Impact Fees?
Builder Group: ‘Plan Illegal’
Tulare County - Aproposal by the Board of Supervisors to impose new, county-wide developer impact fees on all new construction is being met with fierce opposition by local builders – and appears to have only lukewarm support from cities around Tulare County.
Following a public hearing last week, Tulare County supervisors voted 4-to-1 in favor of a resolution that they hope will eventually lead to the creation of new, county-wide development impact fees.
The proposed Public Facility Impact Fee and Transportation Impact Fee programs, which county officials hope to incorporate into the county's yet-to-be-updated General Plan, would tax development in unincorporated parts of the county as well as in the county's eight incorporated cities, which already charge builders their own set of impact fees.
The controversial proposal has raised some eyebrows, both in the development community and in city halls around the county.
In last week's board
vote, only District 3 Supervisor Phil Cox opposed the move.
“I support this but think we're sending the right
message at the wrong time,” said Cox this week.
But at the public hearing, District 1 Supervisor Allen Ishida railed against further delay. “It's time to put everybody on notice that we intend to do this,” Ishida said.
Visalia-based engineers OMNI-MEANS Ltd., retained by the county to prepare a study being used to push one of the new transportation impact fee programs, said in its report: “Tulare County anticipates that their cities need to participate, on a fair share basis, in the cost of improvements to the county transportation system.
Therefore, by area of benefit, the Traffic Impact Fee will include fee allocations to each of the incorporated cities of the County.”
Another study initially undertaken in October 2007 by Willdan Engineering is currently being updated to provide a framework for the proposed public facilities impact fees.
Exact dollar figures for the proposed new fees have not been finalized but the fees would add thousands to commercial building permit costs and an estimated $6,000 to the price of an average new home.
The county proposes to use a portion of the revenues generated by the impact fees for road maintenance and new road construction as well as for a number of other county support services including police, fire, libraries and parks.
And County Chief Administrative Officer Jean Rousseau told supervisors at last week's public hearing that as much as a third of the revenues generated from the impact fees would be earmarked for refurbishing or replacing outdated county buildings.
Bob Keenan, president and CEO of the Homebuilders Association of Tulare/Kings Counties, believes the county has no legal standing to levy the proposed new impact fees and vowed his organization will oppose the effort “every step of the way.
“We do not believe the county has the right to do this in the [eight] incorporated cities,” said Keenan. “The fees are illegal and unconstitutional. A legal entity is restricted to its jurisdiction, which for a county, would be the unincorporated areas only. This is a bad idea. It's jumping boundaries.”
Keenan believes that studies supporting the county impact fee plans were done during the boom times and have been “blown out of the water” by the current recession.
“The studies might have been good at one time but they are now outdated,” said Keenan, who also believes the impact fees, if adopted, would act as a major deterrent to companies looking at building facilities or relocating to Tulare County.
But in cities around the county, the plan appears to be drawing at least some initial support.
“If a Memorandum of Understanding can be worked out between the city and county,” said Mike Olmos, Visalia's assistant city manager, “we are not opposed to the plan. But we expressed our concern to supervisors last week that we thought they were taking the first step before they were engaged with us.”
Olmos suggested that prior to going forward with the impact fee plan, county and city officials should “work with folks in the private sector before we propose any formal actions.”
Visalia Mayor Bob Link agreed. “As long as the county works with the city, we are not opposed to the idea of [county] impact fees.”
Tulare Mayor Craig Vejvoda said: “I can understand the county needing to have development impact fees. But the entire building industry has been in the tank and this just makes it harder for them.”
Following last week's public hearing, even county officials were emphasizing that the impact fee plan was still in its formative stage.
“We're at the very beginning of this,” said County Administrative Officer Jean Rousseau, who added that beginning in January of next year, the county will make a series of presentations to TCAG and city councils around the county, hoping to gain more support for their plan.
“We're not sure how long outreach is going to take,” said Rousseau. “This will be a complicated process, more than I originally thought it would be, and there's still a long way to go.”
Phil Cox said supervisors are painfully aware of the current economic climate, especially as it pertains to real estate development.
“Right now is not the time to tell a developer that we're going to add $6,000 to the price of your new house,” Cox said. “I think we jumped the gun by a year or so on this one. We need to give all parties sufficient notice and then maybe look at phasing these fees in over a three- or four-year period.”
Valley Law Enforcement Bracing for Early Release Order
Tulare County - In California's sprawling San Joaquin Valley, stretching from the delta of Stockton in the north to the rolling hills of the Tehachapi Mountains in the south, agriculture is clearly king. But the Golden State's ever-burgeoning prison industry has become the new crown prince.
