Signs of Life Amid Signs 'For Lease’

By John Lindt

Visalia - Drive down Sunnyview Avenue in the Visalia Industrial Park and witness a sea of “For Lease” signs at many of the street's huge warehouses and industrial buildings. On the other hand, this is also the place where Visalia will likely see the first signs of a rebound once it happens.

That's because this is probably the best place to reach the entire west coast if you want ship some widgets overnight.

There is another visible sign on this same street that declares “Now Hiring” at one industrial park business with plenty of cars parked out front – even on Saturdays.
Serpa Packaging makes million dollar machines in Visalia that package pharmaceuticals and cosmetics. The company is planning a 31,000-square-foot addition to its plant this year and has posted job openings for every skill from engineers to assembly workers. The company expects to grow the workforce to over 100.

Across the street – half of the 200,000-square-foot Custom Chrome building has just been subleased to Texas-based Fleetpride Inc. that plans to open the 110,000-square-foot facility in the second quarter, said marketing manager Melinda Riley. The plan will employ 15 workers. The company sells heavy duty truck parts through a network of 186 repair facilities. Visalia will be the company's west coast distribution center, says broker Stewart Randall of Colliers Tingy.

In a good news/bad news sort of way, Custom Chrome will keep half of the huge building, continuing to sell its aftermarket motorcycle parts for Harleys. “We realized that we had to downsize our building and sublease it to stay competitive in the market.” said Visalia regional manager Bill McClure. “We probably employed 32 a year ago but now we are down to23 workers.” Still, McClure is optimistic that its new line of products will help it move forward. The company, which has been in Visalia since 1995, relocating from the Bay Area, was purchased by a Korean firm last year after its former parent firm declared bankruptcy.

This pattern – subdividing larger space to smaller in tough times – can be seen all over the park.

The economy has yet to absorb all the space and there are plenty of vacancies with some large buildings taking on a bombed-out look. Other spaces are very modern “tilt-up” buildings that were constructed just a few years ago.

We are actually doing a little better than just a few months ago, said commercial broker Doug Burr, with the subleasing of some vacant space from Spectrum Brands – that has half a million square feet – to Dairy America. The dairy company affiliated with Visalia's California Dairies took 230,000 square feet for powder storage.

Empty Space

Despite the deal, “we have around 800,000 to a million square feet of empty buildings” in the industrial park, estimates Burr.

Hurting plans to build new buildings and to draw new companies to town is the bargain price on existing buildings of just 23 cents per square foot, says Burr. But the cheap rent could also help the park come roaring back if and when companies seeking space sense an opportunity here.

Indeed, one large company in stealth mode is weighing this industrial park, with others in the Central Valley in a build-to-suit option for around 800,000 square feet and is said to be close to a decision.

Helping to draw the firm are economic basics including the central location and easy highway access. But also a factor is companies wanting to expand don't want to miss the extremely low construction costs right now. The distribution center would be a fine catch for any town with 300 jobs.

The industrial park has seen its inventory of space build up in recent years with the closure or sale of various companies including Alcoa/Reynolds leaving a vacant 175,000-square-foot plant vacant on Goshen Avenue that is still for lease. Back on Sunnyview, one former Reynolds companies – Ivex – vacated 100,000 square feet last year and relocated part of its business to Plaza Drive. Some companies have moved to Fresno while others like Heller Polymers have downsized – now trying to sell vacant Doe Avenue land off along with one of those bombed-out looking buildings full of graffiti. Heller does have one plant still in operation at the site.
Closure last year of 84 Lumber off of Goshen Avenue has left a large boarded-up eyesore at the Highway 99 entrance to the city.

One new area developed by American Inc.'s Butch Oldfield offers smaller 5-acre parcels with some new classy businesses like American Ceramic Tile.

Good News

Along Doe Avenue, there is another hopeful sign of activity at Butler Manufacturing where several industrial buildings are going up this month. “We expect to be up to 150 workers when we are done,” says a worker driving a forklift on the sprawling grounds.

Just when it looked hopeless for the workers at CTX Building Supply last year at its Goshen Avenue plant, ProBuild bought the operation and still employs about 50 today. The company just held its open house.

Also, a garage door spring company is moving to the park in coming weeks, opening a new manufacturing and distribution facility. Like UPS that has touted the area for years – this company too sees Visalia as the low-cost location to ship its widgets to customers in the West.

