Category: Business

-April 2,2022-
New Fairfield Inn & Suites coming to Hanford
Hotel owner and developer Anil Chagan says he is working with the City of Hanford to permit a new 82 room Fairfield Inn & Suites hotel facing Highway 198. The lodge would be near the 12th Ave interchange located next to the Hanford Hyundai dealership. Chagan, based in Visalia, would have four hotels with this new property with a unit in Tulare and two in Visalia.Construction should start in May, he says.

Save Mart chain sold to SoCal firm
Modesto-based Save Mart Companies announced this week that Kingswood Capital Management LP has acquired the company. Kingswood is an operationally-focused private equity firm based in Los Angeles, with significant experience in the retail sector. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

Save Mart has some 2000 stores in California and Nevada and 5 in this reading area including Lemoore, Hanford, Coalinga, Kingsburg and Selma.

The company operates stores under the banners of Save Mart, Lucky California, and FoodMaxx. There are several FoodMaxx locations in the South Valley including Visalia.

In addition to its retail operation, the company also operates SMART Refrigerated Transport and is a partner in Super Store Industriesp, which owns and operates a distribution center in Lathrop, and the Sunnyside Farms dairy processing plant in Turlock.

“I’m excited for this opportunity with Kingswood to invest in and grow The Save Mart Companies family of stores,” said Chris McGarry, CEO of The Save Mart Companies. “The Piccinini family did a tremendous job in fostering a commitment to innovation and service as they built and grew this company in the Central Valley and throughout California. As a result, we have great stores and a committed team of 14,000 employees we serve.”

With the addition of The Save Mart Companies, Kingswood is expanding its existing Northern California presence. It already owns Alameda-based Cost Plus World Market, which it acquired in January 2021 from Bed Bath and Beyond, and Mare Island based Lind Marine, a diversified marine services business headquartered north of the San Francisco Bay, which it recapitalized in January 2022.
Kings County adds jobs in February
The unemployment rate in Kings County was 8.5 percent in February 2022, down from a revised 9.0 percent in January 2022, and below the year-ago estimate of 11.7 percent. This compares with an unadjusted unemployment rate of 4.8 percent for California and 4.1 percent for the nation during the same period. Leading the gain here as well as in Fresno County were educational, leisure services and health services jobs. In Fresno these jobs were up 1,700 over the month; 6,700 over the year.

The unemployment rate in Fresno County was 7.6 percent in February 2022, down from a revised 8.1 percent in January 2022, and below the year-ago estimate of 11.2 percent.

Friant could lose existing water supply

The federal Bureau of Reclamation has allocated contractors in the Friant district only 15% of their annual supply. But now the drought across the state may force Friant to cough up this small amount stored in the upper SJR watershed to the San Joaquin Exchange Contractors Friant officials fear, leaving them with a zero supply to send down the Friant Kern Canal.Only more rain and runoff in Shasta would fix this.

Cherry crop with good size fruit coming
A published report says the Flavor Tree Fruit Company in Hanford is expecting large cherries for the upcoming harvest.

“We received ideal growing conditions in California during the dormant period in all of our cherry-growing regions,” Kaleb Smith, assistant sales manager, told The Packer. “Initial bloom was very healthy in the southern and central growing districts, and so far, our earliest orchards have shown a very promising crop.

“Although it does not look like we will be receiving last year’s substantially high yields, we are very encouraged by the current crop load, as the conditions are ideal for us to produce large-size cherries with great quality,” he continued. “We expect promotable volume for shipments throughout the Month of May and are very excited for the season as we await our first harvest.”Hanford offers the market some of the earliest cherries in the produce aisle.

Supreme Court to hear Prop12 appeal
The Supreme Court agreed last Monday to hear a farm-group challenge that says California’s animal welfare rules pose an unconstitutional burden on farmers and consumers throughout the nation. Approved by the state’s voters in a landslide in 2018, Proposition 12 requires California farmers to give more room to sows and egg-laying hens, and bars the sale of pork not raised following the space requirement rules. The appeal was filed by the American Farm Bureau Federation) and the National Pork Producers Council.

California’s Proposition 12 seeks to ban the sale of pork from hogs that don’t meet the state’s new production standards, even if the pork was raised on farms outside of California. Any whole pork meat from hogs born of sows not housed in conformity with the law cannot be sold in the state of California, regardless of whether the animal was raised in-state or out-of-state.

