Northside Center Loses Big Tenant

Visalia - Home Depot is not moving forward on a second store in Visalia.
The big home improvement retailer has cut back a large number of planned stores in California, says Shane Anderson of Commercial Retail Association that represents property owner/developer Donahue Schreiber.

“They've terminated their escrow agreement” on the planned store at Dinuba Blvd. and Riggin on the east side of the street,” says Anderson. The store was to occupy about two-thirds of the space at the center - Orchard Walk East.
“We've had some preliminary talks with other possible tenants,” he says.

One of the managers at the existing Home Depot store in Visalia confirmed the news, saying, “it doesn't make sense for the company to build more new stores with the housing market the way it is,” fearing that business will simply be taken away from the existing store. Already, Lowe's has built a second store in the north side of Visalia not far from the planned Home Depot location.

The two big home improvement retailers had been in a head-spinning duel to open new stores in California in recent years, including in Tulare where they opened within shouting distance of each other.
Home Depot announced back in May that it would close 15 stores and cut the number of new stores it opens this fiscal year to 55, which is 50 less than it had said earlier.

The new Visalia store had been in the works for several years when the local real estate market had been booming and new rooftops were spreading all over the northern tier of the community. Today, new home building has slowed to a crawl with just 29 homes permitted last month in town – a pace of 350 a year or about 20% of the number of new homes being built during the boom year of 2006.

Visalia chief building official Dennis Lehman is expecting to permit just 600 homes this year, with the pace down 37% from last year at this time.

Besides slowing of permits, Visalia has over 1,200 vacant homes for rent or sale, says a recent city report, and 3,000 empty but permitted subdivision lots – many on the city's northern edge where the city targeted future growth five years ago. Many homes had been bought by investors and not families who would be customers of Home Depot.
The slowdown in the home building market has caught up with the retail expansion in Visalia where most new projects are marking time in hopes that the market will improve in coming months. Case in point is the old Costco center that has had two big box spaces empty for years.

Orchard Walk West To Open

Still, at Riggin and Dinuba, the northside's first major shopping center on the west side of the street - Orchard Walk West - is very much alive with the new Target and Sportsman's Warehouse expected to open in October, followed by Ross and Old Navy and some smaller retailers and eateries.
Anderson says for the west side of the street they are working on alternate plans to attract one large retailer to occupy most of the space or designing the center to attract smaller retailers who sell “necessities.” He says Wal-mart is not a possibility.

The future of the north side Home Depot has been in question for months with the company choosing not to pick up a completed building permit from the city building department. Home Depot had asked for approval to unload trucks at the site in the evening hours but both the planning commission and council voted against the idea earlier this year amid whispers that the decision would cause the company to withdraw its application. But as recently as last month, a Donahue Schreiber spokesperson expected the company to open the store in March 2009.
Now it has pulled the plug, but it appears to be more to do with the fundamental economic shift in the state, considering it is shutting the spigot all over California. The company has reportedly also pulled out of its planned Atwater store and other locations where they've actually purchased a site.

Home Depot media reps did not return phone calls.

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Another Power Line Controversy
PGE Plans on Transmission Line Project in County

By Rick Elkins

Fresno County - While the proposed routes for Southern California Edison's high-power transmission lines have been grabbing most of the headlines in Tulare County, there is another battle looming over plans by Pacific, Gas & Electric to run new lines from the Tehachapis to east of Fresno.

Those lines could run along the foothills of eastern Tulare County or they could go west and run basically along Interstate 5 into Fresno County. The route will go into the Midway Substation in Buttonwillow and end in eastern Fresno County. It will tie into the Helms Project east of Fresno.

“No route has been selected,” stressed Jeff Smith, a PGE spokesman, Monday. “We're still exploring various different possibilities,” he added. He said there has not even been a decision whether to take the lines along the eastern foothills or the western foothills.

The Central California Clean Energy Transmission Project (C3ETP) is designed to increase transmission capacity between northern and southern California. Plans include the construction of a new 500 kV double circuit tower line from Kern County to a new substation east of Fresno. Smith said the lines will be used to transmit renewable energy – solar, wind and geothermal – to a growing Central Valley.

The project is part of PGE's effort to meet the state regulation that 20 percent of private utilities' power must come from renewable energy. The deadline to meet that regulation is 2010.
The towers would be similar to what Edison is proposing to bring more electricity into the county – roughly 220 feet tall and spreading out more than 40 feet.