But trouble is brewing in the kingdom.
With thirteen major adult prison facilities scattered up and down the length and breadth of the Valley, the prison industry pumps an estimated $2.4 billion each year into the area's economy -- at a cost to taxpayers of roughly $49,000 per year for each of the more than 67,000 male and female inmates imprisoned behind their walls.
California's 33 prisons, designed to house a total of 83,981 inmates, are currently bursting at the seams, packed with almost 147,000 prisoners as of Nov. 1.
The system as a whole is operating at 181 percent of capacity, while six prisons are populated in excess of 200 percent of their designed capacity.
In addition, the state houses just over 10,000 inmates in privately operated prisons out of state, with no-bid contracts recently signed by lame-duck Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger for an additional 5,000 more beds in Michigan and Minnesota.
With 63,050 employees, the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) is easily the state's largest employer. Its annual operating budget routinely exceeds $10 billion.
Construction is currently underway in Stockton for a new inmate medical facility that will house an additional 1,722 physically and mentally ill prisoners.
But trouble is brewing for the cash-strapped state as it wrestles with prison overcrowding and a projected budget deficit of $25 billion.
A 21-year-old lawsuit winding its way through the federal courts which challenged the unconstitutionally poor quality of health care in California's prisons culminated in a January 2010 ruling from the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ordering the release of up to 44,000 inmates over the next two years.
The ruling, which has been stayed pending an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court, calls for a reduction of inmates in California's prisons to 137.5 percent of designed capacity -- which equates to a total of about 110,000 inmates.
The appellate court ruled that overcrowding in the state's prisons was a “primary cause” of the unconstitutionally poor level of health care, and violated the Eighth Amendment's protection against cruel and unusual punishment.
Though a preponderance of expert testimony presented in the case favors the inmates, the conservative majority of justices are perceived as reluctant to intervene in state's decisions.
Questions posed by the Justices during oral arguments, which began on Tuesday of last week, indicate a possible split along ideological lines, potentially placing Justice Anthony Kennedy in a familiar role as the deciding swing vote in a court that quite often divides along 5-4 lines.
Kennedy commented that “at some point the [appeals] court has to say, 'You've been given enough time. …It's now time for a remedy.'”
Additional questions posed by Kennedy indicated, though, that he might be questioning the size of the release order imposed by the appeals court.
Eighteen states have filed a friend of the court brief in support of California, fearing the possibility of future lawsuits resulting in release orders from their own overcrowded prisons.
Prisoner's rights attorney Alison Hardy of the Prison Law Office expressed optimism for a favorable ruling from the court, stating that, “It seems pretty clear from the arguments that at least five justices supported the position of the appellate court in that a prisoner reduction is necessary. Some of the justices indicated that perhaps two years wasn't enough time for the state, and perhaps a reduction to 145 percent might be more appropriate,” Hardy explained.
Hardy noted that the state intends to avoid abrupt mass early releases through plans for shipping thousands more inmates to states such as Michigan and Minnesota as well as through recent changes in parole policies and changes in sentencing credits that allow inmates to shorten their term through participation in education and rehabilitative programs.
A Supreme Court ruling on the early release order is expected in June.
Tulare County District Attorney Phil Cline does not think the Supreme Court should be hearing the case – nor does he agree with the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruling.
“I don't think the courts should be involved in making these kinds of decisions,” said Cline. “This decision belongs in the legislative and executive branches.”
Cline said that he is extremely disturbed by the possibility of 44,000 convicted criminals being released early – and into Valley communities.
“Tens of thousands of criminals being thrown back onto our streets becomes an immediate public safety issue,” Cline said. “We're already extremely busy, don't have enough money and facing further cutbacks.”
Woodlake - As groundbreakings go it was rather routine, but the ceremonial start of the City of Woodlake's major wastewater treatment facility marked the largest capital project in the city's history.
With the obligatory gold painted shovels and white hard hats, city council members, past and present, other city leaders and representatives from various federal and state agencies posed for photos and moved a little ground, signifying the start of a two-phase, $19 million expansion and upgrading of Woodlake's wastewater treatment facility.
The project is being paid for with a $13 million low-interest 40-year loan from the U.S. Department of Agriculture in addition to another USDA grant of $4 million and a State of California small community grant of $2 million.
Mayor Raul Gonzales Jr. cited the city's on-going efforts and the help of a number of state, federal and local agencies to finally reach the historic groundbreaking.
