Storms Bring Threat of Flooding

By Rick Elkins

Tulare County - As far as the National Weather Service Office in Hanford looks ahead, there is rain and at times heavy rain, with several more storms similar to those already this week in the forecast.

A meteorologist in Hanford said that for the next eight days at least there is rain in every day's forecast. However, some are concerned that the series of mostly cold, wet storms could be followed by a warm storm that would bring down the low snowpack – similar to what occurred in January of 1997.

Some forecasting models show a chance for a pineapple connection occurring in about two weeks that would bring warm rain to the state – warm rain that would fall on several feet of new snow accumulated from the recent storms.

“Obviously, a pineapple express would be something we're concerned about,” said Mark Larsen, manager of the Kaweah Delta Water Conservation District. However, as of Monday, he had not heard of that possibility.

Visalia Fire Battalion Chief Danny Wristen said so far the city has escaped any major problems, but he too has heard reports that a pineapple connection could bring warm rains early next month. The term pineapple connection is used because the storms draw moisture from the South Pacific. Such storms are usually very wet and often warmer than normal.

“There's some talk out there,” said Wristen, adding while he is monitoring those reports, such predictions are still a long ways off. Those predictions are based on weather models and not part of any formal forecasts.

“If it was going to happen, there's a risk we could get some significant runoff,” said the battalion chief who oversees the city's emergency response.

So far, flooding has been minor and damage from Monday's windstorm was minor. Tulare was not so lucky. There, seven large main transmission line power poles were snapped by the wind about 2:30 p.m. Monday.

The poles – seven in a row – snapped anywhere from a quarter to three quarters of the way up, but no lines snapped. Luckily, the broken poles were held up by the lines and no damage occurred to property below and no one was injured.

Cal Rossi, with Southern California Edison, said more than 6,700 customers in Tulare County lost their power for some time during Monday's storm. Also, the strong winds blew off part of a roof of a home in Alpaugh and downed trees and power lines throughout the county.

By Tuesday, rain that began Sunday afternoon amounted to less than an inch of rain at Terminus Dam and 19 inches of snow at Farewell Gap, at 9,500 feet above Visalia. Quaking Aspen, above Porterville, had seen 34 inches of new snow by Tuesday, with 69 inches on the ground and more falling every minute.

The forecast is for more.

“We forecast eight days out and we have eight days of periods of heavy rain,” said National Weather Service meteorologist James Brotherton on Monday. However, he said right now there are no indications of a warm storm on the horizon.
Larsen said Monday they began a planned flood release from Kaweah Lake a couple of days early after it was predicted the dam could see as much as eight inches of rain over the next few days.

He said they had not been alerted to any situation where warm rain may follow the series of colder storms moving through the state. The snow level has been around 4,000 feet so far, but a warm storm could push that to as high as 8,000 feet.
It was in 1997 that a warm storm in early January brought down huge amounts of water – filling both Lake Success above Porterville and Kaweah Lake in about 24 hours. Several bridges were wiped out in the county from that unusual storm, with the damage put at more than a million dollars in Tulare County.

On Monday, Lake Kaweah held 17,750 acre feet of water.

El Nino is being credited with opening the storm window. Some forecasters are saying the state has not seen a string of storms like this in more than five years. The storms are riding on a jet stream moving at more than 200 mph, a blessing of sorts because they move in and out quickly and have not deposited as much rain as once expected.

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Some Companies Bucking Bad Economy
EDC Says Business is Brisk

By Rick Elkins

Tulare County - Paul Saldana, chief executive officer of the Economic Development Corporation of Tulare County, said there are 23 active projects in the pipeline in Tulare County that could bring more than 3,000 jobs over the next few years.

Saldana, who is in his tenth year as head of the EDC, said despite the bad economy, many companies are looking at expansion and while not all will come to Tulare County or make a decision soon, he is encouraged by the activity.

“It's pretty comparable to prior years,” said Saldana of the activity at the EDC, adding it is very similar to after 2001 and the 9-11 terrorist attacks when the economy took a dive, but some companies viewed that as an opportunity. He said the same is true today with land values and construction costs down.

Two things that are different: One, it is taking longer for companies to commit to a project and two, those looking appear to be more serious.

“Tire kickers are all but gone,” Saldana said. “They (companies looking) are not spending money, going out looking at sites, if they're not serious. They're doing their due diligence.”