“AFBF is pleased with the Supreme Court’s decision to consider the constitutionality of California’s law imposing arbitrary requirements on farmers well outside its borders.”
Dairies lobby to keep digester incentive
Environmental Justice advocates have been pushing the State of California Air Board to not allow dairies and livestock to earn revenue for the greenhouse gas emissions reductions achieved to help the state meet its targets. These incentives, like the Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS), make digesters possible and therefore the achievements that have been made with them. Without those incentives producers, including a number in Kings County, would be nowhere near meeting the legislated target of reducing manure methane emissions by 40%. However, with the incentives reaching that target is achievable. The EJ advocates had petitioned CARB to deny dairy digesters LCFS credits. CARB recently denied their petition but agreed to continue discussions on the topic. A workshop being held is a direct result of that.Stay tuned.

Stanford University getting King’s solar power
Stanford University has revealed that the 63MW of offtake it secured from the Slate solar-plus-storage project in Kings County, California, has completed its transition to 100% renewable electricity. The project, which just came online, enables Stanford” to achieve the important milestone of producing enough renewable electricity to exceed what the university consumes,” said President Marc Tessier-Lavigne.

March 19,2022-

New sheriff substations in Earlimart and Porterville

Tulare County has announced they are purchasing new substations in Earlimart and Porterville. The Earlimart site is a 1.28 acre portion of a 5 acre lot improved with an existing 3,750 sq ft pre-engineered metal building. In Porterville the subject property is the Forest Headquarters for the Sequoia National Forest. The lot is 2.85 acres in size with an existing 18,000 sq ft pre-engineered metal building with on-site secured parking. The purchase of this property will allow Tulare County to develop it into a new Sheriff’s Substation to serve the unincorporated areas of Porterville and other surrounding communities.

County building new radio towers

As part of the American Rescue Plan budget, the Tulare County Board of Supervisors have approved the installation of 120-foot radio towers for several locations including Tulare Fire Station #10 in Porterville, in Tipton, at Kings River Station and Tulare Fire Station #7 in Tulare.

Sequoias Stadium is coming to COS in the Fall of 2023! Sequoias Stadium will feature 3,000 seats, a video board, state of the art entry plaza, concessions, restrooms, and a place to enjoy events on the COS campus. Go Giants!!!

 

Starbucks dumping single service cups

Starbucks wants to switch from disposable cups, says WSJ. “Seattle coffee giant is experimenting with reusable cup program in several markets, with the goal of fewer single-use and plastic cups by 2025. The coffee giant said Tuesday it is working to veer away from single-use paper and plastic cups and instead provide reusable ones to customers within three years. It is the latest effort from Starbucks as the company moves to hit company-set waste reduction goals by 2030 and address customer sustainability concerns.”

Orange Cove getting solar panels at treatment plant

Orange Cove will receive a $2.23 million loan at one percent simple interest from the California Energy Commission to install a solar array at the City’s wastewater treatment plant and LED lighting at seven City sites. Upon completion, the project is estimated to reduce about 961,534 kWh of grid electricity consumption annually, saving the city approximately $142,166 in utility costs per year.

Pratt Water System/MathenyTract getting new well

The State Water Board’s Drinking Water State Revolving Fund Program is financing installation of Well 4-3, which will be a 1,000 GPM well with new pipeline to the Matheny Tract subdivision near Tulare.The site is on K Street and Bardsley Avenue, and I Drive. Matheny’s water system, Pratt Mutual, has elevated arsenic levels. On April 1, 2016, the State Water Resource Control Board issued a mandatory water system consolidation order directing the City of Tulare to connect Matheny Tract to the Tulare County water system.

Tulare groundwater sinks

In February 2021, the average standing water level depth in Tulare was 194 feet. In February 2022, the average standing water level depth was 206 feet, representing a 12-foot drop from a year ago.

Nasdaq OKs Faraday Future plan to regain listing

Faraday Future announced that the Nasdaq Stock Market has accepted the company’s plan to regain compliance with Nasdaq Listing Rule 5250, which permits the continued listing of FF common stock and warrants on the Nasdaq Global Select Market. Nasdaq has granted the company an extension until May 6, 2022 to file its Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended September 30, 2021. The extension also covers the company’s Annual Report for the year ended December 31, 2021.

