County’s Small Towns Get Boost in General Plan
Tulare County - New investment could be coming to the unincorporated towns of Tulare County once the county general plan is adopted next year. Supervisors offered some direction on land use scenarios this week rejecting the notion pushed by the cities of Tulare and Visalia that 90% of the future growth in the county to directed to the eight cities of Tulare County.
Tulare County is expected to grow by nearly 60% by 2030 to 630,000. About 61% of the county population lives in cities now.
The supervisors held a work session - meaning they didn’t take any official action - but gave consultants an earful on how they want the county’s general plan shaped. A number of supervisors rejected a planning commission suggestion that the county focus on four Highway 99 communities in their growth plan - Earlimart, Pixley, Tipton and Goshen. “What about Highway 65" communities, asked Allen Ishida who represents that neck of the woods. Growth east of Porterville is happening and should be accommodated, noted supervisor Jim Maples suggesting growth along Highway 190 ought to be considered that keeps subdivisions off prime ag land on the valley floor.
A rural communities alternative suggests growth could be accommodated with 25% of the new population distributed to the 20 unincorporated communities of the county. Most of that would go to just 11 of those communities that are expected to have a redevelopment district to help build infrastructure to handle the growth and have land available.
Several of them are along Highway 99 like Pixley and Earlimart and Tipton. The county sees the towns as attractive because of their highway location - still in the midst of some of the worst poverty in the county. This alternative suggests towns like Goshen, Poplar, and Pixley have water and sewer infrastructure available although significant infrastructure would be needed in some towns like Cutler Orosi, Traver and Richgrove. A corollary to the rural plan is to have more service industry and jobs in these unincorporated communities.
Supervisor Connie Conway, who represents much of the unincorporated area south of Tulare, told the Voice that “I can’t see how we can go on denying the unincorporated areas a grocery or hardware store,” suggesting the city manager pushed plans “are self serving.”
“Sure they want all the growth to go to the cities but they don’t go inside the cities - they annex the farmland.” She says it’s an illusion to say that city centered growth protects prime ag land when much of the land around Pixley and Earlimart is not prime ag land but “Shannon Ranch is” - a recently annexed walnut orchard now the home to 440 acres of subdivisions in the City of Visalia’s north side.
She says drafting the rural plan “won’t stop growth in the cities” but give people an alternative.
Supervisor Steve Worthley of Dinuba says “the status quo is unacceptable.” He says a rural weighted plan simply “gives people the opportunity in the private market to invest in needed improvements like sewer and water and build homes and businesses on available land.
Worthley says he favors development along the 52 miles of Highway 99 frontage in the county. He notes there are four unincorporated towns in this stretch where there is land, rail access and freeway offramps that can help build up the community.
Supervisor Allen Ishida agrees having been beating the drum for months now that the smaller communities like Poplar can still bloom if land is properly zoned for development. “They need to grow to prosper,” he says.
The city of Visalia made ripples this week when they formally suggested to the county they would share revenue under the right conditions - aptly if 90% of the new growth was steered their way. But that’s unlikely to happen given the views of the supervisors. “It seems clear we have 4 strong votes for more rural development,” says Connie Conway. The fifth vote is apparently Phil Cox, a former city council member from Visalia who says the board work session “moved the process forward.”
The supervisors will hold another work session likely within a month to refine a “preferred alternative” plan that is sure to boost prospects for the small towns of Tulare County perhaps for the first time.
Tulare County - We’re all feeling the pain at the pump this month with gasoline prices creeping toward $3 per gallon to run your automobile. But for our local farmers - coming at their busiest time of the year - the hurt is worse.
“These high diesel prices are threatening to shut us down,” says Kings County farmer Tony Oliveira. Diesel prices are also about $3 a gallon in the central valley in mid August - a fuel used to run trucks, tractors and harvesters and also ag generators and pumps.
Oliveira says he already made a calculated decision to leave fields fallow this summer because of the high cost of diesel to pump from deep wells and now he is leaving the tractors parked as well.
If it stays parked too long this new energy crisis could make some giant ripples in the central valley’s economy.
A new survey done of central valley cotton acreage shows 100,000 fewer cotton acres planted this season than last as farmers begin to harvest worries that costs will outweigh the benefits this year.