City Administrator Bill Lewis said the system currently serves more than 1,800 households in addition to commercial and industrial users. The project is expected to be complete in about a year and one half.
C.W. Roen Construction of Danville is expected to begin preliminary work in the next few weeks. Roen's bid of $11.75 million was the lowest of 11 valid bids submitted and almost $4 million below the engineers' estimate.
Lewis said the city and the U.S.D.A. are still working to determine how additional approved funds can be used to expand the first phase of the expansion project. “We want to be able to get the best bang for the buck,” Lewis said.
When completed the first phase expansion will handle city needs for 20 years and is designed to accommodate further expansion, Lewis said.
The groundbreaking symbolized a major step toward compliance of provisions of a current cease-and-desist order from the California Regional Water Quality Control Board (RWQCB) for being in violation of discharge standards. The project also will relieve problems of undersized main lines and inadequate grade levels in portions of the city's system. That will include replacing 6-inch collector lines with 10-inch lines on a section of Naranjo Boulevard and connective joint on the 18-inch truck sewer line on Valencia Boulevard.
The cease-and-desist order from the RWQCB resulted from effluent violations. The order requires the city to correct discharge violations to meet new requirements including protecting the relatively shallow groundwater from nitrate contamination.
Groundwater is the primary source of drinking water in the city.
The current facility treats 900,000 million gallons daily, just short of the design capacity.
The expanded facility will process 1.28 million gallons, which officials estimate will serve the community for the next two decades. The second phase would increase the capacity to 1.8 million gallons daily which officials say should accompany needs for possibly 50 years.
Visalia - Lasheka Jones wiped away tears one recent Sunday as she remembered a life of drugs and hopelessness many years ago. But thanks to God -- and the Visalia Rescue Mission's House of Hope – she said her life has changed forever.
“There's no place I'd rather be right now than with my children,” Jones said.
Jones, 25, of Hanford has completed a six-month recovery program and has now been drug free since 2007. Hers is just one of many success stories written through the good works and hope provided by the Visalia Rescue Mission.
When Jones found out at 22 that she was pregnant with her third child, she didn't tell anyone. But as a drug user who grew up in the church and knew God, she realized that something needed to change.
That's when she stepped into the House of Hope in North Visalia.
Jones was told that she would never be able to raise her youngest child back, who was born with spina bifida. Today, after turning her life around, not only does she work as an employee for the Rescue Mission's House of Hope, but she will be celebrating her second Christmas with all three of her children in her own home.
The VRM's Shelter of Hope, located directly across from the House of Hope, is a place where women and children can go in emergency situations, providing a 30-day temporary shelter and food as well as case management to help people get back on their feet, said Morri Nash, women's program director.
“We really help them to change their homeless situation,” she added.
At the men's recovery quarters, a few blocks away, the situation is no different. They too offer support and recovery services for the city's growing number of homeless.
The Visalia Rescue Mission and its Christian-based ministries have been serving people in the area for 29 years.
The program was started in an apartment triplex on N.E. 1st Avenue by men from the Fresno Rescue Mission as an overnight shelter and soup kitchen for the homeless.
The Mission has now grown into more than just a place to find a hot meal. It includes residential recovery programs for both men and women, overnight and emergency shelter for men, women and children, and a community dining room—which feeds the community 365 days a year.
VRM employs 44 and is supported by many community volunteers. Currently the overnight shelter provides more than 500 meals a day. Over 180,000 meals were served in 2009 and the numbers this year are up 10 to 15 percent.
While the drug recovery program enrolls 39 men at a time, it often has a wait list, something Danny Little, VRM's executive director, said is always full.
Presently, the overnight shelter for the homeless has 60 beds, but due to the cold weather and other factors, it's housing an average of 70-plus men a night.
“The number one reason there is an increase is the weather. It drives folks indoors,” Little said. “The holidays play a factor too.”
Although the population varies daily, VRM will never turn away a guest and staff is always prepared to make room by setting up additional cots.
“We are one hundred percent full right now,” Little said this week.
VRM plans to add a new 15,000 –square-foot Community Center on Santé Fe and Church Streets, which Little hopes to open next year.
VRM operates two Rescued Treasures thrift stores to help fund and benefit its programs and services and Little said donations of items and even vehicles are always accepted.
“We won't let
people sleep out on the street if they want a place to stay,”
he said
Other services provided at the overnight shelter include
laundry, additional clothing and toiletries supplies --
not to mention chapel service, a hot meal and a warm bed.
