Large New Catholic Church Planned

Visalia - With the Catholic Church population growing to where it now stands at nearly 13,000 people in Visalia alone, Visalia Catholics are finalizing plans for a brand new parish – St. Charles Borromeo – to be constructed at Caldwell Avenue and Akers Street.

“The new church is needed by growth,” said the Monsignor Ray Dreiling, head of the Catholic Church in Visalia. “This church should have been built 10 years ago, but with the lack of priests, that wasn't doable,” he added.

That lack of priests has led to all of the Catholic churches in the Visalia area being consolidated under one administration.

Until recently, all churches were separate and operated by the priest assigned that parish. However, Dreiling said, the scarcity of priests forced them to bring all the churches – St. Anthony, Holy Family, St. Mary's, St. Thomas in Goshen and St. Felipe in Ivanhoe – under the single administration.

“Visalia only has four priests and one part-time priest who is retired,” said Dreiling. It also has six deacons. Even with that shortage, Dreiling said Visalia is doing better than some other areas of the nation. “We're blessed to have a number of priests,” he said.

However, those four priests are spread thin. On a weekend, there are 16 masses said in Visalia, four of those on Saturday night. “We estimate we have about 8,000 families and 13,000 Catholics,” he added.

The monsignor said consolidating churches under one administration is a trend within the Catholic Church. “It's a new kind of approach the Catholic Church is doing – to cluster different churches under one pastor,” he said.

Large Plans

With the growing number of Catholics and mostly small chapels, the new chapel will provide the local Catholic Church the ability to accommodate more people at one time.

“With the merger, we need a place than can sit about 2,000 to accommodate the services we do. If it is what we hope to build, it will be the largest church in the diocese,” Dreiling said. He added, because it will be so large, the Bishop (of the Roman Catholic Church Fresno Diocese) will use it as a venue to hold large events such as confirmations, ordinations for priests and deacons and for ceremonies for adults who enter the church.

“Visalia will be the center of the whole thing,” he said.

The main sanctuary, infrastructure and parking lot make up phase one of a seven-phase project, Dreiling said. The price tag on that phase alone is $12 million, of which about half has already been raised. He added the beginning of construction on the 23-24,000-square-foot main sanctuary is still probably a year away. The architect is Dennis Hyndman of Hyndman and Hyndman.

Right now, the church is going through the planning process. It hopes to begin some infrastructure work late this year.

“God willing, if we get the money for first phase we can get it done by year 2010 at the latest.”

The name of the church comes from two sources. St. Charles is in honor of Monsignor Charles O'Mahony who was responsible for the building of St. Mary's Church in the 1950s. St. Charles Borromeo is a patron saint.

Not only is the new, 2,200-capacity church planned for Visalia, but long-term plans include a new school – pre-kindergarten through eighth grade, along with several other buildings, including a new rectory, a youth center, a smaller chapel (500 capacity), and outdoor amphitheater and offices.

Phase 2 will include a parish center (17,000 square feet) and the amphitheater.

Phase 3 will be the office; phase 4 more parking and the youth center; phase 5 the smaller chapel; phase 6 the rectory; and the final phase the school.

“That's way, way down the line,” said Dreiling of the school, explaining it is probably 20 or more years away. “This is a long-term project. The goal is to get the church done right away.” He said they don't even have an estimate of the total cost of the entire project.

“We have about $5.6 million already. We just have to get a fire built under a lot of people,” he added.

Visalia is not the only area Catholic Church undergoing growth. A new church is being built in Reedley and a new one is being built in Lemoore. Work is underway on a new youth center at St. Anthony's retreat in Three Rivers.

“That will be a wonderful addition to our ministries,” Dreiling said of the project that is expected to be done next year.

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Plastics Recycling Firm Gets Nearly $1 Million Loan

Visalia - Viscotec, which operates an agricultural plastics recycling facility in Tulare, is getting a $980,000 loan to finance equipment and extend working capital.

The loan was approved by the California Integrated Waste Management Board.

Plant Manager Ron Olivares said the company plans to purchase two wash lines and one extruder to wash and process waste plastic material into plastic (PET) resin pellets.

The plant is located in south Tulare at 600 E. Continental Ave., the former Reynolds and Reynolds commercial printing plant. Currently, the operation employs five workers with projections to have 30 workers. The improvements will divert at least an additional 12,000 tons of agricultural plastic waste per year, Olivares said.

The facility currently produces about a ton of pellets per hour. When a second production line is up and running, Olivares said, that number will at least double.

Equipment for that line should arrive in a couple months with production tentatively scheduled in about four months, he said.