The record high price for diesel keeps climbing, up more than $1 compared to a year ago. A gallon of diesel fuel cost an average of $2.06 in January, according to the US Department of Energy. Prices this week are above $3 at local dealers and rising made worse by a refinery fire in Southern California.
Pickup trucks pulling into Tulare County diesel pumps this week report paying as much as $3.25 a gallon.
The record high prices comes at a tough time for farms when the harvest for a number of crops are coming in where profits are thin for some like tomato harvesters and semi trucks - they have no choice but to roll.
Transporting the crop by trucks and locomotives will cost more - money farmers typically can’t recover because they can’t dictate prices for their commodity.
Big harvests in coming weeks include grapes, cotton, nuts, olives and apples.
Demand for diesel typically goes up this time of year, but tight supplies during peak harvest time could make it worse still.
Farm advocate Manuel Cunha says the fuel crisis is reminiscent of the energy crisis a few years ago. He says he reminded the ARB of plans to have an underground reserve diesel storage facility in the central valley to help avoid getting squeezed again. “We’ve been down this road before,” says Cunha.
Cunha notes one reason why there is a diesel shortage in the valley this year is the torrid pace of construction across the valley with contractors and all their subs that use construction equipment requiring diesel. “There is real competition for fuel” right now, he says and the way the market sorts that out is to raise the prices, he says.
The inflationary home selling market can afford the higher cost but farmers can’t. Cunha has noted before that the big construction industry is also taking away workers from the farmers fields.
Simply Because They Can
Cunha believes, like many Americans, that the oil companies are raising the prices “simply because they can” and it’s not a coincidence that oil, gasoline, diesel, natural gas, heating oil and propane are all going up in tandem. “That’s how they make their money.” (See chart)
Not just the dirt farmers, but the huge food processing industry is an energy eater in both water pump use and electricity for heating and cooling. Higher power costs will squeeze this key ag industry too.
Part of the reason that diesel is up is because oil and gasoline are at record levels with oil nearing a $70 per barrel threshold. That up from an average of $20 a barrel just a few years ago. Other fossil fuels tend to follow, including diesel - today higher than gas in California despite the fact the fuel is easier to refine.
Lack of new refinery capacity is said to hurt supply even as the state economy - in recovery mode - demands more. Lack of competition among the fuel marketers is considered a factor in the runup of prices that appear to be dictated by a speculative marketplace.
Higher oil prices are slowing down the economy across the board. Merchants have to increase their price as delivery companies and trucking firms add surcharges. FedEx surcharge for August is 12.5% on express shipments. Americans are now paying a surcharge to have the pizza delivered.
The huge fuel costs are raising water costs too since it costs to pump water.
The higher fuel costs are hitting the melon harvest and will affect winter vegetable planting.
The hard hit stone fruit industry that has had several bad years and may have seen a brighter year this season is still picking and will pay the price for these higher fuel charges in the next month.
Truck demand and extra fuel surcharges has created truck shortages in some locations industry sources say, contributing to the negative effect on profits. When a supermarket chain has to pay more to ship fruit to the market they try to make it up by squeezing growers a little harder to make it up. The upshot - you guessed it - the farmer takes it in the shorts.
Fertilizer Too
To add to their problems consider the price of natural gas - a key ingredient in the cost of producing electricity as well as the main ingredient in ammonia used everywhere for fertilizer. Natural gas jumped to $9.50 per Mbtu but this past week on the spot market. An Iowa farm leader told Congress this spring - before a $2 runup this August that then cost is 70% higher today than in 2003. Higher costs of fertilizer have helped shut down fertilizer manufacturing plants in the US.
Higher natural gas prices are going to hit processors and the cotton ginning industry this fall and all of us as we need the fuel to heat our homes and barns this winter. Higher propane cost will hit everybody who drives a forklift as well as rural households who use the fuel for cooking and heating.
Similar to the impact of high oil prices on the overall economy, the farm economy suffers on many levels even as oil companies make record profits.
Oil prices are impacting the cost of living and affecting inflation, analysts say, potentially pushing interest rates higher and affecting the US balance of payments as more imports are replacing domestically produced products.
The nation’s retailers, including Walmart, spread the gloom over rising gas prices this week with news that their sales were down recently as consumers can’t afford so much for other consumables since energy costs are draining their wallet.
