Could stall Visalia new home construction
-August 3,2022-
In a July 21 ruling Tulare County Superior Court Judge David Mathias ruled against the City of Visalia over their revised program to not require ag land mitigation from developers who want to bring farmland into the city for urban development.The previous policy, part of the General Plan, would have required developers – typically home builders – to pay into a fund that would set aside ag land elsewhere. The mitigation policy would apply to ag land in Tiers 11 and 111- generally at the city’s urban edge. The city’s general plan, adopted in 2014, featured a three-tier system to encourage development first in Tier 1 before future subdivisions in Tier 11 and 111 were added.
Some 51% of the Visalia Planning Area is classified as Prime Farmland. The General Plan assumes as Visalia grows to full buildout it will develop 14,265 total acres of Important Farmland, of which 12,490 acres are Prime Farmland.
The mitigation policy has been championed by those who want to discourage sprawl on the outskirts of the city and promote infill within the city.The fee developers would pay would help buy the mitigation land on a one-to-one basis.
The judge did not rule on the merits of the ag mitigation policy but ruled against the city for not fully assessing the change in policy under CEQA that ended the Ag Mitigation Program(AMP). The ruling means that the ag mitigation program will stay for now.
Visalia Mayor Steve Nelsen says he was “surprised – thinking the plan we made was ironclad.” Now he says he understands “this is not a minor fix and we need to know if this will delay us.”
Sierra Club attorney Babak Naficy commented “that the City of Visalia will be mandated to rescind their amended policy” adding that the city consultant study on the plan was faulty.
Court documents show that the Sierra Club and Central Valley Partnership challenged the City adopted amendment last August by filing a petition for writ of mandate, contending the City lacked substantial evidence to support removal of the AMP requirement; and that the City abused its discretion by preparing an “addendum” to a previously. certified environmental impact report (EIR) for the policy change rather than a subsequent or supplemental EIR.
Judge Mathias agreed.”The court finds use of an addendum in the circumstances of this case is not supported by substantial evidence in the record, and, therefore, grants the petition. The court’s ruling is confined to this limited issue, and specifically does not extend to the ultimate issue of whether the AMP requirement may or should be removed from the general plan.”
Seven Visalia developments impacted now
For home builders wanting to build in Tier 11, the effect is the same until the city goes through a full EIR to remove the AMP from the general plan – a lengthy process that could put off new approvals for months or even years and with an uncertain outcome.
Who will be impacted? Mayor Nelsen says he understands there are seven Visalia housing projects ready to move into Tier 11 in the pipeline after several years of a boom in permit activity.“For those 7 projects to move forward, we need to iron this out.”
Now the Tulare County judge has ruled the city action needs to be rescinded – putting in limbo new applications for subdivisions in Tier 11, some 1500 acres inside the urban boundary. The need for Tier 11 land to build is clear from the fact that most of the Tier 1 land in the city has now been subdivided.
Last August the city filed a Notice of Determination for General Plan Amendment No. 2021-01. An Addendum to the City of Visalia General Plan Update Environmental Impact Report was prepared in association with the General Plan Amendment. General Plan Amendment amends Land Use Policy LU-P-34, removing a requirement for the establishment of an agricultural mitigation program applicable to urban development in Growth Tiers II and III.For residential uses, the threshold to move to Tier 11 is the issuance of permits for 5,850 housing units
At that time city staff argued that circumstances had changed since 2014. Their feasibility study suggested that a local City-wide AMP may result in” a patchwork of easements not contiguous enough to sustain economic viability”. Also that effectiveness of such a program is questionable and the cost of purchasing easements “would be cost-prohibitive.” A study said the average median density home would cost an extra $585 due to AMP fees.
An example of a Tier 11 application that appears to be stalled is a request submitted last April for the Belissa Residential Community Project- a 477-unit, low, medium, and high-density residential development with commercial and open space on 58.78 gross acres within the City of Visalia planning area.The proposed project site is located within the Urban Development Boundary Tier II, North of the Visalia city limits. The site is located North of Riverway Avenue and East of Demaree Street on vacant land behind an existing single-family residential subdivision. The builder appears to be Clovis-based Wathen Castanos.
Theoretically, the city could simply start to collect the AMP fee from developers so as not to slow plans while they wait to sort out Visalia’s long term policy. If the AMP is adopted, development projects within the City that convert important farmland to urban uses may be required to conserve farmland outside the City or pay an in-lieu fee.The plan had been for a local land trust like Sequoia Riverlands Trust to implement the program resulting /in protected lands in a greenbelt around the city long term, between Tulare and Visalia for example.
National home builders who do business in the city are among the nation’s largest including Beazer Homes, Lennar, DR Horton and Pulte Group who own Centex. Woodside Homes is a national company now owned by a Japanese firm.These companies are used to such mitigation plans in other jurisdictions like Kern County.
Even though the Generals Plan was adopted in 2014, nobody has had to pay the AMP fee yet since the City Council changed the plan before Tier 11 payments were set to start.Now the city is in a pickle wanting to encourage development to continue but suddenly pressed to require builders to start paying the mitigation fee or hurry up and wait.
Slowdown?
This legal news comes just as the local home building activity appears to be slowing down due to FED induced high mortgage interest rates. The latest construction statistics indicate that in June and July 2022 local builders permitted 88 new sf homes compared to 160 new homes for the same two months in 2021.
What is up in 2022 are permits for multi- family units at 475 so far this year compared to 130 through July 2021. As for existing home sales in Visalia in July, the number of sold listings is down at about 15% from July 2021.
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