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For Central Valley … Really Big Projects Pending In January

January is supposed to be a quiet month for business activity but some  important and even multi-billion dollar decisions could be made. Here is a roundup of few to watch.

Fresno County

Central Valley High Speed Rail construction begins later this year with the construction bids on first 28 mile segment from Fresno north to Merced due on January 18. Five companies have pre qualified to bid. Jeffrey Morales, CHSRA CEO expects to award a contract by June. This fall, property acquisition and initial construction work will begin, assuming there are no successful legal challenges.State Public Works Board is expected to approve the rail agency request to purchase 356 parcels on the route at their meeting this week.

Kingsburg: Manufacturer Could Bring 200 Jobs To Town: So says Kingsburg City manager Don Pauley. An unnamed company is working with the city and Del Monte to buy the now vacant 100,000 sf warehouse from Del Monte to convert it to a manufacturing facility.Pauley says the company may start work to remodel the building as soon as February but that the deal is not yet done. Del Monte closed all their operations in Kingsburg last year. Several other pieces of the Del Monte empire in town are for sale as well including the 14 acre processing plant and the former Silgan can manufacturing building.

Kings County:

Navy is expected to release their draft EIR for the Joint Strike Fighter this month that will spell out if the plane will based in Lemoore or alternatively in San Diego County. This is a $500,000 million impact annually on Kings County. If the draft decides against Lemoore, the local base and its economic impact here, would shrink dramatically.

Long awaited 19th Ave interchange over Hwy 198 will break ground  soon in Lemoore.The $21 million half clover-leaf project will require 2 years to build with a contract awarded to Granite Construction. The interchange  will be the only one on Hwy 198 and ties the rest of the city to its industrial area. The project has been on the drawing board  for decades.The intersection has the second largest accident history in town say city planner Holly Smyth.

Avenal: Avenal Energy has got approval on a 4 to 0 vote from the California Energy Commission this month to move forward on their 600MW natural gas power plant in the works since 2009 despite objections from environmental groups.

Avenal: NRG plans to expand their solar farm to the southeast of their current project in the county and is applying to the county for a permit.

Tulare County

Tulare:  $250 Million cheese plant could bring 220 jobs to town CaliCheese is negotiating with  the City of Tulare to buy acreage at 2600 W Paige in west Tulare to build a new cheese plant.The city lists the item on  its January 15 agenda to sell it for $2 million.The property is the same city-owned land that was the subject of a lengthy and court tested EIR for a meat packing plant. It is expected the cheese plant would qualify as a similar type user and could use the EIR.The cheese plant is valued at $250 million.

Tulare has scheduled a Jan 15 city council meeting to pass a resolution of necessity to acquire right of way to begin construction of the new  Cartmill /99 interchange. City engineer Mike Whitlock says the city has agreements with about half the property owners that hold the necessary land and it may require some property be taken by eminent domaine.

Separately, the city is expecting to break ground on the new Bardsley Ave overcrossing with all funds  and the contractor in place. The crossing will make it  safer and faster to go east-west in Tulare.

Visalia

Growth Issue Returns/Salomon Offers Plan

Visalia City Council and Planning Commission are expected to take up the 2030 General Plan Update January 22 and we should see a lively debate over growth projections.

A citizen committee and their consultant have projected faster growth than several recent studies and as a a result their plan requires more land than may be needed to accommodate population growth between now and then says one council member. Councilman Greg Collins expects we can handle city growth “within the current city limits” with enough room, he says, to add another 40,000 to 50,000 residents.

City manager Steve Salomon is recommending the council adopt a policy that estimates a 10 year average for growth – currently 872 new homes built a year –  even though growth rates have slowed in the past few years to 250 in 2012. Mr Salomon’s staff report says there is an inventory of some 9359 units within the city limits or just under a 11 year supply using the 872 unit year average.

The staff suggested policy being proposed would allow annexation of non city limits, Tier 1 residential units, once the inventory got below the 10 year average of  8720 units or about 650 lower than we have today. County islands add 473 new units that would bulk up the current inventory. Salomon argues the ten year average would change allowing for market flexibility.

Salomon’s report suggests allowing immediate development of 572 acres of new industrial land along Riggin and 82 acres south of Goshen  to help bring in more employers.

On the hot button issue of new commercial land Salomon would add new land options immediately on South Moooney –  126 acres of new regional commercial land south of the Visalia Parkway – past Target. But any new Caldwell /99 commercial shopping center land would be pushed off to some future time. “I think it is clear that commercial developers want to be on Mooney Blvd and we are close to being filled up.”

Technical School To Expand In Visalia: The Visalia Unified School District plans to expand and modernize the current VTEC that currently leases a portion of the College of Sequoias Visalia Campus. The VUSD plans to purchase the entire 26.29 acre property from the COS. the project consists of modifications to current buildings with the addition of 2 standard modular classrooms. The future Master Plan Capacity will be 621 students in grades 10-12. Parking will be relocated on site; the new classrooms will occupy current parking places. No changes to the existing ingress/egress are proposed. The existing house and garage on the property will be demolished as the first phase of construction.

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