Higher natural gas prices this winter will affect greenhouse agriculture, vegetables and flowers. The likelihood of steeper natural gas prices will lead to higher power costs in a state already considered one of the highest in the nation when it comes to electricity costs. It was record high natural gas prices that led to the infamous energy crisis in California just a few years ago forcing a state utility to declare bankruptcy and the red ink in Sacramento that followed.
We have been down this road before.
Lowe’s Plans Tulare Store
Tulare - Lowe’s is finalizing plans for a new Tulare store just weeks after rival Home Depot broke ground in town. Ready to do battle with their national competition, Lowe’s plans to open a new store within stone throwing distance from the number one home improvement store, Home Depot, on Prosperity and Hillman in the hot northwest part of the city.
The company has been looking at sites in town for much of 2005 and have apparently settled on land owned by LA developer Paul Quong - a 17 acre center that will include a new Longs Drug and a few other out pads anchored by the big home improvement store. Mr. Quong did not return phone calls.
Today just a gas station/mini mart sits on the corner across the street from Walmart. The Longs will be across the street from their rival - Walgreens.
The news surprised some who thought Lowe’s would pick a site being developed by Porterville developer Ben Ennis at Cartmill and 99 - a site he hoped to pair Lowe’s with a Target store. Target’s intentions in town still aren’t clear although they have looked at a site owned by Browman Development just north of the outlet mall expansion.
Quong is expected to file a design review application late this week with the city - the first part of the approval process.
The city’s top planner Mark Keilty says Lowe’s officials visited with him recently laying out a rapid time table to open the new home improvement store.
Keilty says the project will be submitted to the planning commission September 19 in hopes of breaking ground February 1, construction complete by July and the opening of the new store in September 2006 - about a one year process.
Sources say the rivalry between the two building supply giants is legendary with a new Lowe’s in Bakersfield recently opening with a billboard put up by Home Depot nearby suggesting shoppers travel to the next freeway offramp to get a better deal at Home Depot.
Some are surprised the big building supply stores are planning to open in Tulare, only a few miles from each of their stores in south Visalia. But growth of housing activity all over the county may be enough reason to these go go companies to bet on Tulare - a town that now has reached 50,000.
Lowe’s has over 1100 superstores in 49 states (Home Depot has 1950) selling 40,000 products to do-it-yourself buyers as well as professionals selling gardening products alongside lumber and plumbing supplies as well as a full line of appliances. Each store employs about 150.
State’s First Ethanol Plant Opens in Goshen
Pacific Ethanol announces purchase and possible expansion
Goshen - Another first for California – and for Tulare County – was ushered in with federal and state dignitaries as Phoenix Bio Industries and Western Milling officially opened the state’s first ethanol plant in Goshen Aug. 12. The plant, which was constructed on Western Milling’s property just east of Highway 99 in Goshen, will produce 25 to 30 million gallons of ethanol a year and has expansion capabilities in place to produce between 45 and 50 million gallons by next year.
“With this plant, we are showing that we are doing our best to take care of the environment and to clean our Valley’s air,” said Rick Eastman, president of Phoenix Bio Industries.
Ethanol provides a clean-burning renewable fuel oxygenate and a renewable fuel that can reduce reliance on imported oil, while increasing the domestic fuel supply. According to the Pew Center for Global Climate Change, ethanol and other renewable fuels are the single most cost effective solution to global warming in the near future. Ethanol reduces carbon dioxide, or CO2 emissions by 30 percent compared to gasoline.
Rhys Roth, co-director of Climate Solutions, a Washington state-based environmental group offering practical solutions to global warming, called the Tulare County ethanol plant a model for the rest of the nation.
“This plant is a model for a pro-jobs, pro-agriculture, pro-environment solution,” Rhys said. “I feel for too long we have shouted at each other…and no doubt we will continue to have disagreements. But this proves that we have a golden opportunity to set aside our differences to develop something good for our farmers, the environment and the community. The plant is a renewable model we can carry into the future.”
Kevin Kruse, whose family started Western Milling and produces the Kruse Perfection brand of feeds, described taking on the ethanol project.
“Two years ago we decided to join Phoenix Bio Industries in building an ethanol plant to help meet California’s energy needs,” Kruse said. “It will also reduce our reliance on imported grains from the Midwest.”