Harder to Keep on Truckin'

By John Lindt

Visalia - With fewer goods coming in and out of West Coast ports, freight haulers large and small are seeing a decline in business in the 25 to 30 percent range, idling trucks and forcing some truckers to look for work elsewhere.

A Plaza Avenue trucking firm in Visalia, TLN Inc., will put on hold a planned new warehouse in the industrial park because of the slowdown, despite the fact this week the city is expected to give the project a green light.

“There's so much warehouse space in the Visalia industrial park it makes no sense for us to build more even though we would like to,” says company President Kathe Newsome. “You can get all the space you need at 25 cents a square foot,” says Newsome. “We will put the project on hold for two or three years and hope it gets better.”

TLN Inc. is a small company with 22 trucks and 46 trailers. The company had plans to build its office at 1212 N. Plaza where it parks its trucks. The company, operating here for 15 years, employs 35 and earlier this year told the Voice it hopes to grow to add another 15 employees.

Newsome says local trucking firms have simply parked their fleets in many cases – some with for sale signs on them.

Newsome says trucking rates are down about 25 percent with a fierce scramble for business among those who are left. She has scorn for middlemen and brokers who undersell the guy who does the hauling.

Newsome says drivers are walking through the door every day looking for work – some who have given up on their rigs. “That's where we get some of our best drivers.”

Big firms are in trouble too with the slide in demand hurting profits, including publicly traded Knight Transportation that has a big hub in Tulare.

According to a recent survey, 21 percent of truckload carriers suggested that they were likely to consider liquidating in the coming six months.

In its most recent financial statement, Knight said “a substantial number of small and midsized carriers have been forced into bankruptcy due to tight credit, high and volatile fuel prices, and challenging industry pricing. “We believe that this dynamic could eventually set the stage for tighter industry capacity,” the company said.

Heartland Express – another large carrier – said, “High fuel prices, a tightening economy, and tight credit drove many in the industry to bankruptcy. This, along with the harsh realities of declining freight volumes, will make it an even tougher operating environment and more difficult for the weaker carriers to survive.”

Container traffic shipped from the big ports of the state has collapsed in recent months. The L.A. and Long Beach ports, for example, account for 40 percent of U.S. inbound container movements. Business is the worst it has been in 25 years.
The L.A. port has announced that container traffic through L.A. fell 33 percent in February with ports down 35 percent on imports and inbound traffic just 28 percent.

Rail traffic is down 22 percent at Union Pacific through March 7, the company announced.

Trucking firms that once had a presence in Visalia, including Condor, are now gone. Real estate broker Doug Burr says the company-owned by DATS Trucking has relocated to Fresno, leaving a 16,000-square-foot trucking terminal at Plaza and Goshen Avenue vacant.

Fan Fest to Come to Visalia in 2010

By Steve Pastis

Visalia - The Great Western Fan Festival, which claims the title of the “largest Christian music event west of the Rockies,” is coming to the Visalia Convention Center in 2010. The three-day event, also known as Fan Fest, will provide a full schedule of entertainment for about 3,000 people from April 30 to May 2, 2010.
“We've been working on this for the last couple of years,” said Wally Roeben, general manager of the Visalia Convention Center. “Because of the size of the group, it's a perfect fit.”

Contracts were sent to the event organizers last week following their verbal acceptance of the convention center's offer, according to Roeben.

“We were able to put together a package that suits them,” he said, adding that there were a few hurdles in the negotiations, such as date and parking challenges. “They bring a lot of RVs so we've been working with the airport and Plaza Park to run a shuttle.

Roeben estimated that the event would bring $500,000 to the city over the three days, including 900 sleep nights in local hotels. “It's a big win for the Convention & Visitors Bureau, the city and for us,” he said. “It's been a collaborative effort.”
This year's Fan Fest will be held at the Save Mart Center in Fresno beginning late next month and feature entertainment by more than 30 Christian music artists including Legacy Five, Greater Vision, Kim Hopper, Ben Speer, Dennis Swanberg, the Henry Family and Liberty. Other events include a songwriters' showcase, receptions, devotionals and an ice cream social.

Order of Eastern Star

Fan Fest is not the only big event scheduled to come to Visalia for the first time.
In October, the Order of Eastern Star will host its convention at the Visalia Convention Center, bringing about 2,500 people to Visalia, according to Roeben. “It will occupy every sleeping room we can find, including in the outlying areas,” he said.