“We are sleeping more people and feeding more people than we have in our thirty-year history,” Little said, adding that it's been especially rough “for those who were hit by the tough economy.”
Even during the holidays, the Visalia Rescue Mission provides a special place for the community, and Christmas Eve is no exception. A hot community meal will be served in the afternoon along with games and toys for children.
“Around the holidays we do our best to provide a welcoming and spirit-filled environment,” said Jessica Van Ginkel, VRM community development director.
“The Visalia Rescue Mission stands ready to provide emergency assistance to anyone in need,” Little said.
SECOND FRONT PAGE
What's New
*The California High-Speed Rail Authority board voted 7-0 late last week to formally approve construction plans for the first phase of the ambitious $45 billion California bullet train project. The initial 65-mile-long Madera-to-Corcoran route will cost an estimated $4.5 billion. Rail authorities hope to break ground in 2012 and be able to begin running test trains on the tracks as early as 2015. Visalia Mayor Bob Link and TCAG Executive Director Ted Smalley traveled to the state Capitol to voice their support for the project. Following the board's vote, Congressman Jim Costa, a huge proponent of the project said: “Our region will benefit from the jobs the project will create and the Valley will serve as the heart of what will be an 800-mile system connecting Los Angeles and the Bay Area. [Now] the Authority must look for ways to lower costs and extend the line as soon as possible…and must work closely at the local, state and federal level, as well as with groups like agriculture to mitigate impacts of construction along the route.” Rail authorities have designated a “regional” station just east of Hanford as part of their initial construction plans but have yet to award the coveted heavy-maintenance facility courted by both Fresno and Kern counties.
*The proposed redevelopment of Visalia's iconic Mearle's Drive-In faced a major test this week. On Wednesday, the city's Historic Preservation Commission (HPAC) was set to review plans submitted by Habit Burger Grill for its newest eatery – to be located on the old Mearle's site on South Mooney Boulevard. Getting a thumbs-up from the advisory committee would advance the approval process for Habit's application for a special-use permit to the city planning commission. City staff has recommended HPAC approval of the design, layout and construction plans for Habit's resurrection of the 70-year old landmark – which is slated to include much Mearle's memorabilia.
*Congressman Devin Nunes addressed the prestigious Washington, D.C.-based Heritage Foundation Tuesday, offering some of his ideas for "bringing the federal government under control." Named earlier this year as one of Time magazine's rising young stars of American politics, Nunes, currently serving his fourth term in Congress, is also the author of "Restoring the Republic," in which he lays out an agenda for "solving the menacing problems that threaten our nation's future." Speaking in Washington, the 36-year-old Nunes said he has seen firsthand how the convergence of big government, big business, and the "radical Left" has wreaked havoc on entire communities, "turning the once-thriving farmland of the San Joaquin Valley into a blighted desert reminiscent of the Dust Bowl." Nunes argues that the same forces are doing their damage on a national level, threatening America's economy and “very foundation.” A member of the powerful House Ways and Means and Budget committees, Nunes has also recently been very vocal in his opposition to California's High-Speed Rail project, which he labeled "a high-speed train wreck of public debt."
*Visalia received some not-so-positive national press this week. In a story first featured on the HuffingtonPost website, Portfolio magazine recently ranked the 200 largest metropolitan areas in American in order of relative brainpower, using recently compiled data that included cities' average adult earning power and median level of education. Ranking among the brainiest cities were Boulder, Colo., home of the University of Colorado; Ann Arbor, Mich., home of the University of Michigan; and Washington, D.C. Among the least “brainy” cities, according to Portfolio, are two in Texas -- McAllen and Brownsville -- and three in the Central Valley: Merced, Bakersfield and Visalia. Earlier this year, a Brookings Institute report labeled Washington, D.C. as America's most-educated metro area and Scranton (Pennsylvania) the least-educated. In terms of which cities have the most degrees per capita, San Francisco emerged as the unmatched winner, with more than 7,000 degrees within 7,000 square miles.
*November building activity in Visalia continued to sputter. Just 22 new single-family permits were issued, compared to 31 in November 2009. Valuation of last month's permits was $4.6 million versus $6.1 million last year and year-to-date, single-family home permits are down 25 percent compared to 2009. One bright spot in this month's report: value of new commercial building permits soared, fueled solely by the Mangano Company's Main St. Promenade project at 406 E. Main. That development, a planned three-story, 27,338-sq.ft. office and retail project, had a permit valuation of $5 million – eclipsing November 2009's total commercial permits by more than $4 million. Overall, the city's building department report shows total permit valuation for 2010 down 15 percent from the same time last year.