Ethanol’s by-product, wet distiller’s grain, provides a high protein feed for local dairy and cattle farmers. Since distillers grain, which is the spent corn that gone through the distilling process, can be fed wet to animals, this ethanol plant will be more energy efficient using one-third less natural gas in the process. Other plants built in California also will use less gas and be more energy efficient.
California’s Secretary of Agriculture, A.G. Kawamura, addressed the crowd, equating food security with homeland security and calling the convergence “energy security.”
“This plant is proof that we can redevelop what agriculture can be in California today and for this nation,” Kawamura said.
A featured speaker at the opening was federal Secretary of Agriculture Mike Johanns. Johanns had visited Fresno earlier in the day for part six of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s scheduled listening sessions concerning the 2007 Farm Bill. Johanns attended the ethanol plant opening event at the invitation of Congressman Devin Nunes.
“This is a remarkable week when you think of it,” Johanns said. “On Monday [Aug. 8, 2005] President Bush signed the energy bill into law, which had been in the works for more than four years. This factory is a great example of what the new law will do to help meet our energy needs.”
The National Energy Bill increases ethanol use by mandating an estimated five to eight billion gallons of ethanol and other renewable fuels be purchased by gasoline refiners by 2012.
Johanns also discussed additional benefits of the plant, including the creation of additional jobs, and an increased property tax base that can generate at least $600,000 in new tax revenue for state and local governments annually.
“Energy security is related to our economic security,” Johanns said. “I’d much rather see our energy come from the farm fields of America than from the oil fields of the Middle East.”
Former Secretary of State Bill Jones also spoke at the event. Jones is the founder and chairman of Pacific Ethanol, Inc., which announced the morning of the ribbon-cutting ceremony that it plans to acquire Phoenix Bio Industries. The Goshen plant has been valued at $40 million in an SCE filing by Pacific Ethanol.
Pacific Ethanol, Inc. became a publicly traded company in March. Its corporate mission is to become the West Coast’s leading marketer and producer of renewable fuels.
Jones acknowledged that while Goshen plant’s production represents less than five percent of the state’s ethanol demand, the Governor has the opportunity to make ethanol a viable part of life for Californians.
“This plant is the largest refinery for fuel built in California in a generation,” Jones said. “The governor has an opportunity to build the same kind of interest and enthusiasm we’ve seen here today and with members of his cabinet here in attendance, I hope that message is carried to him.”
California’s Resources Secretary, Mike Chrisman, also attended the event.
While 19 states have banned the use of MTBE (methyl tertiary butyl ether) as a fuel additive to increase octane levels in gasoline, California still allows it. Higher octane levels provide cleaner burning fuels that are more energy efficient.
California, likewise, requires a lesser percentage of ethanol in its fuel, under six percent, compared to most other states, which require 10 percent.
Should California increase its ethanol requirement to 10 percent, the estimated ethanol market in California alone would be 1.6 billion gallons, compared to about 900 million gallons today.
Pacific Ethanol’s SCE filing notes the following about ethanol:
“The market price of ethanol is volatile and subject to significant fluctuations, which may cause our results of operations to fluctuate significantly. The market price of ethanol is somewhat dependent on the price of gasoline, which is in turn dependent on the price of petroleum. We cannot predict the future price of gasoline or oil and we may realize unprofitable prices for the sale of ethanol due to significant fluctuations in market prices. For example, the price of ethanol declined by approximately 25% from its 2004 average price per gallon in only three months from January 2005 through March 2005 and has reversed this decline and increased to approximately 25% above its 2004 average price per gallon in only four months from April 2005 through July 2005.
Member of the Board of Supervisors Steve Worthley hailed the project’s economic impact locally - virtually the first fuel refinery built in the state in a long time where we appear to be running short on motor fuel every day. Asked if he was concerned about the pollution from trainloads of corn coming into the state to make the fuel here, Worthley said it was a push since “trains are coming now with corn to feed the cows” and now the corn will be used to make fuel and animal feed with healthier nutrient content delivered nearby to the cows.
If Pacific Ethanol decides to expand their Goshen ethanol plant significantly it could change it’s planned purchase of 100 acres across the freeway from the airport for a new ethanol plant - the company has said would use cellulose waste material rather than feed corn as a feedstock to make ethanol. The company has an option on the land, says the firm’s SCE filing. They continue to work on submittal of planned EIR on the Visalia project although with the new acquisition there is more uncertainty over the future of the Visalia Pacific Ethanol plant.