“We've been able to bring this event to Visalia specifically because of the telescopic seating we have at the convention center,” he said, referring to the seating that was installed two years ago to attract large groups and events.

Order of Eastern Star describes itself as “a social order comprised of persons with spiritual values, but it is not a religion,” and “the largest fraternal organization in the world to which both women and men may belong.” It has approximately 1 million members, according to its website.

The group, which has had its recent conventions in Fresno and Bakersfield, has also signed up to have its 2011 convention at the Visalia Convention Center.

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Tule River Tribe Banishes Member

By Claudia Elliott

Tule River Reservation - For most of the last three decades, Sonnie Mae Rubio has called the Tule River Reservation home.

Now she is not sure where she will live or whether she will be able to keep her job or have access to health care since the Tule River Tribal Council voted on Tuesday, Feb. 24, to banish her from the reservation.

Tribal Chairman Ryan Garfield said the emergency banishment was prompted by a request from Sonnie Mae's ex-husband, Fred M. Rubio Jr., who is a member of the Tule River Tribe. Whether the banishment will become permanent depends upon the outcome of a hearing that Sonnie Mae may request, Garfield said.

Sonnie Mae is not a member of the Tule River Tribe, but is a Native American. She is of the Tolowa Nation in Del Norte County on California's north coast. She said that she and Fred met while students at the Sherman Indian High School in Riverside. They married, had five children together, separated 11 years ago and were officially divorced in February 2008. They also share nine grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.

Garfield said it is “common knowledge” on the reservation that Sonnie Mae and Fred have had their difficulties. Sonnie Mae obtained a restraining order against Fred in April 2007. Since the reservation community area is small, Fred is concerned that he will be put in a position of violating the order and that this will cause legal problems for him, the Tribal Chairman said.

During the meeting with the Tribal Council, Garfield said that Fred told the council it is hard for him to “keep turning the other cheek.” The Tribal Chairman said a number of Sonnie Mae's family members have expressed concerned for her safety and that the emergency banishment order was done for her safety as much as it was to respond to Fred's concerns.

Fred Rubio said he believed the action by the Tribal Council was necessary to ensure him privacy. He declined further comment.

But a group of tribal women have organized in opposition to the banishment and claim that the Tule River Tribal Council has allowed Fred to use it as his “right hand” to “continue abuse” of Sonnie.

Calling themselves “Red Women Rising,” the group has initiated a petition and letter-writing campaign.

In a letter to the council, Tribal member Zona Franco expressed support for Sonnie Mae and “outrage” at the council's decision.

“She has not committed any crimes and has not been a threat to anyone here, nor does she intend to be of harm to anyone,” Franco wrote.

“On the contrary, Sonnie Mae has been a great role model for substance abuse prevention…she has been an advocate for those in need through our women's wellness classes and as a member of the Catholic Church. She does not have a criminal record, either, and having her removed from her home in such a manner is abusive.”

Franco said the action was particularly disappointing to her because of the efforts she and others have made to draw attention to the need to protect women.
Sonnie Mae and Fred have lived separately for the past 11 years and for the past five years Sonnie Mae has lived on the reservation in the home of Denise Hunter, a friend who is a tribal member.

Only one of the couple's five children is currently a minor and he is away at school, Sonnie said. She noted that Fred has physical custody of the child with the two sharing joint legal custody and said she pays child support to Fred.

Prior to the divorce proceedings she obtained a restraining order for protection from domestic violence abuse by Fred which is good through April 20, 2010.

Sonnie Mae said she believes that in going to the Tribal Council to seek her banishment from the Reservation, Fred has violated the terms of the restraining order because she views seeking to have her banished from the Reservation as a type of harassment.

On Monday, March 2, she reported the alleged violation to the Tulare County Sheriff's Office, Porterville substation and initially was told that she did not have evidence of a violation of the protective order. Lt. Robin Skiles, substation commander, said the matter is being investigated but declined further comment.
Sonnie Mae is employed by the Central California Family Crisis Center, based in Porterville. Executive Director Mickie Manning said she doesn't have all the information she needs to determine how the banishment will impact Sonnie Mae's job.

“I understand that there is some conflict between Sonnie Mae and the Tribal Council,” Manning said. “At this point I am writing a letter to see if I can find out what the problem is because her position here requires that she give classes at the reservation.”