Faraday Future received a letter from Nasdaq on November 17, 2021 stating that the company was not in compliance with Nasdaq Listing Rule because it had not timely filed its Q3 Form 10-Q with the SEC.

On February 1, 2022, the Company announced the completion of the Special Committee investigation of charges that the company misled investors. Since then, the company has been continuing to implement the remedial actions approved by the Special Committee and undertaking additional investigative and remedial work based on the results of the Special Committee investigation.
Valley counties lose holiday jobs in January

The unemployment rate in Kings County was 8.9 percent in January 2022, up from a revised 7.5 percent in December 2021, and below the year-ago estimate of 11.3 percent. Kings, like nearby Fresno County, lost many seasonal jobs filled during the holidays including those in retail and leisure service. In Fresno trade, transportation, and utilities recorded the largest month-over decline with a loss of 1,600 jobs following the holiday season. Retail trade (down 1,000 jobs) accounted for approximately 63 percent of the job loss in this sector. Leisure and hospitality experienced a decrease of 1,400 jobs. and construction lost hundreds of jobs as well.
Home sales down here but median up

In Kings County the median price of home climbed to $327,000 in February ,compared to $322,00 in January and $280,00 in February 2021. Sales fell 13.6% month over month but the median prices up 12.8% from a year earlier.

PG&E, Ford and GM co-develop bidirectional electric vehicle charging technology for at-home use

Pacific Gas and Electric Company,Ford and GM announced they will collaborate to see how the directional charging technology on electric vehicles,like the Ford F-150 can be used as on-demand power sources for homes in PG&E’s service area.

The F-150 Lightning will play a critical role in this investigation due to its role as the first commercially available light-duty truck to possess bidirectional capabilities through its Intelligent Backup Power. By the companies’ estimates, the truck could offer backup supply for customers’ homes in PG&E’s service area for up to 10 days during outages, depending on home energy usage.

“We are really excited about this innovative collaboration with GM. Imagine a future where everyone is driving an electric vehicle—and where that EV serves as a backup power option at home and more broadly as a resource for the grid. Not only is this a huge advancement for electric reliability and climate resiliency, it’s yet another advantage of clean-powered EVs, which are so important in our collective battle against climate change,” said PG&E Corporation CEO Patti Poppe.By the end of 2025, GM will have more than 1 million units of EV capacity in North America to respond to growing demand.

Freeze hits Valley almonds

A late February freeze hit much of the Valleys almond growing region just as bloom was underway although it appears north counties may have been hit the hardest. Kings County has some 33,000 acres of almonds while neighbors Kern and Fresno counties have some 160,000 acres each. Almond trees at full bloom are especially sensitive to freezing temperatures at or below 28 ℉. Yield could be affected, but the extent of damage may not be observed right away.
Kings Ag Commissioner Jimmy Hook says “it looks like we dodged a bullet” on the event in our area though there are some reports of damage.Others are not so lucky.

The state’s almond industry is valued at around $5 billion.A note by Brian Noeller, regional manager of member relations for Blue Diamond Growers, stated the northern region of California almond country sustained the heaviest damage, with some farmers reporting “almost total losses in colder areas.”

“With almonds being the first flowering crop and extremely susceptible to frost, we are deeply concerned for our grower-owners and all California farmers who are affected by these freeze conditions,” said Mark Jansen, President and CEO of Blue Diamond Growers.

One report estimates damage.Rich Kreps, a crop consultant with Ultra Gro Plant Food, said he knows of areas in Delano, east of Madera, and Cantua Creek in western Fresno County that were hit particularly hard with freezing temperatures that lingered for several hours.

After visiting farms in Madera County, Kreps said younger orchards – those 3-7 years old – appeared to fare worse than older orchards, particularly older ones that still had access to flood irrigation, which can give farmers the greatest protection against freezing temperatures when used effectively.

Some counties may declare a disaster due to the freeze.

Almond growers learned that shipments of almonds for export through February year to date are down 21%.

Solar on the farm – SGMA impact

According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, 8% of California farms have an on-site renewable-energy system.

California Farm Bureau reports that Aaron Barcellos, who farms row crops and trees in Merced and Fresno counties, took advantage of federal tax incentives and invested in constructing two solar systems that total 1.4 megawatts to offset the farm’s energy usage.