Big Plumbing Supply Warehouse Coming To Tulare
Tulare - Slakey Brothers of Sacramento will open a 110,000 sf distribution center in Tulare next year. The big warehouse will be built near Bardsley and O St. on Walnut where a new industrial subdivision is being laid out.
Developer Bill Paxton says he is buying land to build the warehouse at the new industrial park and will lease it back to the company as he does across the state.
Slakey is a full line plumbing and heating supply company that sells to contractors in the booming California building industry. There are 29 Slakey facilities in the state and this will be the third distribution warehouse for the firm, says Paxton. “They will employ about 25 people minimum,” says Paxton.
Slakey Brothers is an employee owned firm that distributes products throughout the west coast and has sales over $250 million.
“What we wanted is to serve the big market of Bakersfield and Fresno from one location,” says Paxton - a mantra of the City of Tulare has been signing a long time as it seeks to attract new industry to the area.
“They will be a great fit for Tulare,” says chamber economic development director Bob Reynolds.
Paxton says the new warehouse should be operational late next year. The city is just now approving final parcel maps for the subdivision that sits on 40 acres. A second major company is expected to build at the site according to sources. Sales are pending on 5 pads at the park being sold off through Kyle Rhinebeck of Zeeb Commercial.
There's A Lot At Stake When Construction Booms
by Miles Shuper
Visalia - When a building boom takes off, lots of businesses also get a boost.
One of them, Ken's Stakes and Supplies specializing in survey and construction stakes, is hustling to keep up with the demand.
Owner Joe Hallmeyer has added four workers to his operation on South Mariposa, just off Visalia Road near Farmersville. He now has 17 workers Hallmeyer has seen business grow about 40 per cent this year and a combined 70 percent over the last two years. That equates to an output of about 700,000 more stakes this year from 1.8 million last year to 2.5 million this year. The company specializes in 4-foot stakes, 1 1/2 inches wide and 5/16 inch thick. The company uses wood from Oregon and wholesales the finished products as far north as Sacramento, south to the Mexico border and east to Las Vegas. Hallmeyer said about 20 percent of his stakes go to Vegas where development and construction are on a record pace.
Ken's Stakes produces about 6,000 stakes per hour and averages about 42,000 stakes trucked for delivery per day. There is a possibility the work force could expand in the near future.
Hallmeyer is amazed at the amount of building going on in the Valley, as well as in Vegas. "I've never seen this kind of growth in the construction industry," he said, adding “there is no indication from those in the building trades that a slowdown is near."
While Ken's Stakes and Supplies now produces few nursery and orchard stakes since the import of bamboo stakes increased, he said, his company is concentrating of the 4-foot construction stakes. The company also provides surveying equipment, marking flags and other items, mainly for the wholesale market.
Hallmeyer said other companies in his field say they too are scrambling to fulfill the need for wooden stakes.
Hallmeyer doesn't expect the demand for stakes to dip even if, or when, the building boom slows, since highway and road construction projects appear to scheduled for several years.
What's New
Horizon Outlet Center will celebrate its Grand Opening of its 3rd phase with the opening of Tommy Hilfiger, Eddie Bauer, Aeropostale, Calvin Klein and Casual Korner in mid November; also Banana Republic will be opening in 2006.
USDA reports this month that so far this year US ag exports are down 2% and imports are up 9%. For the second time in 2005 - during the month of June - more ag imports came into the US than were exported.
So here's the lineup for the November Visalia elections starting with the city council where 3 seats are up for grabs. Candidates are: Rusty Barker, Greg Collins, Walter Deissler, Jesus Gamboa, Don Landers, Sam Logan, Victor Perez and Amy Shuklian. In the Visalia school board race in Area 1 Mike Lane will face off with Robin Kaufman and James Peterson. In Area 2 Rodney Elder runs unopposed and in Area 3 Jim Qualls faces off with Laura Pace. In Area 4 Juan Guerrero will face off with Charles Mitchell.