The pellets are trucked in containers with most of them exported to Indonesia, Taiwan and other overseas sites. Some are shipped to Southern California and a Tulare County company is testing the pellets for use in its products, Olivares said.

The loan represents 53 percent of the total expansion cost of $1.86 million. Stockholders and other investors are providing loan matching funds.

Olivares said the facility already has been making pellets for several months but equipment problems, mostly with the integrating certain electrical systems, have stymied production schedules.

Viscotec, incorporated in 2006, is owned by brothers Pin Juo Chou (president and chairman) and Pin Yen Chou (chief financial officer and treasurer). Viscotec is affiliated with Chaung Tieh Plastic Machinery Co. Ltd., a Taiwan-based plastics recycling equipment manufacturing company.

Last October, Viscotec entered into a lease agreement for the 80,000-sq.-ft. industrial building located in Tulare's Industrial Park, after initially considering building a facility at Sequoia Field where it continues to collect waste materials brought in by growers. The company switched to the Tulare site, enabling it to speed up the start of production.

Waste materials include mulch film, drip lines and drip tape, silage covers, rain caps (used to cover grape vines), film plastics and plastic twines used for bailing. Material collected at Sequoia Field is being moved to the Tulare site as storage space is available, Olivares said.

Last year, the company contracted with Berg Mill Supply, Inc., a large broker of plastics and other raw materials, to gather collected wastes from farms, landfills and transfer stations throughout the Central Valley.

Growers and others having agricultural plastic waste can bring the materials to the Tulare site at no cost, avoiding dumping fees and other charges for landfills and other disposals methods.

In announcing the loan approval, the state agency board chairman, Margo Reid G. Brown, said, “Now, more than ever, it is important for the Board to support these innovation leaders that are working to minimize threats to California's fragile environment.”

In the last couple of years, Tulare County has become a focus of the agricultural waste recycling efforts with several companies, including Viscotec and America Goes Green in Terra Bella, gathering and processing materials. Others use recycled plastics to produce their products.

A Waste Board study in 2004 found that plastic film, packaging containers and other plastic items make up 9.5 percent, or 3.8 million tons of the waste disposed each year in California landfills. Plastic materials released into the environment, the study states, can also be harmful to wildlife because the materials do not decompose but merely accumulate creating long-term environmental problems.

The state's recycling industry, the Board says, accounts for 85,000 jobs and generates $4 billion in salaries and wages while producing $10 billion worth of goods and services annually.

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Visalia Business Leaders Discuss Growth Plans

By Steve Pastis

Visalia - How do we take the community's desire for sustainable growth and put it into a plan?” asked Steve Peck, vice president of Mangano Company, at a panel discussion on Tuesday morning. The question summed up the focus of “Look Who's Talking,” an event sponsored by the Visalia Chamber of Commerce.

Peck and other panelists – Visalia City Council Member Greg Collins and Darlene Mata of DR Mata Consulting – answered questions presented by moderator Brad Maaske, broker with Realty World.

“I would like the business community to give input to our growth plans,” Maaske said before the panel discussion. He added that public hearings don't really accomplish this because they usually attract more activists and “people with certain agendas” than businesspeople. “The business community is generally too busy, too hard at work to attend.”

Maaske used the podium to point out that slow growth results in high property costs, noting that property values in Dallas are half those in Visalia
“You can also over plan,” he said, giving the example of Santa Barbara which eliminated restaurant drive-throughs and limited parking to encourage more use of mass transit. “They have the highest business failure rate in the country.”

The panelists were asked what they want the city to be in 20 years.

“The important point is not the answer we all have in our minds, but how we get to that answer,” said Peck.

The panelists shared opinions of how regional efforts, as well as competition from other cities in the area, affect what the city does. Collins said that agencies such as TCAG and the air quality district get involved with issues in Visalia. “And the county is trying to do our planning for us on our fringes,” he said.

Peck said that other South Valley cities, including Tulare, Porterville and Hanford, are now “bigger players than they were.”

“We're always in competition,” Collins said. “But if you plan for quality in your community, you're going to get quality employers in your community.”

The issue of transportation impact fees was briefly discussed. Collins called reducing development fees “a double-edged sword,” explaining that you would have to raise fees on someone else.

The main issue debated at the seminar was whether the city needed a comprehensive update of its master plan.

“The jury is still out,” said Collins, who then spoke against the idea. “General plan updates are very expensive ventures – I'd say millions (of dollars). Depending on how comprehensive you want to be, it can take two or three years.”

Collins suggested instead that the existing plan be given some “fine-tuning.”

Peck compared the city's general plan to a car that was wearing out, and said that the city should avoid “cobbling together” a plan that may have “four years of life.”