Already, opposition is growing along the eastern foothills of Tulare and Fresno counties.

Cheryl Searle, who lives below Success Dam east of Porterville, is fearful the new lines will run right over her property. She has organized a public meeting at 6 p.m. on Aug. 28 at the Porterville Library Community Room to have representatives of PGE discuss the project. Homeowners within the proposed corridors are welcome to attend to discuss the project directly with PGE, she said.

“I'm against it. We have put our home up for sale and now we can't sell it,” she said of the plans that have basically made her property nearly impossible to sell. However, Smith said there is a lot of misinformation out there that is creating a lot of opposition to the project.

“Ultimately, it will go over somebody. Unfortunately there's a lot of hysteria by people putting out misinformation,” he said. “Some are saying PGE is coming to take your land by eminent domain and that's not correct.”

However, he understands the concerns. “It is understandable that people are going to raise concerns,” he said.
Searle said PGE crews have been out surveying her property, but Smith said that is the company doing “due diligence” in its process to locate the best route and those crews are not an indication that a route has been chosen.

Even the timetable of the project has been misrepresented, Smith said. PGE does not plan on filing any plans with the Public Utilities Commission until the spring of 2009 and it is not likely any decision will be made before late 2010.
One group vehemently opposed is the Save the Foothills Coalition. Based out Fresno County, it is a group of 150 citizens and land owners mainly opposed to PGE's plan for the substation. The group formed in September 2007 after PG&E sent out notices to approximately 2,500 people owning property along several possible routes of the transmission line project.

Tulare County Supervisor Mike Ennis says it is understandable that landowners are upset. “If I were a landowner, I would oppose this because they (PGE) don't serve us,” he said, explaining that PGE provides power to less than 20 percent of the county. He said he already has had several calls.

He said plans he has seen show the lines going over Lake Success and just in front of Lake Kaweah.

“They just want to mirror the Edison lines,” he said, but Smith said that is only one possibility.

“That's going to stir up a hornet's nest,” said Ennis of the plans.

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Chamber Keeps Building, Names Interim CEO

By Steve Pastis

Visalia - In 70 minutes, the board of directors of the Visalia Chamber of Commerce made some important decisions, including naming Glenn Morris interim CEO.

“We're not selling the building,” said Connie Kautz, chairman of the board of directors of the Visalia Chamber of Commerce, about the group's headquarters at Oak and Santa Fe in Visalia, which has been considered a major financial burden.

“We've changed our mindset,” she explained. “We have a great asset with our chamber building. We are going to have a professional come in and help us restructure the office so we can increase revenue. We should be able to increase the revenue to bring in positive cash flow.”

Kautz credited Steve Peck with being “able to come up with some great numbers” about the revenue potential of the building. She also said it was too soon to know if walls would be put up or taken down to maximize revenues.
“People will probably be moved around,” she said. “That's up to a commercial broker – and we have not decided who we'll be using.”

Kautz said that she approached the City of Visalia about the possibility of the city investing some of its transit center grant money in the chamber building, but “there was never a formal presentation back to us,” she said. “The city council discussed it in private session and said they were not interested at this time.”

This may have worked out best for the chamber, however.

“The bottom line is the board never wanted to get rid of the building,” she said.

The board also selected a new interim CEO at the meeting. Glenn Morris, executive director of the Visalia Convention & Visitors Bureau, proposed acting as the chamber's interim CEO. The chamber decided to hire Morris in that role from Sept. 1 to Dec. 31.

Morris believes he was selected because “the board finally got to the point that 'we need somebody there now,'” and he was able to start immediately, “without a huge learning curve.”

“I know the business community,” he said. “I know the leadership. I don't pretend to know all the issues, but I'm closer to that point than somebody coming into the community.”

Morris was asked what the main issues are for the chamber.

“I think there is a need to identify ways to make the chamber more relevant in the community,” he said. “We need to make the value case to its members more clear. We've also got to work on the financial position. The chamber is in debt and either has to find a way to increase its revenue stream or spend less.”

Morris' current position with the Convention & Visitors Bureau is less than full time so he does not see a problem meeting all of his commitments.

“What will give will be the consulting business,” he said about his own business, adding that if the CEO position becomes permanent, “everything will change.”