Despite strong ag support from Farm Bureau over farmers' rights to use GMO crops a bill by Senator Florez (SB 1056) that would take away a county's right to ban such materials in their jurisdiction, faces opposition from counties who want to retain local control. Three counties in the state have voted to ban genetically modified materials on their farms. Sonoma County has an initiative vote set this November. But Florez's bill seeks to overturn these elections saying the state should have "one standard." Now members of the Board of Supervisors in both Tulare and Kings fear the loss of local control with this bill and the statewide Association of Counties feels the same. Chair of the board in Tulare County Connie Conway fears Sacramento's push to pass a bill they could change later "no matter what they promise."
Index shows California still has high cost of doing business. Published annually, the 2005 Milken Institute Cost of Doing Business shows California as the most expensive state to carry on a business with South Dakota being the least expensive and Idaho near the bottom. The state of Idaho is running ads in business publication seeking companies to relocate there. The survey showed an overall index of 124.2 compared to 71 in South Dakota. An index score of 100 is considered average. Particularly high were power costs in California - the highest nationwide except for Hawaii. The state wage index cost is also higher than all western states and most of the nation.
Visalia - What's the future of Visalia's Scenic Corridor - development like new homes or maintaining farmland or some hybrid? Visalia took one step closer to deciding the issue this week.
The Visalia city council approved a plant to carry out a land use study on the city's westside, much of it in agriculture, and in the county. Lands west of Akers to Plaza, north of 198 to Goshen and south to Caldwell, is expected to be the subject of a specific plan similar to one being done by consultants in the city's southeast.
This week council approved hiring a consultant soon to begin the project. First order of business however, was to approve a plan for open space setbacks on both sides of the highway to maintain Visalia's "Scenic Corridor".
The council voted to ask for dedications of land in the amount of a strip 200 ft. wide by the landowners along 198. In addition, the council approved a task force plan to buy over 30 acres at the northwest corner of Shirk and 198 up to Mill Creek to create a larger open space area. That idea was to maintain a continuous corridor along the highway.
While the setback issue is important, the tougher part is yet to come as a new task force studies what land uses to put behind the setbacks. Council member Greg Kirkpatrick - a critic of plans to allow intensive development of this farmland says designating a setback "presupposes development" rather than continuing the tradition of farms along the western corridor coming into the city.
City staff says a consultant led study can wrestle with what land uses would be allowed and clearly the city can't ask for dedications of land unless some development is allowed.
Council member Jesus Gamboa says the setback discussion on the task force that has met for over a year were contentious and that compromise was thereof today. Gamboa favored a larger setback - "maybe 200 ft. is better than 100 ft. and maybe not as good as 600 ft."
Council appointed the same task force with the addition of a property owner as well and will consider adding one new name for each council member as well.
Using a list of consultants it already interviewed for the southeast plan, city staff hopes to have a study underway in as little as two months in hopes of bringing back a consultant plan to the council next year.
Some property owners say they've been waiting long enough for the city to decide their future land uses but others point out just like any other land zoned agriculture, a property owner doesn't have a right to sell the land for a shopping center or subdivision just because its along a highway.
Council recently rejected a plan to rezone some ag land on Shirk for 80 acres of new homes because they chose to do a master plan of the entire area, perhaps 2000 acres of ag land west of the city.
The issue will be a centerpiece of the political debate this council election and over the next year.
Development Nearby
Tulare - Raising an issue that has come up before - the AgriCenter and property owner Manuel Faria are cautioning the city council to "go slow" in adopting an updated 25 year airport master plan that calls for a longer runway.
Former city manager Lynn Dredge spoke to the council this week on the issue fearing regulatory restrictions from a number of jurisdictions could limit development and the height of development as far as 10,000 ft. away from the end of the runway.
AgriCenter executive director Gary Shultz points out that it appears state rules have changed since 2000 on what can be built near an airport.
Dredge told the Voice that uncertainty over state and federal rules on how far a cone of restriction could extend suggests the council should consider all the ramifications of the extension of the runway before they approve it.
Council voted to postpone adoption of the master plan for 120 days to allow time for the AgriCenter and Tulare Airport Commission to "try to work something out," says mayor Rich Ortega. City airport staffer Bill Wagonalls suggested in the meeting that the proscriptions may be just guidelines. But AgriCenter officials say they want to press the state on just what rules apply before the airport plan goes back to council. Mayor Ortega said "it looks we're going to make more trips to Sacramento."