“Most farmers, if they’ve got a drip system with an electric pump on it, are probably spending between $80 and $120 an acre per year at least on just their energy costs, depending on the crop and how much water they’re delivering,” Barcellos explained. “On-farm energy use is definitely a big deal. It’s one of those line items in the budget that we always check on.”

With the ongoing drought and a regulation that requires local agencies to balance groundwater supplies under the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act, or SGMA, more farmers see renewable energy as a source of income, especially with farmland expected to go out of production.

“Right now, agriculture has a huge role to play, especially with SGMA,” Barcellos said. “We know we’re going to be retiring lands that don’t have enough water, and there’s lots of interest in solar for those.”

Arian Aghajanzadeh, an agriculture technology expert who founded Klimate Consulting in San Francisco, said farmers have a unique role to play in California’s energy future.

“Agriculture and land use is the only sector of the economy that can transition from becoming a major source of carbon emissions to becoming a major carbon sink” in reducing emissions, Aghajanzadeh said. “No other sector can achieve this.”

WSJ- Ports improve container shipments

Wall Street Journal reports that” containers are moving faster through Southern California’s beleaguered port complex, leaving companies wondering if they’ve turned a corner. The backup of container ships waiting for a berth dipped last weekend to the lowest level since September, the WSJ Logistics Report’s Paul Berger writes, and a trip through one of the Port of Los Angeles’s big terminals suggests that cargoes are flowing more smoothly than they have in a long time. That may be largely because Los Angeles and the neighboring Long Beach port are catching their breath during the seasonal lull around the Lunar New Year.”

Fourth quarter completion

-March 11,2022-

United States Cold Storage, with 42 Refrigerated, Chill, and Ambient Storage and Distribution Facilities across the United States has announced it has received board approval to break ground and begin construction of a 3.8 million cubic foot facility on 39 acres adjacent to its Tulare North Facility located on Walnut Avenue in Tulare.

This $31 million expansion will include two large multi temperature storage rooms, along with refrigerated docks, and employee wellness areas.  The expansion will enable the facility to store an additional estimated 51,000,000 pounds of food products, food ingredients, and packaging materials.  This expansion will also enable the facility to increase its annual throughput amount an additional 246,000,000 pounds.  The expansion is expected to result in the addition of 20 jobs, says Brian Ford, plant manager.

United States Cold Storage expects the new expansion to be in operation at some point during 4th quarter of 2022.  United States Cold Storage is based in Camden New Jersey, and its parent company, Swire, is based in London England.  This expansion has been in the planning for numerous months, but with the pandemic, and extremely high costs of materials, the project has gone through multiple delays.  This expansion is a result of current customer growth locally, and nationally.

According to City of Tulare Mayor Dennis Mederos, “US Cold Storage has been a key partner and excellent employer in the City of Tulare since 1990.  We look forward to assisting them with this major expansion and continuing our successful relationship for many years to come”.  The dairy industry, and food industry in general continues to grow in the San Joaquin Valley, as well as the export market for products manufactured here locally, and shipped directly out of the USCS Tulare Facilities to the Southern California ports in ship containers to Asia, Australia, and other geographic areas around the world.

March 10,2022-

Salute! Italian meat company Bosseto Foods has filed plans for a new 477,000 sf food processing and distribution facility for their iconic line of dried meats.The project, on 18.90 acres, is located at 2325 South West Avenue and 995 West Church Avenue on the southeast corner of South West Avenue and West Church Avenue in Fresno.

The development would require a General Plan Amendment and rezone to allow industrial uses. The mostly vacant property is now zoned for residential.

Approvals would allow Busseto Foods, Inc. to consolidate all Fresno based facilities and operations under one roof. A majority of operations including the processing, warehousing, and distribution activities are located on the ground floor with administrative activities located on the second floor.

Approximately 160 employees are projected to work at the facility, including 20-50 temporary/part-time seasonal employees that are projected to work from September to December.

The products produced at the plant will include four types of dried meat – salami, pancetta, coppa, and prosciutto. The facility will include a large kitchen, refrigeration and freezing cold boxes; rooms for seasoning, storage, washing, cleaning, and unpacking and packing, as well as loading and unloading docks. Nearly one half of the building will be a giant drying room for the prosciutto.