Sonnie Mae works part-time as a Family Wellness Specialist for the agency which provides a range of services including advocacy for victims of domestic violence.
In addition to her work with CCFCC, Sonnie Mae teaches classes for various programs. Arrangements were being made last week for some of these classes to be held off the reservation.

In a letter to Sonnie Mae dated Feb. 24, Garfield said that the request for her removal from the reservation was “due to some incidents that you were allegedly involved in.”

The letter was delivered to Sonnie Mae at about 6 p.m. on Feb. 24, she said, and she said she was given 20 minutes to gather her belongings before she was escorted off the reservation by tribal security officers.

Although the letter to Sonnie Mae did not provide this information, Garfield said she was told by telephone that she may appeal the banishment to the Tribal Council and have a hearing before the council.

Banishment of non-Tribal members is allowed by a resolution of the Tule River Tribal Council approved in 1981 by the Tribal Council and the Bureau of Indian Affairs. In general terms, the resolution allows the tribal council to order removal from the reservation for just about any reason it chooses.

The 1981 exclusion ordinance calls for the “accused person” to be given a hearing before the Tribal Council before any decision of exclusion except when the council “determines a state of emergency exists” where the continued presence of a person or persons is either “potentially dangerous or reprehensible” to residents of the reservation. In such a case an immediate order may be issued but the order will not be final until after a hearing is held.

Garfield said he could not be specific about the allegations and also that if Sonnie Mae requests a hearing she will have a chance to speak to the matters brought up by Fred.

Garfield said the council has a responsibility for the safety and welfare of tribal members and that both Fred and other family members expressed concern to which the council responded.

Regarding Sonnie Mae's ability to attend medical appointments at the clinic on the reservation, Garfield said she could contact the Tribal Council and receive special permission to come onto the reservation for medical appointments.
However, he noted that the impact of the banishment on her job is “none of the council's business.”

Sonnie Mae said she doesn't know what she will do if she isn't allowed to return to the reservation and has to give up her job.

“I have always known that I would have to leave the reservation someday,” she said. “But I had hoped to be able to stay until my son was raised and to be able to keep my job so I could pay my child support.”

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What's New

The omnibus public lands bill (H.R. 146) that includes money to fund the historic San Joaquin River restoration settlement was approved by the Senate last week. However, the bill was defeated in the House two weeks ago and still faces that hurdle. The court-approved settlement will restore and maintain the San Joaquin River's critical fish populations, while minimizing adverse water supply impacts to long-term Friant water users and other third party contractors.

Kaweah watershed got a wet blustery pulse March 23, raising the water content to 32 inches so far this year. That's better than it was when warm spring temps were melting the snowpack. But on April 1 of last year, we stood at 46 inches. Local watershed is about 80% of normal. But on the Tule, the state says runoff could be as little as 52% of normal. Statewide, a March 23 Water Resources report says we are at 85% of normal and 90% in northern California. Better conditions in the Shasta area and on the upper San Joaquin helped increase expected federal water deliveries to our Friant water districts to 65% of Class I supply, compared to earlier estimates of just 25%. Westlands however will get zero and predictions are that two thirds of the 600,000 acres will be unplanted this year.

Visalia City Council awarded a contract to R.J. Berry Jr. of Selma for the extension of Ferguson Avenue east of Mooney Blvd. The winning bid was $464,002, nearly $80,000 below what the city budgeted for the project.

Gary Reed, 62, of Porterville, has been reappointed to the California Community Colleges Board of Governors. He has served on the board of governors since 2005. Reed has been a partner in the investment management firm of Reed, Shoemaker & Brookshire since 1993. He previously served as chief of staff to Assemblyman Bill Jones from 1991 to 1992 and as a Tulare County Supervisor from 1988 to 1990. He is a member of the Porterville Chamber of Commerce and served as past president of the Porterville Education Foundation.

The Visalia-Tulare-Porterville metropolitan area was listed as the 69th fastest growing region in the county by the U.S. Census last week. The census bureau reported that the area grew in population by 1.7 percent, gaining 7,104 residents in the past year. Bakersfield was 71st and Fresno 78th on the list.

The first 48 modular apartments at Gateway Village in Farmersville are all occupied, reports Farmersville City Council Member Paul Boyer. The affordable housing project that opened last year was funded with tax credit financing. An additional 16 units are currently under construction.