The hesitation comes even as the year old case filed by the California Pilots Association against the city and Knight Trucking drags on in court. In recent months the city tried to get the matter thrown out of court but was unsuccessful.
Judge Melinda Reed is expected to take up the case in September with litigants stating the construction of the now complete terminal constitutes "a nuisance" and should be removed, says attorney for the plaintiffs, Jay White. "We're just concerned about safety, but that would be ideal," he adds.
The Pilots Association says the truck terminal is a hazard to pilots taking off from the airport and fear that above ground tanks in the yard. But Tulare city attorney Steve Kabot says the runway is right next to Highway 99 "a far bigger nuisance" with a parade of fuel laden trucks motoring just below the take off zone daily. He notes the fuel tanks at Knight Trucking are reinforced to protect against impact from an airplane.
Supporters of airport expansion say extending the runway will make the airport more viable allowing large planes to use the airport.
But the AgriCenter has a master plan of their own seeking to build out an extensive venue of complexes including a multi story hotel near the proposed Commercial Interchange. Dredge says that separate from the plan to expand the airport the state's Division of Aeronautics has determined to extend its restrictive zone for as much as 10,000 ft. (almost two miles) from the runway that includes height restrictions.
With several overlapping jurisdictions and the city's paying big time to defend themselves in court over a trucking company that brought 100 plus jobs to town, this may need some talking out.
The last time this issue came up when city manager Kevin Northcraft suggested maybe the city could do without the airport long term - a notion that didn't go over well with local airport enthusiasts. But if south Tulare is going to have major industrial, tourist, and convention sized development in this largely vacant part of the city on both sides of 99 - the city might want to study all the implications a 5000 ft. runway brings.
San Joaquin Valley - There may be a compromise brewing over the dairy emission issue depending on your point of view.
A new group of dairymen, represented by the California Dairy Campaign and California Milk Producers, have been talking to local Air Board officials this week hoping to come up with some new plan valley dairymen can live with.
The San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control Board will have their monthly board meeting this week - Thursday August 18 - but the agenda reflects no discussion of what has become a very hot potato in the valley - the executive officer's estimate of dairy emissions. Critics of the estimate at 19.3 lbs. of VOCs per cow per year want the matter taken up by the board. Many dairymen believe the estimate is too high - an estimate that will be used by the agency to mandate controls on larger dairies to cut air pollution and help clean valley skies.
But if the staff of the APCD has not put the issue on the agenda for action - the board can't take any action either way.
Board member Steve Worthley - a Tulare County Supervisor - told the Voice that he feels conflicted over the issue coming from the state's largest dairy county. "I know they believe the number is too high but I feel the real test comes when we talk about what control measures we put on" and all the give and take that comes in that process. In these negotiations with the ag industry there has been a history of compromise on both sides as to the extent and timing for required technology - often with federal incentives thrown in.
Further, Worthley worries that if the board sides too quickly with the dairy industry on this issue it gives those who favor widening the board membership adding fuel to a fire as proposed by Senator Machado. Worthley and others want to keep local elected officials in charge.
Worthley says using the 19.6 emission factor doesn't add too many dairies that would otherwise be covered in Tulare County anyway since all dairies over 1000 cows are automatically required to control emissions. Only 17 other Tulare dairies are added to the list because of the higher emission factor, he says.
Western United Dairymen are upset with high emission factor they say is not consistent with good science.
They cite new emails from the authors of the Hobbs dairy study used by the district to justify a high emission factor on their work done in England.
Email letters obtained by the Voice show that two of the authors of the study appear to agree with local dairy interests that their findings were in no way final and shouldn't be used to make air pollution policy. One mentioned that the husbandry practices in England where the study was carried out is completely different to California dairy operations. Tests done in California by UC scientists and other show lower emission factors than are being proposed by the air district.
Moreover, dairy industry critic says the district's emission factors include cow belching in their figures - something dairymen can hardly be held accountable for.
On the other hand, Executive Director of California Dairy Campaign Kevin Abernathy and others met with Air Board director David Crow this week before the meeting and Abernathy says it's likely the group will speak at this week's meeting. "We're working with the district in a collaborative effort," he says noting that "where we started may not be where we end up" sounding a note of optimism in the discussion. "There is a lot that has happened in the past 72 hours."
The two dairy groups represent about half the milk produced in the state, says Abernathy.