He said that the city should create a new comprehensive update that will last for 20 years, and be more cost effective per year.

“Visalia has never had a comprehensive update,” said Peck, who noted that Dinuba and Porterville are among the Valley cities which “just finished comprehensive updates.”

The comprehensive plan's land usage section was last updated in 1991 and the safety section was written in the mid-1970s, according to Mata, who said the safety portion includes “phrases that women should not be policemen or firemen.”

SB375, recently signed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, was discussed at various times during the gathering. The state senate bill seeks to stimulate concentric growth and reduce traffic in cities by taking transportation funds from cities which don't show a plan for reducing traffic. One of the bill's goals is to increase the public use of mass transit.

Maaske said that people prefer driving because they can go where they want, when they want. “We think cars are mass transit,” he said.

“Things in SB375 are things that Visalia is already doing,” said Collins. “In regard to mass transportation, all over the county, ridership is increasing significantly. Our ridership in Visalia has gone up 6-10 percent and I think it will go up 6-10 percent next year.

“It doesn't take a social change – it takes $5-a-gallon gasoline,” he added.

The possibility of creating high-density areas in the city, specifically along Mooney Boulevard, was discussed. Collins said that he has seen some well-designed high-density residences in Irvine and Palo Alto.

“Density has gotten a bad name, primarily because of bad design,” he said.

“People move here to avoid density – even more than sprawl,” said Peck, who again spoke for a comprehensive review of the general plan. He added that it was important for the city to have a consensus on the “five big ideas” of the plan.

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County Faces One-Day Strike

By Miles Shuper

Tulare County - In the midst of yet another plea for county officials to return to the bargaining table, Tulare County workers announced a one-day strike to drive home their contention the county is treating a large number of workers unfairly.

The strike was scheduled from 6 a.m. to as late as 5:30 p.m. Wednesday but would not involve any essential county staff, said officials of Service Employees International Union Local 521 which represents about 2,700 county workers. But union official Tom Abshere, who announced the strike, could not say how many workers would go out on strike.

Sheriff's and County Fire Department personnel are not involved in that union and county officials said no essential services would be disrupted. Main sites for the strike will be the Visalia Court House at the Civic Center at Mooney and Burrel, the Porterville Government Plaza on West Henderson and the Visalia Government Plaza on South Mooney across from Mooney Grove Park.

The announcement came at mid-morning Tuesday near the end of the regular session of county supervisors.

Union officials also announced an unfair labor practice complaint has been filed against the county. On Sept. 23, the county rejected the latest union offer and imposed its own final offer granting union members a 2.75 percent raise, a one-time $500 cash payment and some increases in health care benefits.

For the last several weeks, various union members have addressed the board citing personal examples of being unable to make ends meet, especially in health care, noting that some county workers are forced to seek welfare benefits for their families.

The county has admitted its pay scale for many positions is below those for other Valley counties and efforts are being made to address that, but the demands by the SEIU unions simply are beyond the county's fiscal means.

Workers, however, dispute that and point to higher wage increases given to management positions while those who are struggling at low pay levels are being unfairly treated.

The union says management has been given wage increases of up to 10 percent each year and that County Supervisors are the third highest paid in the Valley.

Employees have been working without a contract since June 30 and now are paid according to the scheduled approved by the Board last month.

Union officials would not say what future actions would be taken.

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Diesel Rule Has Many Fuming

By Rick Elkins

Tulare County - Aproposal by the California Air Resources Board (CARB) to reduce diesel engine emissions by basically requiring all diesel engines to be retrofitted or replaced with newer engines has farmers and school officials both concerned.

The CARB is expected to issue its draft report on Oct. 24 and while some progress has been made in getting the CARB to soften its stance, no one is comfortable with the pending outcome.

“We're making some progress. Importance is trying to educate the ARB staff.

Everyone falls under this, except the military,” said Manuel Cunha of the Neisi Farmers League, one of the farm groups that have been trying to get the CARB to understand that many diesel trucks are used only at harvest time.

The proposed diesel-soot regulations from the Air Board would also require schools to buy new buses — they average about $165,000 each — or retrofit older ones at $20,000 or more per bus.

So far, said Robert Groeber, assistant superintendent business services of the Visalia Unified School District, the air board has seemed reluctant to budge on its proposal.

The regulations by the state Air Resources Board aimed at reducing emissions from diesel engines will impact about 400,000 in-state, on-road diesel vehicles and about another 1.2 million from out of state. Thousands of school buses will either have to be retrofitted or replaced, at a cost in the millions of dollars statewide.