Production of these items involves a non-odor emitting process consisting of fermentation and drying in atmosphere-controlled rooms. No slaughtering or butchering of meat takes place in the facility. Nearly all meat arrives frozen from other locations. It is anticipated that the facility will produce 500,000 to 600,000 pounds of dried meat per week. No retail store is planned.

Lorenzo Pagani began mastering the art of salumi when he was just 14 years old in Como, Italy in 1955. He moved to America in 1991 to learn English, and has been head salumiere at Busseto Foods ever since. The are currently at 1351 N Crystal Ave and 2 other locations.Company sales have been estimated to be around $60 million.

Attachments area

-March 10,2022-

Orosco plans big apartment complex across from Costco

Monterey developer The Orosco Group has filed a plan first submitted to the city site plan review back in June, to use the large vacant Packwood Creek North Grove property for multi- family residential use.The big parcel, right across Cameron from Costco and Orosco Grove South development had been slated for more commercial big box uses and even a movie theatre earlier. But the times are different now and developers see there is strong demand of more living spaces here.

The new plan for the 15.7 acre property includes mixed uses but mostly multi-level apartments ( about 240 units) and several out buildings that could a pharmacy and medical clinics.

Tiger Tea House coming to Mooney & Meadow Lane

Hanford businessman Ming Lu Jin established Tiger Tea House in Downtown Hanford in 2019. Now he has his sights on the NE corner of Mooney and Meadow Lane where he is applying to the city for a zone change to convert the parcels to mixed-use commercial. He plans to remodel the wrap around building in the front to a 1800sf Tea House.The eatery will feature 24 varieties of flavored fruit teas. Jin says the remake of the property will include a second storefront that will be for leases. Jin acquired the property from Visalia Unified.

 

-March 5,2022-
Under Armor to open 7500sf store at Outlet Mall

Under Armour is coming to the Tulare Outlet Mall, located in the former Dress Barn space. The company has been issued a permit to do the remodel work and could opentin a few months. Under Armour, Inc. is an American sports equipment company that manufactures footwear, sports and casual apparel. Tulare Outlets ,owned by Craig Realty. is the 5th largest business in Tulare, with property valued at $41 million.

Packing house house under construction

Permits for the new M Park citrus packing house were issued in January for a large 153,00sf complex including a 52,217sf cold storage facility. The project is valued at $15.4 million.Located at 31932 Rd 60, the packing house sits just west of Hwy 99 and north of Betty Drive interchange. Park is relocating the business from Orange Cove.

Simply Brewing on East Main

Coming soon, Simply Brewing Co. will be located in the Brewery District of Visalia 601 E Main Street. It is a homegrown production brewery that will feature both beer and ciders. Construction is underway.

Downtown Visalia building- The Nest could be a center for creativity

The remodel of an 1891-historic brick building at 400 N Johnson, at the corner of School and Johnson, is awaiting the green light from the city to begin construction in Downtown Visalia.” We hope to open by late 2022” says operator Wilson Reniers, adding that the multi-use building will carry the name of “The Nest”. Wilson is an industrial designer by trade and his wife is a filmmaker. “The first phase will include an art gallery, film production studio, and offices.The next phase will bring in food to the creative landscape including a coffee cart, ghost kitchens and farmers market produce.
“We want to be an incubator for start-up businesses” Reniers adds. Another company, Mid State will also be located in the 16,000sf building. Wilson expects to offer 3D printing and plans to do podcasting at the site.A website for The Nest is on the way he promises. The creative space will be located right across the street from the 1852 Visalia indoor soccer and beer pub complex..
Tulare Kraft Cheese hiring 22 as part of expansion

New owner of Kraft Tulare, Lactalis is hiring 22 new employees as it begins its expansion and modernization project, says a spokesman, Chris Bona.

Bravo Farms Downtown Visalia
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Permits have been issued to remodel the former bank at 500 W Main in Downtown Visalia. Restaurateur Bravo Farms will open a Visalia location in part of the building.

Dealer building new Hyundai showroom

Visalia car dealer Don Groppetti is doing a full remodel of his Hyundai dealership at 220 S Ben Maddox Way.

Another location for Tommy’s Car Wash

Tommy’s Car Wash is ready to open soon on Dinuba Hwy and now plans a second location at 520 Riggin – west of Akers, another 6,700sf automated car wash.