Companies considering locating in the county are looking in all areas of the county and are all different types of businesses and industries. He said that most are small- to medium-size companies. He said the earliest any decisions might be announced is in the second quarter of this year. Some, like in 2002 when activity was similar, may not decide for a year or more. He said 2003 was an example of that when many of the companies that looked at the county in 2002, finally announced their plans.
Saldana said they learned after 9-11 that this is the time to be aggressive, not sit back and wait to see what will happen.

“After 9-11, we stepped up marking companies, just like we're doing now,” he said. Those activities include meeting with existing companies to get a feel of how they are doing and what plans they may have, as well as several ventures throughout the nation to meet with companies that might consider the county.

Saldana is making one such trip to Southern California next month, and in April he and others are traveling to Atlanta and North Carolina to meet with those that might be interested in coming to Tulare and be part of the Tulare Motor Sports Complex. That 685-acre project calls for a mile-oval track capable of handling NASCAR and Indy-type races, a quarter-mile drag strip, hotels, retail mall and more.

However, the sale of the land to the developers is in limbo, with the deadline for escrow to close past, but apparently no decision to end that escrow has been made.
Saldana said even if the current proposal should fall through, with the land annexed into the city and all the entitlements finalized, it is still a viable project. If that does become the case, then the focus of the trip would be more to find another developer interested in pursuing the project.

“This first trip will be very much a fact-finding mission,” he said.

He said he has been encouraged by his meetings with the decision makers of some of the larger companies with plants in the county.

“Every time we do that we come back pretty encouraged. No one has said they are cutting back. Some have indicated they are going to add workers soon,” said Saldana. “It's been very positive.”

While the racetrack is a large, very marketable endeavor, Saldana said they have not lost sight of the companies most likely to come to the county – food processing or ag-related industries.

State of Economy

Like many, Saldana feels the local economy has hit bottom, with unemployment topping 16 percent and spending down. However, he says there are some indications the economy may begin to pick up soon.

“The signs that I see is our vital signs are stable. We're not necessarily getting any healthier, but not worse.”

He said the gap between the jobless rate in Tulare County and that for the state as a whole has narrowed over the years – a good sign. At one time, the state jobless rate was half of that for Tulare County, but today the difference is much closer. Last month, the county's jobless rate was 16.5 percent, 12.3 percent for the state.
And, he stressed, his office is doing all it can to keep that gap narrow and to improve the local economy.

“This next three to four months, we're aggressively pursuing new opportunities. This is the time to make contacts,” he said. “A lot of my colleagues (in economic development) are doing the opposite. We had success in '02 and '03 because we did not stop.”

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New Structure Helps
Manage Kaweah River Flow

Tulare County - Heavy rain this week is slowing construction of a new structure on the Kaweah River below Terminus Dam where water is diverted into the Lower Kaweah and St. Johns rivers.

Work on the $4 million project began in October and will be completed in March, in time for this year's irrigation season.

However, while much of the work has been completed, it is not fully operational and heavy flows out of the mountains – especially Dry Creek – or increased releases from the dam this week, could delay work or even cause some minor damage. This past weekend, the installation of cement was finished, a key to handling the water that might flow down the river in the next few days.

“It will take several storms to get much water down Dry Creek,” said Kaweah Delta Water Conservation District Manager Mark Larsen. However, the forecast is for 6-8 inches of rain in the foothills this week.

He said the old structure, which is just upstream from the new one, is still in place and functional so it can regulate the flow and any damage an increased flow might cause to the new structure would only be minor and cause a short delay in completion of the project.

Kaweah Delta and the St. Johns River Association are partners on the project.
One of the purposes of the new structure is exactly for situations such as this week.
“It will make it easier to manage water and deal with debris,” said Larsen of the structure that spans about 110 feet across each channel at what is called McKay Point, about two-and-half miles below the dam.

The new structure will do basically the same as the old diversion structure, although it will be sturdier and the gates will be electronically controlled. They can even be controlled remotely. The old structure that is several yards upstream has to be managed manually, and often debris would collect there and cause water to flow around the structure.

The device is designed to handle up to 5,500 cubic feet of water per second – what the channel is designed to handle. He said on average, about 2,000 c.f. flows through the gates.

The existing structure, said Larsen, dates back at least before the 1930s when there are records it was rebuilt. It was rebuilt again in the 1960s, but he said it has never been a real strong structure and it was not safe for workers to try and remove debris in high water flows.

With the new structure, plans are to set up the old structure to capture debris where it can be cleaned out with heavy equipment. The new structure is being built off a bridge that will also allow equipment to access to the flow and any debris.
“This adds a little more assurance we'll be able to handle high water and debris,” said Larsen.