By Marina Gaytan
Tulare County - Final approval of a $5-per-semester transit pass for College of the Sequoias students is expected to come at next week's COS Board of Trustees meeting.
The pass will allow enrolled students unlimited access to bus transportation in Visalia and Tulare and will also include Tulare County Area Transit as well as Kings Area Rural Transit (KART), which serves the COS Hanford Center.
“This will provide opportunity for students who don't have a means of transportation,” said Christine Chavez, regional planner for Tulare County Association of Governments (TCAG), which worked with college and area city officials to create the pass.
After hearing that a discounted pass was readily accessible to students in other areas, students decided COS needed to do the same, said Monty Cox with Visalia Transit.
In mid-September COS students voted for a mandatory transportation fee of $5 for full time students and $4 for part time students per semester—606 students were in favor and 61 were against the idea.
The COS Board has already agreed to contribute 40 cents per student, per semester to the cost of the passes.
COS' Associated Student Body President, Vanessa DeRoma, 21, of Visalia was one of the hundreds who voted in favor of the proposed service. She does not own a vehicle and relies on family to drop her off at school.
“The passes will be an asset to all students whether they use it or not because they will have it,” she said.
A number of college and city officials were in favor of adding the service. Stephen Tootle, COS associate professor of history, was one of the people involved in helping to keep the process moving along.
“It's a real testament to the kind of work that goes on here at COS. We have a faculty that is focused on student success and is doing everything possible to remove any barriers,” Tootle said.
Although COS and TCAG came to an agreement on the program last month, a study will be conducted for the first semester in order to analyze how well the two-year pilot program ultimately works.
The $100,000 grant for the Tulare-Visalia Community College Connection Transit Study will examine the transit needs for students in Tulare Co., the transit needs between future students of the COS Tulare campus and COS students in Visalia. Results of the study will be revealed late next summer.
“The study will show if adjustments need to be made,” and will also suggest ways to improve the services, Chavez said.
Before the program was proposed, nothing specific in terms of public transportation was dedicated to students except a discounted pass, which lasted one year. A monthly bus pass for Tulare Co. currently costs $45; a one way fare $1.50.
When the program begins, students will have a bus pass sticker placed on their student identification card and will only have to show their ID to ride the bus.
“If the same thing happens here, as it has in other areas, students will take full advantage and that will be a good thing,” Cox said.
Students and faculty hope the program will be beneficial to all students, not only those who currently take the bus but for those who now drive to school, who may be convinced to switch to public transportation and help alleviate COS' growing parking problem.
According to the agreement, both COS and TCAG can terminate the agreement upon 90 days with advanced written notice, if they feel the service is not beneficial.
CSET Director Recognized by FHCN
Tulare County - Carolyn Rose, executive director of CSET (Community Services and Employment Training), has been selected as the first recipient of the Anita de la Vega Community Service Award.
“The legacy of Anita de la Vega is one that has forever positively affected the community of Tulare County,” said Family Health Care Network President and CEO Harry Foster. “Her commitment to serving the often ignored and underserved communities through Tulare County has set forward an example for others to follow. And her dedication to community service has been mirrored for the last 28 years by Carolyn Rose.”
Rose has been instrumental in staffing CSET, a community action agency with caring and competent professional dedicated to strengthening youth, families and communities.
Ms. Rose's knowledge and unique skill set in youth development, education, leadership and capacity building have been utilized by many organizations throughout Tulare County. She has served in many leadership roles in many organizations that work to improve the overall quality of life for the communities of Tulare County.
The Anita de la Vega Community Service Award was established in memory of Anita de la Vega, who dedicated her life to serving the underserved. Her clinical career in Tulare County spanned three decades where she was respected for her tenacity, mentorship, work ethic and commitment to community service.
De la Vega was a founding clinician of Family HealthCare Network, where she proudly served for 30 years. “Anita felt it was a privilege to practice medicine in underserved communities but that it also was a responsibility to advocate for those communities,” said Foster. “She exemplified through her professional and community service that we can all be a voice for the underserved in Tulare County.”
Family HealthCare Network established this award to honor a local resident who, like de la Vega, has dedicated their life to serving the underserved communities in Tulare County to assure that they have access to resources and services in their communities.
Rose was honored at Family HealthCare Network's Annual Gala on December 4th at the Visalia Convention Center.
The above stories are the property of The Valley Voice Newspaper and may not be reprinted without explicit permission in writing from the publisher.
December 9, 2010