The Visalia District has 24 buses that fall into the category of needing replacement or retrofitting, with 15 buses older than 1986. Another 10-12 buses are 1987-1996 models. The proposed CARB rule would require any buses older than 1977 to be replaced and those 1978-2006 to be retrofitted or replaced.

Diesel soot causes about 2,900 premature deaths a year in California, about 3,600 hospital admissions and some 240,000 asthma attacks and respiratory symptoms, according to the ARB. In 1998, California identified diesel exhaust particulate matter (PM) as a toxic air contaminant based on its potential to cause cancer, premature death and other health problems. Diesel engines also contribute to California's fine particulate matter (PM2.5) air quality problems. Those most vulnerable are children whose lungs are still developing and the elderly who may have other serious health problems.

“The agriculture industry is working very close and aggressively to deal with the truck rule that goes to the board Dec. 11-12,” said Cunha. “We're trying to make the truck rule workable for the ag industry.”

He said because of the uniqueness of the ag industry and the seasonal nature of farming, much of the diesel-powered equipment targeted by the CARB is not used year round. Also, he added, it is well maintained because farmers can't afford to buy new equipment every year because they are not able to pass along costs to the consumers.

Cunha wants to see a rule that is workable and flexible. “The (ag) industry is not asking for exemptions but a timeline that makes sense for our industry and by doing that, it allows funding to be available downstream.”

He echoed what others are saying – there is not enough money available to assist everyone to retrofit or replace their engines. The rule applies to any diesel truck one-and-a-half tons or larger.

Last month, the Air Board said the program that grants funds for replacing and retrofitting polluting diesel engines had three times as much money requested as it has money.

The Air District offered up to $50,000 for each truck replacement and up to $5,000 for installing control devices on existing trucks. More than $135 million in requests was received by the Air District, but it only had $40 million.

Cunha said the rule would require truck owners to get a new or newer truck, a 2007 or newer, by 2012. Trucks built 1998 to 2005 can be retrofitted. “But the retrofit kits cost more than the value of the truck. And, by 2012 they still must replace those older trucks with a 2010 or newer engine.”

If you have a 2005 truck or older, you have to comply with 2010 or newer truck by 2015.

The proposed rules call for the highest level of particulate matter control technology available and NOx emissions from every diesel-powered vehicle to be equal to or less than exhaust emissions from a 2007 model-year engine.

Because so many agricultural vehicles are highly customized, are operated seasonally and often remain within a limited geographic range, farm equipment usually is older than that of commercial transport fleets. It is common for agricultural vehicles to be kept in operation for several years – sometimes decades longer than fleet-operated, long-haul trucks.

As proposed, for pre-2004 engine models, NOx exhaust emissions must be reduced by at least 70 percent to be equivalent to an engine that meets the 2007 federal emissions standards for heavy-duty diesel-fueled engines.

For 2004 to 2006 engines, NOx exhaust emissions must be reduced by at least 40 percent to be equivalent to an engine that meets the 2007 federal standards.

According to Cunha, the CARB estimated the cost to be $4-5 billion. “We estimated the cost was close to $10 billion and if you add out-of-state trucks that come in here, it's closer to $40 billion.”

He acknowledged the CARB is talking to every group, but discussions will come to an end prior to Oct. 24 when the proposed rule goes out for 45-day comment.
“It's not negotiations. Call it have a tremendous dialogue with ARB. We are educating them. Are we accomplishing much? I would say we are making some movement. Schools and independent trucking are doing the same.

“We will continually communicate and work with the staff and see if we can get a proposed rule that makes sense for our industry (ag).”

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What's New

Gas prices have dropped nearly $1 since reaching new all-time records in June, according to the Automobile Club of Southern California's “Weekend Gas Watch.” The price for a gallon of unleaded gasoline in Visalia as of Monday was $3.71 a gallon, down from the high of $4.66 reached in late June. The price is still higher than a year ago when a gallon was selling for $3.06. Diesel prices have not fallen as drastically. As of Monday, the price for a gallon of diesel in Visalia was $4.03, nearly a dollar higher than the $3.28 a gallon price a year ago. The struggling economy is being credited for the drop in gas prices and for crude oil prices falling below $90 a barrel this week.

Another sign of the tough economic times we are in. New car sales in California in August were the worst they have been in more than a decade. According to statistics, only 95,673 new vehicles were registered during the month, down 30 percent from the 135,835 vehicles registered in July. You'd have to go back before 1996 to find a worst month.

Visalia City Council Monday approved the construction of dugouts for the Recreation Park diamond. The dugouts are expected to cost $715,000, but that money was already included in the original $11.6 million price tag for renovations at the ballpark that is home to the Visalia Oaks.