The possibility of the position becoming permanent is because Morris is one of the 10 candidates still being considered as the chamber's permanent CEO.

“The CEO selection committee will continue the process,” Kautz said. “We haven't stopped our search.”
The meeting also produced one more important decision for the chamber.

“The capital campaign is a yes,” Kautz said, adding that the fundraising efforts will be conducted by the Fremont Development Company.

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Unnamed Roads Pose Concern

By Miles Shuper

Tulare County - There are too many roads with no name and that needs to be changed, Tulare County Supervisor Allen Ishida says.
Ishida said roads with no names, in mountain as well as the Valley floor areas, pose a public safety risk especially when firemen and other emergency agencies are called to respond.

The Resource Management Agency took that direction from Supervisors Tuesday and will report back to the board at a later date. Ishida suggested finding funds through grants or other sources, possible Home Land Security funds, to pay for the project.

The issue came up during a discussion over adjustment of building and development as well and building permit fees. The fee for changing private road names was dropped to $700 from the current $920, based on estimated county costs. The fee for public road name changes was raised to $700 from the current $666 rate.

Ishida said the county should be more concerned about naming roads than the fees for doing it. “We're not doing it,” he said, adding that the problem is acute, especially in rural areas and in the mountains where rapid access is crucial to emergency responders.

Although names have been required during filing of site plans and maps for a number of years, there are still a number of roads which pre-date those requirements, according to Charlotte Brusuelas, a county planning official.

The board approved the fee changes effective Oct. 1. There was no opposition to the new schedule in which many of the fees stayed the same and a few were decreased. Fees are based on direct county costs.

Bob Keenan, chief executive officer of the Home Builders Association, supported the changes, noting the uncertainty the county faces regarding the unresolved state budget. Fees for residential and multi-family dwellings, remodeling and alterations and commercial and industrial building stay the same. Fees for tenant improvements, re-roofing, plumbing, mechanical, electrical and others are slightly increased. Plan check fees were increased $7 per hour to $64 and building inspections were raised by the same amount to $68 per hour.

The net financial impact from the planning and development fees on the county's general funds is estimated at a $12,000 net increase in the proposed 2008-09 budget. The building permit fee adjustments are expected to result in a $380,000 decrease in county cost, county staff reported.

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Cash Missing, Fire Probe Continues

By Miles Shuper

Visalia - Visalia fire officials say they still are unsure what caused the fire which gutted a Visalia restaurant and pub more than a week ago.

Owners of Doogle McGuire's say that after the fire, they discovered about $600 was missing from the secured register. They said there was no apparent forced entry into the business.

Visalia Fire Marshal Charlie Norman said materials collected from the scene of the business, at 5422 Cypress Avenue just west of Akers Road, have been sent to a laboratory for study but results are still pending. The money was reported missing by restaurant management who first checked to see if firemen might have secured it.

The blaze, reported shortly before 7 a.m. Sunday, Aug. 3 by a passer-by did an estimated $2 million in damages. The kitchen and attic suffered major damage, in addition to extensive smoke and water damage to the business.
Norman said the blaze started in the office and spread upward and into the kitchen. He said there was no evidence of an accelerant.

The Visalia Fire Department is the lead agency in the investigation, police said, adding the investigation is still in the fire department's hands.

Ken Fitzgerald, Kevin Duyst and Dr. Tu-Hi Hong are owners of the business which is in its fourth year of operation. They say they plan to re-open as soon as possible.

Fitzgerald, a Visalia attorney, said the roof and attic and other structural components will have to be rebuilt and he expects the job to take several months to complete. He said insurance coverage is covering ongoing operating expenses, including help to employees. There were 32 employees at the restaurant and pub.

Fitzgerald said despite the economic downturn which has slowed restaurant business in general, Doogle McGuire's was doing well and that July was the best month.

“Nobody was getting rich, but nobody was losing any sleep over the finances of the business,” Fitzgerald said. He said insurance never covers all losses, but he is confident the business will be open as soon as possible.

More than 30 firefighters battled the blaze which had engulfed the business before they arrived.
Several nearby businesses escaped damage and there were no injuries reported.