FoodsCo is closing its store at Mooney and Caldwell, eliminating 59 jobs. That will leave with county with only one other FoodsCo, which is located in Tulare. FoodsCo has also reportedly shelved plans to build a store in Visalia. The Kroger-owned FoodsCo had plans to construct a new store on Demaree Street, north of Goshen Avenue.

Lemoore City Council heard Police Chief Kimberly Morrell's 2008 annual report recently showing some good news – less crime. “This is the first year in 10 that the city of Lemoore has recorded a reduction in most of our crime statistics.” Adult arrests were down 9.4% and juvenile arrests declined 27.3%. Felony calls for service dropped from 903 to 771. Significantly, police response times for all calls were down to 5.45 minutes after climbing above 6 minutes in recent years. Priority calls averaged 3.55 minutes. Regards drunk driving arrest in town – they were up 16% from 2007.

State Sen. Roy Ashburn (R-Bakersfield) has been named chairman of the California Senate's Select Committee on Defense and Aerospace Industry.

Fitness Biz still going strong. Recession has hurt a wide variety of business but not so much the fitness industry. Visalia real estate agent Laura Walheim notes that In Shape City, with the town's newest gym on Mooney, is not only building a second larger new gym at the former Visalia Racquet Club site, but also a “neighborhood gym” now at the WinCo shopping center on Caldwell and Demaree. “I think they want those smaller neighborhood gyms all over,” says Walheim. Another fitness place – a new Max Muscle franchise – is also opening at the WinCo center.

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Next Phase of Sports Park Begins

By Rick Elkins

Visalia - On the first day of spring, thoughts tend to turn to baseball and on Friday not only was baseball on the minds of Visalia city officials, but also of baseball fields.

Members of the city's Parks and Recreation Commission, city council and city officials gathered at Riverway Sports Park on the first day of spring to break ground on the second phase of the large park, a phase that will add four lighted youth baseball fields.

“When we finish this project, we'll make about 5,000 people very happy,” noted Visalia Vice Mayor Bob Link at the groundbreaking. He was referring to not only the parents of hundreds of youth baseball players who will get to play on the new fields next year, but of the residents of the neighborhood where the games are now played and where parking takes up much of that neighborhood.

“It's a pleasure to do this,” he added of the next phase. “The activity we've gotten here has been phenomenal.”
Riverway Sports Park is Visalia's largest regional park, with 46 acres already developed and room for 37 more acres. Phase 2 will take up 12 of those acres. The park is off of North Dinuba Blvd.

Phase 2 is in the northwest section of the park. Besides the four lighted ball fields, the expansion will include lights for two more of the soccer fields (giving the park five lit fields), lighting of the BMX Park, additional paved parking lots, a concession stand/restrooms, new landscaping and trees, and a new access road from the west side of park.

The cost of Phase 2 is $4.8 million, with money already budgeted for the expansion. Contractor for the project, which has already begun, is Applegate Johnston, Inc. of Modesto.

There are still two more phases to the park, said Vince Elizondo, city Parks and Recreation director. The next phase will include four more fields for softball and the last phase will include an aquatic center and more parking. There is no timeline when those two phases will be done.

City Manager Steve Salomon noted that the park has been a “huge success for the city” and that it was the vision of the council many years ago that the 16-acres on Linwood that were once designated to be a regional park, simply weren't enough.

He also noted the plans for a 103-acre park on the east side of the city. “One of these days, there'll be a larger facility there,” he promised.

Robert Fletcher with Cal Ripken youth baseball, said the players, managers and parents are excited about the prospect of playing their games at the new facility next season.

“It's a new era partnering with the city and we're very excited about that,” he said.
Elizondo said the bulk of the work should be completed by November with the fields ready for play the next time thoughts on the first day of spring turn to baseball.

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By Steve Pastis

Farmersville - The Farmersville City Council has decided on what kind of “entrance” it wants to create for those who enter the city along Farmersville Boulevard from Highway 198.

“We want to design a project that conforms to our general plan,” said City Council Member Paul Boyer. “Our general plan shows a four-lane, 102-foot right-of-way that will have a landscaped median in the middle, a bicycle path and sidewalks. As the entrance to our city from the highway, it's very important to us.”

Boyer said that the council plans to include a roundabout in the project. “If we were to put a stoplight at Noble and Farmersville, we would basically back up traffic on the overpass during certain times of the day,” he said. He added that he was impressed with the video of a roundabout that was shown at the city council meeting. “This is what we would like to build if we can find the money,” he said.