Los Angeles-based fashion retailer Forever 21 Inc. says it has offered to buy 149 Mervyns stores from the privately held company. Mervyns LLC of Hayward, which is in Chapter 11 bankruptcy, would not comment. Mervyns is closing 26 of its 175 stores. The remainder would be bought by Forever 21, if the offer were accepted. Stores in Visalia and Tulare have not been listed among those slated for closure.

Rep. Anna Eshoo, D-Palo Alto, has introduced a bill in Congress to protect national forests, federal lands and wildlife refuges from aggressive logging tactics, including having the Giant Sequoia National Monument transferred from National Forest jurisdiction to the National Park Service.

The Visalia City Council awarded a $76,444 contract to Yarbs Enterprise for the construction of the St. Johns River Trail Project.

The Delano-Earlimart Irrigation District has installed a solar tracking system with panels that follow the sun throughout the day that will provide enough energy to meet 95 percent of energy needs at the district headquarters in Delano.

More area codes coming? Kern County supervisors passed a resolution last week urging the California Public Utilities Commission not to create an overlay area code in the 760 area code, which covers parts of eastern Kern County and stretches down to San Diego County, saying there are too many already.

The state's water crisis attracted Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's attention as he approved $842 million to boost the water supply and bolster endangered levees. Nearly $900 million will soon be available from state coffers for water projects all over California under a measure Schwarzenegger signed to distribute some of the water and flood control bonds passed by voters two years ago. The bill includes no money for dam construction.

The Bureau of Reclamation's Central Valley Project (CVP) is carrying over approximately 3.9 million acre-feet of water, 35 percent of capacity, into Water Year 2009. This is little more than half the 15-year carry-over average of 6.7 million acre-feet. The Bureau of Reclamation's water year runs from October 1 to September 30. Carry-over storage is the combined amount of water remaining at the end of the water year in the Shasta, Trinity, Folsom and New Melones reservoirs, and the federal share of the joint federal/state San Luis Reservoir.

President Bush signed into law a measure to provide $1.645 billion for a four-year extension of the Secure Rural Schools and Community Self Determination Act, which will provide $1 million for Tulare County schools. The bill also includes a provision to authorize $1.684 billion for four-year funding of the Payment in Lieu of Taxes (PILT) program.

That's a total of approximately $3.3 billion in funding for rural communities. Senate Bill 1548, authored by Sen. Dean Florez, D-Shafter, calls for five city council members from within the eight-county air district to serve on the Air District's governing board. Under the measure, each city council within the air district will choose one of its members to serve on a selection committee. That committee will ultimately choose two council members from large cities, those with a population of greater than 100,000, and three council members from small cities, those with a population under 100,000.

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City Building Activity
Slows Considerably

Visalia - Construction activity in Visalia slowed to a crawl in September, the slowest month in more than six years.
Total building valuation in September amounted to just $11.88 million. That compares to $33.3 million for September of last year, but to just $13.2 million in August.

You'd have to go back to March of 2002 to find a lower building valuation. In that month, way before the building boom hit the area, total valuation was just $11.85 million.

The city did issue 41 permits for new home construction at a total valuation of $7.6 million. That is not the worst month of the year – only 29 new home permits were issued in July – but it definitely points to the continued slowdown in housing construction.

Pamela Sing, senior administrative analyst with the city, noted that the average size of homes has been going down, along with the average price of new homes. In September, the average square footage of homes was 1,739 s.f., down from 1,764 s.f. in August and 2,083 s.f. in June.

The average price for the new homes – based on the building permit that does not include the price of the lot – was $185,044, down from $187,721 in August and $226,489 in June.

For the year, the city has issued 445 permits for new homes. At this time last year, it had issued 705 new home permits. The most new home permits issued by the city was 1,450 in 2005. The city is on pace to issue 600 permits this year, which would be the fewest in more than a decade.

The city issued no permits for apartments and issued only two small commercial projects totaling $967,500 combined.

Officials Concerned with
State Special Session

Visalia - Visalia City Manager Steve Salomon cautioned city council members Monday that a rumored special session of the State Legislature could change the state's budget picture and hit local governments with new budget cuts.

Most officials agree that local governments dodged the budget bullet last month when the Legislature finally (89 days late) agreed on a 2008-09 spending plan, but recent developments in the economy, the trouble the state may have in borrowing money, lower tax revenues than expected and a judge's statement that the state may have to come up with $3.5 billion for the prison healthcare system, may change everything.

On Monday, lawmakers generally agreed a special session of the Legislature may be needed. It could come before the Nov. 4 general election, or more likely after the election.

In the meantime, local leaders will keep their fingers crossed.

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