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What's New

The state budget stalemate is taking its toll on College of the Sequoias. To meet anticipated cash needs, the district borrowed $3.4 million at the end of May. The cost of the borrowing through the month of August will be $40,856. The District is planning to borrow $2.8 million on Aug. 25 to cover payroll for August. The estimated cost for that borrowing for five days in August is $1,130. If a budget is not passed by September, it will need to borrow an estimated $6 million to cover payroll, accounts payable and capital projects. The District will withdraw Tax Revenue Anticipation Note (TRAN) funds Sept. 1.

Amendments to the High Speed Rail proposition - Prop. 1 on the November ballot - were approved by state lawmakers last week, but it appears not in time to replace the original ballot measure. Officials still hope to replace the new measure, but if that is not possible, they may place a second measure on the ballot with basically the same wording and with the one that gets the most votes becoming law, should they both get more than 50 percent voter approval. The new language will make it more attractive to more voters in the state, critical for passage of the $9.95 billion measure, say supporters.

Staying with the High Speed rail measure, a coalition against the preferred route from the Bay Area into the San Joaquin Valley filed a lawsuit last week to order a new environmental study. The group opposes using the Pacheco Pass route and instead favors the more northerly Altamont Pass route.

Backers of Prop. 2, the animal welfare initiative, have poured $4.2 million into the measure, according to campaign finance statements filed with the California secretary of state last Thursday. Of that, $3.3 million has come from the Humane Society of the United States, which is based in Washington, DC. Farm Sanctuary, an animal rights group in New York, has given $200,000. Opponents, including several out-of-state egg producers, have raised $1.7 million.

Gottschalks, with a store in Visalia, reported second quarter sales were off 7.3 percent and July same store sales were off 2.1 percent. Total sales for July were $39.4 million, compared to $41.1 million for the same period last year. For the quarter, sales were $133.7 million, compared to $145 million for the same period last year.

Saputo Inc., which has a large cheese plant in Tulare, reported net earnings for the first quarter of fiscal al 2009, which ended June 30, totaled $83 million ($0.40 basic per share), an increase of $14.6 million compared to $68.4 million ($0.33 basic per share) for the same quarter last fiscal year. Consolidated revenues for the quarter ended June 30, amounted to $1.362 billion, an increase of $135 million or 11% over the $1.227 billion for the corresponding quarter last fiscal year. The increase was due mainly to the company's USA Dairy Products Sector.

Gas prices have dropped more than 10 percent the past few weeks and for the first time in nearly two months a number “3” now is the first number in the price.

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Top of the News

East County Mosquito
District Studied

Tulare County - The Local Agency Formation Commission (LAFCo) has this month taken the first step in forming an East County Mosquito Abatement District.

LAFCo approved the plan to form the district last week and set up a steering committee to advise LAFCo of the best way to proceed. A memo from George Finney of LAFCo said the district would include the cities of Porterville and Lindsay, as well as Strathmore, Three Rivers, Springville and Terra Bella.

The district requires approval of its residents to tax themselves in support of the activities fighting the spread of West Nile virus. Unlike the rest of the county, in the eastern part of Tulare County there is no abatement district in place.
“The big question is how we are going to pay for it,” says committee member and Porterville City Councilman Pete McCracken. “We're hoping for a positive outcome out of this.” McCracken expects that if it moves forward, “we'll be looking at some creative financing.”

So far this year, one human case of West Nile was reported and 44 dead birds collected were found to have the disease.

Porterville, Tribe Bill
Awaits Governor's Signature

The City of Porterville and the Tule River Indian tribe will be among the first to see if Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger holds his promise to not sign any new legislation until state lawmakers pass a 2008-09 state budget.

Last week, legislation allowing the City of Porterville and the tribe to jointly develop 200 acres near the Porterville Airport was approved by both the Assembly and the state Senate.

The agreement setting up the joint power authority, Porterville Airport Area Development Authority (PAADA), would pave the way for the tribe to build a resort and casino at the airport site. However, the governor has pledge to veto any bills until the Legislature passes a state budget (now more than 40 days past due).

The bill, AB 1884, by Assemblyman Bill Maze, was approved by the Assembly with the Senate revisions on Thursday.
John Lollis, assistant city manager for Porterville, said they will have to wait and see what the governor does. He said the bill is critical to the tribe's plans to build its casino at the airport and for other future developments at the airport in the southwest corner of the city.

He said the state continues to work on purchasing the land where the fairgrounds sit. While there has been no formal purchase, Lollis said the city and state continue to talk and he expects escrow to open later this year.

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