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Site Plan Review – Where Projects Begin

Visalia - Packwood Creek Shopping Center went through the process. So did Orchard Walk Shopping Center. A new McDonald's restaurant and even a new subdivision also must pass through the process.

All building projects at some point must go through the city's Site Plan Review Committee and while local developers admit it is not always the most perfect process, for the most part the committee is helpful and can save time and money.
Site Plan Review is where developers with plans start to get input from the many different city departments as to what they might need to do to get their plans approved. It is a process designed to help those considering a project before the project is actually submitted for approval.

“It's a dynamic thing that goes on in site plan,” said the city's top building official and chairman of the committee, Dennis Lehman. He said that by identifying problems or changes that need to be made to plans then, instead of much later in the process, it saves everyone time and money.

“The cheapest thing is to make changes on a piece of paper,” he noted, adding the committee can help chart a path for a developer.

“It's a helpful tool,” said local developer Harvey May. “It's one of the things about Visalia that can make it easier to do business,” he added.

Steve Peck, vice president with the Mangano Company, agreed, although he said it can also slow the process and be less than perfect.

Lehman said he is aware of some problems and they continue to try to work those out.

“Our job is to look at how it fits. I don't find it being an impediment,” he said.

Process

Plans submitted by Thursday can be on the site plan committee's agenda the next Wednesday. The committee is usually made up of Lehman who represents police, fire and site plan, a building and planning official and a city engineer. Occasionally, there are more, but most of the time there are just three or four city staffers.
Before the item is placed on the agenda, it is reviewed by someone from each department. Solid waste looks at it for where the trash bins will be located, the fire department looks for many items, including hydrant locations, the building department to see that the proposals meet zoning laws and building codes, engineering that looks at sewer and water hookups and egress and ingress to the property from streets.

During the meeting, the applicant is able to get the feedback they need, find out what might be needed to make the project more acceptable to the city and to learn what adjustments need to be made.

If the proposal has no issues, it is given a “proceed” stamp. If some minor adjustments are needed, it is a “proceed with revisions.” However, if there are some larger issues that need to be resolved, then it is stamped “re-submittal” meaning it will have to come back before the committee. It is “re-submittal” that some have issue with.

May said the downside to such a short turnaround is “that sometimes you don't get comprehensive comments.” Because of that, sometimes they have to resubmit.
Peck agreed that is too short of a turnaround because if they have to resubmit, then in order to get on the next agenda, they need to resubmit the next day. Often, said Peck and May, 24 hours is not enough time to get revisions made and they lose a week.

“It maybe delays the process a week, but it can be longer if more work on plans is needed,” admitted Lehman, who said they are trying to speed up the process “because we know time is money.”

All three admit the process is most beneficial to those with less experience in developing property.

“It is a real good place for novices to come to,” said Lehman. Recently a developer came with a proposal to develop a Burger King restaurant on East Noble on an odd piece of property. The committee shared their advice and the developer left with a clearer understanding of what could be done.

Lehman said everything from a food cart to Packwood Creek goes through site plan. Some require only a quick review, some may have to be resubmitted and come back several times.

“As soon as they meet the standards, they move right into building permit,” said Lehman, adding that can be one meeting. If not, several stops at Site Plan Review may be needed before a project moves forward.

There are few tire kickers. “About 65 percent of everything that comes through site plan becomes a reality,” said Lehman. “Sometimes it comes back as an entirely different project,” he added.

Drawbacks

“I've heard complaints that sometimes they go outside the boundaries, don't follow code,” Peck said of another drawback to the process. “They (committee) have been known to develop or set policy.”

May said one of the downsides with the process that has become more prevalent in recent years is “unadpoted policies find their way down to the committee.”
Still, both he and Peck said for the most part the committee, and city staff in general, are helpful.

“I think the value of Site Plan Review definitely outweighs the occasional downsides,” said May. “As an application process, they are invaluable,” added Peck.

Lehman feels the process is helpful, especially in giving developers a heads up of what fees will cost, like the $14,000 fee per nozzle for gas stations.

“They can scale back to what they can afford,” he said.

He noted that with the weak economy the number of projects coming before Site Plan Review has dropped.

“We were on track to do about 300 site plans a year, but we'll do about 160 this year,” he said.

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Kaweah Delta Awaits Level 3 Trauma Status

By Steve Pastis

Visalia - Kaweah Delta Medical Center could become Tulare County's first trauma center on Jan. 26.

The hospital is expected to receive its level 3 trauma designation at the Tulare County Board of Supervisors meeting that morning. If the new designation is approved, it would go into effect later that day, said Lindsay Mann, Kaweah Delta CEO.