The other major industry group, Western United Dairymen, sued the district over the emission issue and may yet and hinted in their newsletter recently that some "mystery" dairy group was quietly negotiating with Mr. Crow over the dairy emission issue.
By Miles Shuper
Tulare County - The Tulare County Planning Commission agenda tells the story: "Discussion set for 10 a.m.
A preliminary subdivision to divide 46.45 acres into 192 lots in the R-A (Rural Residential} Zone …"
Site Plan Reviews and other required hearing for housing projects are common items throughout the San Joaquin Valley county planning agencies these days. Tulare County is at the top of the list of new housing projects. Several thousand new homes, many of them in areas where new home construction has been the exception, not the rule, are undergoing dramatic changes.
Many have long been farm labor communities where small, old, and, in many cases, substandard housing has been the standard.
Things are changing.
Take Earlimart, for example. A local farmer and real estate broker earlier this month met with county officials in discussions of his plans to team with other investors to build up to 4,000 to 5,000 new homes, a high school, along with commercial and industrial development to the community.
Beverly Cates senior planner for Tulare County said the influx of new projects "is the biggest I've seen in twenty years", citing lower land prices and building cost as the prime reasons. And with some areas receiving federal rural development monies for sewer, water and other improvements, the small communities are proving to be attractive to developers.
Unincorporated areas like Traver, Poplar, Pixley and Terra Bella and areas around smaller cities such as Woodlake, Lindsay and Dinuba have home building projects underway or on the drawing boards.
Traver, which hasn't seen much activity in a number of years, is facing the prospect of a 192-lot project is planned in the area of Avenue 368 and Burke Drive. Most of the proposed single-family homes are in the 2,000 square foot range. Site plan review is scheduled for Aug. 19. The developer is P.S. Taggart of Clovis, a company specializing in rural housing. It is one of several firms which are dotting the Valley map with housing projects.
In Pixley, Ridgecrest Homes plans 75 lots along Compton Avenue and has a proposal for 272 more in a future building phase.
Near Woodlake, R-7 Enterprises, has a proposal for 172 lots on 230 acres along Millwood Drive about a mile north of Redbanks corner. The property, owned by the Roberts family, currently is in citrus production.
In Terra Bella, 10 one-acre lots are proposed for housing.
Poplar is busy with plans, which could triple the population in the next couple years.
Plans by Western Ag Realty call for the construction of about 600 single-family residences and potentially more. A second developer is looking at a 50-acre project.
Areas outside the bigger cities are booming. One of the most interesting is the plan for 202 lots at the current site of Sierra View Golf Curse, south of Visalia and east of Mooney Grove.
With housing prices, especially in California, continuing to escalate, it appears that the Valley's smaller communities simply will be getting bigger.
To The Public
by Rachel Lindt
Visalia - On Saturday, August 27, nine brass plaques marking historical spots in downtown Visalia will be presented. Eddy Gubler, a member of the Eagle Scouts is the Visalian behind the effort to bring more notice to the history of Visalia.
Each member of the Eagle Scouts must complete a project that benefits people and the community. Eddy remembers his third grade teacher taking his class on the historical walk. The numbers of the sites were mixed up and the trail was hard to follow. From this experience, Eddy got the idea to update and renovate the existing trail. He started in September of 2004 and after all his hard work, the public will see the results.
Eddy hopes that his restoration of the historical walk will benefit by drawing people to the downtown as well as hotels located in the vicinity of the walk. He also believes that schools will benefit from his hard work so they can understand Visalia's history.
There are many monuments around downtown Visalia that often go unnoticed due to the aged existing numbers showing historical places and facts. Because of the brass plaques and their positions in the sidewalk, never again will sites go unnoticed due to the durability of the metal. There are nine 4" by 4" brass plaques embedded into the sidewalk at all the historical sites.
New brochures that Eddy helped produce with the help of Jostens and friends are beautifully modernized. Before, they here hand-written and in need of reorganization. The new brochures show the trail and all the specific sites in downtown Visalia.
The unveiling of the project will be held at 119 South Church Street in downtown Visalia. There will be a short program of about 15 minutes where Eddy Gubler and others will speak. Afterwards, attendees will be free to walk the historical trail.
The above stories are the property of The Valley Voice Newspaper and may not be reprinted without explicit permission in writing from the publisher.
August 17, 2005