The city council also wants to widen Farmersville Boulevard near the highway to improve safety. The road would have a “softer curve,” according to City Manager Rene Miller, who said that the increased width would allow the speed limit to be raised to 45 mph from its current 35 mph limit.

Previous plans only included improving Farmersville Boulevard from Tulare Avenue to the irrigation canal, at an estimated cost of $2.3 million, according to Miller. The new plan, with the curb, gutter, landscaping and roundabout, costs over $8 million.

“We've been trying to get on the radar screen for economic stimulus money,” said Boyer, adding that city officials are also working with TCAG “to see what funding lists we can get on.” He said that if money remains tight, the city's “fallback option” is to build a median, right-of-way and one lane in each direction, “designed so it can be widened later on.”

Omni Means has started the design work, as well as environmental work on the project. “When there is stimulus money, they try to speed things up a bit,” said Miller, who hopes that the design work is completed by late summer.
Gary Mills, Omni Mills associate and project manager, said he expects the project “to be shovel-ready by the end of the year.” He said that the next step is to complete the detailed surveying that his company started last week, the day after the city council's decision.

Mills will be working to create a design that improves circulation and also solves the visual problems that drivers exiting eastbound Hwy 198 have had at Farmersville Boulevard. A pedestrian was struck and killed there last summer.
Mills presented options to the Farmersville City Council. One option was to widen the current road without moving it, but the council decided it would affect homes and businesses along the road.

“The road would be at their door front,” said Miller.

The city council approved the option to widen Farmersville Boulevard eastward to four lanes. This would avoid cutting into the business properties on the street's west side, instead expanding the road by using undeveloped property on the east side.

The city's new plan would create an attractive entrance to Farmersville, built “in hopes of enticing the shopping center people,” said Miller, referring to efforts to create a shopping center at Highway 198 and Farmersville Boulevard. If Farmersville can attract some of the major retailers it is targeting, the shopping center would generate more than $1 million annually in taxes and fees for the city.

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Westside Dreams: Some on Hold, Some Move Forward

San Joaquin Valley - Some folks dream big on the Valley's west side where the biggest landmarks are Highway I-5 and San Luis Canal. The place is largely uninhabited but that hasn't kept some folks from betting big on the area's future. Here's a short update on a few big projects that are pending out there.

Quay Valley: Talk about dreaming big, the proposed new town near Kettleman City was described as a self-sustaining town of the future with 150,000 population along a five-mile stretch of I-5. The project had been heading toward a formal EIR last year but all work has been halted for most of a year.

“We haven't heard anything from the consultants,” says Kings County's top planner, Bill Zumwalt. “We are assuming the whole deal is on hold.”

The project first proposed back in 2006 was said to have 250 planning team members working on it. It is being proposed by Hollywood businessman Quay Hays and could cost $10 billion to build, he says. With the collapse of the economy and housing prices, frozen financing and now no water, the project may be on hold for awhile.

Westlake Composting Plant is under construction on 200 acres on Westlake Farms property near I-5. The project in the works for almost a decade is being built by the Sanitation District of L.A. County at a cost of $160 million.
The project will mix an aerobically digested biosolids trucked in from the southland with local ag green waste to be spread as compost on 12,000 acres. First approved in 2005, the big project is actually under construction this month with infrastructure of the composting facility going up, says Westlake Farms president Ceil Howe. “The administration building will be next,” says Howe.

The place should begin operation by the end of next year. It is expected to employ over 100 people.

Avenal Power Plant: A proposed 600-megawatt natural gas-fired power plant appears to be nearing California Energy Commission approval after offering mitigation for several negative impacts. The project first proposed in February 2008 is located two miles east of I-5 in western Kings County.

Owned by MacGuire Energy North America Trading Inc., construction of the project could start in April of next year and begin operation in 2012. Last week, the company offered to set the big plant back 300 feet from the San Luis Canal that runs close to it in order to provide a kit fox corridor. The endangered animal uses the canal banks to migrate and forage for food – its own I-5 corridor.

Staff reports likely approval of the project with proposed modifications. At one point, Westland Water District opposed the project but has now withdrawn opposition. The power plant is located within the city of Avenal that will enjoy the property tax benefit with a plan to build a future industrial park next to it.

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