“I anticipate nothing but a fully supportive meeting,” he said, adding that he plans to be among the health care district's representatives attending the meeting to answer any questions, even though the matter “may be on the consent calendar.”

“There's a great deal of depth that's required and we worked on it for several years,” Mann said about seeking the level 3 trauma designation, noting the training of trauma surgeons and emergency department staff, as well as the expansion of facilities including the operating rooms, emergency room and intensive care unit.

Level 3 trauma centers perform emergency resuscitation, surgery and intensive care for most trauma patients, all of which Kaweah Delta already performs. The new trauma status would formalize these functions, provide a review mechanism and tie the district in with a five-county trauma program in the Valley.

The designation would streamline transfer arrangements between Kaweah Delta and the Community Regional Medical Center in Fresno, which is a level 1 trauma center with in-house anesthesia, surgeons and orthopedics. Level 2 trauma centers, such as Kern Medical Center in Bakersfield, may offer neurosurgeons and general surgeons.
The level 3 trauma designation is expected to save lives in Tulare County.

“We've had a problem in the providing of trauma care because we have a big gap between the level 1 trauma care in Fresno and the level 2 trauma care in Bakersfield,” said Rebecca Zulim, M.D., trauma medical director, explaining that there is a “golden hour” for patients. “Most patients can accommodate for an hour before they deteriorate, but we're spending the golden hour going to Fresno.”

“There has been an increase in trauma patients here,” said Amber Myers, RN, trauma nurse coordinator, noting that Kaweah Delta had 425 trauma patients in 2007, and 700 last year.

Trauma is defined as an injury, as opposed to a medical condition, and can be the result of a fall, motor vehicle crash or assault. Results following trauma are 20 percent more successful at a hospital with a trauma center, according to Myers.

“Trauma is considered a specialty in and of itself,” she said, adding that two years ago, nurses at Kaweah Delta started going through the Trauma Nurse Core Curriculum, a 16-hour nationally recognized education program.

Adding trauma care, “raises the bar for the whole hospital,” Zulim said. “What sets trauma apart as a specialty is that it is very numbers-driven. We learn very quickly if there is something we can do better. That's what translates into lower mortality.”

“We've been gearing up for this for seven years, recruiting surgeons with a particular interest in trauma, providing nurses additional training for trauma,” Zulim said.

Kaweah Delta created a trauma committee “to provide training and equipment and to get the right people to reach the bar we wanted to meet,” Zulim said. Emergency rooms were remodeled, and four specially designed and equipped trauma bays were added.

“Each can handle two patients at a time,” Zulim said. “Some surgical processes can be done in the rooms.” She added that equipment in the room allows patients to be rapidly diagnosed, and that the rooms are hooked up to a blood bank.

Local paramedics have already noticed an enhanced level of emergency care at the hospital. “As an ambulance service in the area, we have seen a difference in what they can handle,” said Matt Caserza, a paramedic with American Ambulance of Visalia. “In the past, we would take certain problems to other hospitals.”

Paramedics have specially designed protocols that determine where they take patients, he explained, adding that factors include the severity and type of injury.

That will not change. As a level 3 trauma center, the change will be that fewer patients will be transported from there to other medical centers, he said.

Kaweah Delta recently received federal appropriations of $500,000 to pursue plans to build an elevated helipad adjacent to its Acequia Wing, above the emergency ambulance area. The helipad will be used to transport trauma victims to the medical center, as well as to transport complex surgical or trauma patients to other hospitals when necessary.

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Brian Rouch Enters 4th District Contest

By Miles Shuper

Tulare County - Pledging to bring energy, common sense and fresh ideas to the Tulare County Board of Supervisors, Brian Rouch has formally announced his run for the 4th District seat currently held by Steve Worthley.

Rouch, a fifth-generation county resident and managing member of Inerg LLC, an energy services company, said the county needs “trustworthy leadership.”
Rouch joins Ruben Macareno as announced challengers for Worthley, the current board chairman who is seeking his fourth term on the board in the June 8 primary election.

“Tulare County faces many challenges requiring a leader with vision willing to fight on its behalf. I plan to address those challenges by encouraging job development through innovation in business and agriculture, efficient use of tax dollars and working diligently to improve public confidence in county government,” he said.

Rouch, who founded Youth Ski, a program that promotes leadership in the county, said “Folks in the Fourth District are standing up and saying 'enough is enough' – our communities are neglected, our roads are decaying and our county supervisor is out of touch with his constituents' needs.”

He said many argue that Worthley is “an entrenched politician who, first elected to the county board in 1998, has failed to improve the community.”

