although the plan carried for the Sunkist name, the plan was administered by a third party and was a self insurance plan that had no day-to-day management from the big citrus cooperative.
SGP Benefits is expected to file bankruptcy in the next few days after shutting down late last year. Now that management firm, Glacier Insurance Administration of Fresno, has closed its doors as well after Sunkist refused to back the losses of the plan.
An article in the Valley Voice last month detailed the problems. This past weekend the LA Times wrote an article as well, saying that Sunkist had agreed to put up $2.5 million to back the plan but later withdrew the offer.
But Sunkist appears to be on the hook to the degree that a Sunkist Board Action taken on February 6, 1997 applies. On that day the Board adopted a motion in a document obtained by the Voice that says as follows:
"Continue the licensing of the Sunkist name to SGP, but allow the Plan to be marketed to the entire ag industry and impose a licensing fee to be paid to Sunkist based upon the revenues of SGP.
The Plan would be endorsed to its members by Sunkist and Sunkist would be liable to put up any capital required if SGP is unable to meet the excess reserves requirement imposed by the 1994 law."
Sunkist officials told the LA Times they expect the matter to be settled in court. The default of the health plan has affected many Sunkist employees and physicians who treated them because Tulare County is a major citrus producing county.
One employee affected writes the Voice that "I will be losing my job effective 12/31 and thought it was important for you to hear the voice of not only mine, but all of the employees at GIA. Mr. Thompson is a man of integrity and has left no stone unturned in trying to find a solution. I personally have witnessed the horrible hardware problems since Glacier started their conversion. I only wish the vendor can be stopped before a tragedy like this affects another company. No matter what the employees at GIA will always be family and will always support Mr. Thompson. Sunkist has always financially backed the SGP plan and for them to withdraw this decision for financial injection is down right wrong, they have played with so many peoples lives, including mine," says Keli Childs, an employee with Glacier Insurance Administration.
Walmart
Reedley's Loss Could Be Dinuba's Gain
Reedley - Walmart announced December 28 that they would pull out a planned shopping center at Manning and the Kings River in Reedley. In the works for over two years, Reedley community development director Fred Brusuelas told the Voice that while the company cited the high cost of development at the site, the factor that may have made the difference was that a voter referendum on the project was forced by a split council vote.
Because the 68 acre shopping center needs to be annexed and requires general plan changes, three votes are needed and the vote came down to 2 to 1 with the remainder of the council abstaining. That put the matter on the March ballot. Then came the call from a Walmart rep that the big discounter didn't want to be part of the project slated to take 20 of the 68 acre shopping center.
Whether Reedley voters will still vote on this issue isn't clear, says Brusuelas, since the matter has already been submitted to the County for inclusion on the March ballot. At deadline, the Valley Voice has learned that the Walmart issue will be on the Reedley ballot.
But Walmart hasn't given up on serving this region apparently looking for a site nearby in Dinuba, Sanger and Parlier, according to reliable sources. Dinuba city manager Ed Todd confirms that "we've talked to them but the company has not submitted any kind of application." The city does have a 20 acre site that could accommodate the big discounter. Dinuba has a Kmart (Reedley does not) and is close enough to Reedley/Orange Cove to likely attract the cluster of shoppers in southern Fresno County and northern Tulare County it is targeting. Parlier, too, has sites on Manning Ave. only a few miles from the preferred location, says the city manager. "They contacted us but it was very informal," says Nick Pavlovich, interim city manager. The closest Walmart is in Selma while rival Kmart has stores in Kingsburg, and a Super Kmart in Sanger.
Rival retailer Kmart has problems of its own detailed last week with speculation that the Michigan retailer could declare bankruptcy within six months if things did not turn around. Others say Kmart will weather this storm that has dropped its stock value to $4 from around $27 per share this summer. "Only Walmart, Kmart and Target are in the same business and they are clearly the weakest sister," says a local commercial broker.
Walmart remains controversial in some communities like Reedley but might find it easier going in the remainder of the cities it is considering. From a city's point of view, the tax benefits are attractive if the retailer is willing to put its share of offsite costs. In the case of Reedley, the cost had built to over $1 million, too much for Walmart to swallow, they said. "That was an expensive site to develop," admitted Brusuelas who doesn't think Walmart is bluffing with the announcement they would pull out of the project. "The city didn't have the money to assist them," says the city official.
Developer Mehmet Noyan said he could not comment.
Walmart spokesperson Pete Kanelos of San Diego says "costs were prohibitive" and the decision to pull out was simply "a business decision."
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 9, 2002