Residents of the district, Rouch said, “have expressed their disappointment that the supervisor is only visible when it's an election year.” Rouch said. “I share their frustration and promise to make community involvement a top priority when I'm elected. The residents of the Fourth District are hurting and they deserve more.”
In addition to Rouch and Macareno, Maggie Florez, Donny Barton and Erica Paine have taken out nomination papers for the 4th District race.

In the Fifth District, incumbent Mike Ennis has two announced challengers, Pedro Martinez and Cameron Hamilton.

If no county candidate receives more than 50 percent of the vote in June, a runoff between the top two candidates will be held in November.

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SECOND FRONT PAGE

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What's New

With a recently completely supermarket survey that showed Visalia would strongly support a Trader Joe's, city officials sent off a packet Friday to Trader Joe's in attempt to lure the specialty food store to Visalia. The Pitney-Bowes report found that a Trader Joe's in Visalia would perform better than any the company has in Bakersfield, Fresno or Clovis. “We are going to make an aggressive and strategic recruitment,” said Ricardo Noguera, city director of Housing and Economic Development. He said a dialogue has been ongoing for a while and while there have no formal talks, Trader Joe's appears more interested in Visalia than it ever has been in the past. Meanwhile, local interest in local Trader Joe's runs high. A Facebook group called “Bring Trader Joe's to Visalia, CA,” which was started on Jan. 8 by Betsy Smith Gaudette-Cross, already has more than 1,735 members.

Visalia's Historic Preservation Advisory Committee is sending letters out to homeowners in the “Homebuilders Addition” section of the city inviting them to join the effort to establish a new historic district. The neighborhood, a 20-block area between Conyer and Watson, and Noble and the alley south of Myrtle, was developed between 1923 and 1941 and includes examples of housing styles from the period.

Visalia-based Kawneer Company, Inc. is constructing 1,800 sliding doors for Walt Disney's 21-acre Hawaiian resort at the Ko Olina Resort & Marina development on Oahu, scheduled to open in 2011.

Tulare County planners and representatives of several classic car collector clubs and restorers of classic vehicles are scheduled to sit down Jan. 27 to discuss the county's ordinance that requires old vehicles to be stored indoors and out of sight of neighbors – which some collectors and restorers say is not financially feasible.

Adventists Health/Central Valley General Hospital in Hanford was able to give a Navy fighter pilot from Naval Air Station Lemoore his first taste of being a new father through a videoconference last week. The baby was born Jan. 11 at Adventist Health/Central Valley General Hospital in Hanford. The father is a lieutenant commander from NAS Lemoore who is deployed in the Middle East to provide air support for U.S. troops.

The National Academy of Sciences is launching its review of Delta smelt protection measures later this month with a series of meetings at UC Davis. The review, requested by members of Congress and the U.S. Departments of Interior and Commerce, will examine key scientific questions in the Delta and alternatives for protecting species at less cost to water supplies. The committee is expected to issue a report by March 15 focusing on restrictions on water deliveries under biological opinions and whether there are alternative actions that would have less impact on water supplies while still protecting species.

In a related matter, the feds announced they were postponing any plans to move ahead with the Two Gates Project in the Delta that is designed to protect the smelt but allow pumping of water to farms in the Valley. That announcement was received with disappointment by ag and water interests.

According to StateUniversity.com, College of the Sequoias is one of the safest campuses in California, placing 11th among the 110 colleges in the state, and 83rd of the 4,000 colleges in the U.S. Topping the state list is Cuesta College in San Luis Obispo. Reedley College was fourth.

West Hills Community College has been awarded a $3 million grant for green technology job training and curriculum. The grant was awarded by the United States Department of Labor through the Pathway Out of Poverty grant program and announced by Rep. Jim Costa (D-Fresno). “Green technology, like solar farming or energy efficient construction, is an up-and-coming industry in our Valley. Investments made to train people in this industry will help create new jobs and help our local economy,” Costa said. The Department of Labor's Pathways Out of Poverty grants will integrate training and supportive services into cohesive programs that will help targeted populations find pathways out of poverty and into economic self-sufficiency through employment in energy efficiency and renewable energy industries.

The city of Visalia is negating to purchase its first multi-family housing complex as part of its Neighborhood Stabilization Program. The city has already purchased several single-family residences and sold four of those, but the fourplex it is looking at will be the first multi-family unit. The city is partnering with a non-profit agency to rent the units. The city has purchased 13 homes to date, with it in escrow on three more. It received $2.3 million for the program to purchased foreclosed homes, rehabilitate them and then resell them at no profit.