Exeter applies to Drinking Water State Revolving Fund for upgrades to its water system

The City Exeter’s existing water storage capacity is insufficient during peak demand periods. Additional water storage and pumping facilities will be required to satisfy peak demands and future growth, says an application to the state.,looking to upgrade the city system.The report details the following fixes.
• Several wells are abandoned. The City would like to explore the possibility of rehabilitating abandoned wells to restore production capacity.
• The capacities of the existing wells have been declining over the years. The City wishes to conduct pump testing to determine the current capacities of each well.
• Elevated haloacetic acid, trihalomethane, and coliform levels have been occasionally observed throughout the distribution system. The City wishes to evaluate and design infrastructure improvements for mitigating exceedances.
• The City’s existing water system controls infrastructure is aging and requires extensive upgrades to facilitate long-term operation of water supply infrastructure.
• Several critical wells do not have auxiliary power to maintain production in the event of a power and/or engine failure of the existing well motors.
To address these issues, the following project components work will require planning and design:
• Increasing the water storage capacity from 100,000 to 500,000 gallons through design of a new storage tank and booster pump station.

 

-March 5,2022-

Plans for two new large industrial buildings were highlighted in recent weeks as Seefried Industries and Fowler Packing each filed new plans for warehouses in the booming Visalia Industrial Park.

Seefried, based in Phoenix, is the same company who is well underway on construction of a 1.1 million sf facility for Ace Hardware right next door to this new 535,540sf “speculative” building on 39 acres. The Ace building is on 80 acres.The two parcels were acquired at the same time.

Seefried’s latest project is at the NE corner of Ave 76 and W Goshen are just south of Ace. As a spec project no tenant for this project has been announced. The complex includes parking for 545 cars and 1760 trailer parking stalls.

Access to the site will be from N Plaza Drive to the east and Route 76 to the west. There is a private access road to the north (From Plaza Drive) that will provide two full-access driveways with code required fire access around the perimeter.

Construction ground-breaking is estimated to occur in the 4th Quarter of 2022 and full completion of the project in 2023. Construction operations will adhere to all state, regional and local requirements, says the operational statement filed by the developer.

This facility could accommodate both a single or multi-tenant end user(s) (designed for 1-4 tenants).

The second building project is being proposed by Fowler Packing (G4 Enterprises,LTD)who is the Parnagian family based in Fresno.Called the Duarte Industrial project , this is a 15 acre warehouse east of N. Kelsey Street and south of W. Goshen Avenue. This the second filing of the project at site plan review after initial comments were received by the developer.

The proposed development consists of the construction and operation of an office/warehouse style, concrete tilt-up shell building that is approximately 313,000 square feet. The proposed building will have four (4) offices and approximately 48 loading docks on the south side of the building. The project will provide approximately 382 standard parking stalls for employee parking including eight (8) ADA stalls and future EV charging stations.

Access to the site is provided off of N. Kelsey Street. Operational times are typical of warehouse style facilities and may operate up to 24 hours a day and 7 days a week since it will be a warehouse for distribution of goods.

G4 Enterprises Ltd is not new to Visalia having acquired Midstate 99 Distribution Center, a 790,000-square-foot industrial complex in Visalia, for $33.4 million in 2017.

G4 has been busy in Fresno where they brought in Amazon west of Highway 99 a few years ago. Now the developer is being thwarted on expanding in West Fresno due to opposition from community groups. At the same time, negotiations with community groups lead to an agreement from G4 to reinforce homes in south central Fresno in response to added traffic from a second Amazon sorting facility near the first.

At a hearing last spring, developer Leland Parnagian noted that “The U.S. is really undergoing a shift in how people buy things from in-store to online and that’s really driving changes in employment around the country.”

Also in Fresno, Seefried is breaking ground on a second “last mile delivery” warehouse in Fresno for Amazon.No such facility is known to be happening in Visalia, as of yet.

-February 25,2022-

Includes 15 mile tunnel through Pacheco Pass
SAN JOSE, Calif– The California High-Speed Rail Authority (Authority) today released the Final Environmental Impact Report/Environmental Impact Statement (Final EIR/EIS) for the approximately 90-mile San Jose to Merced Project Section in Northern California.

The Authority’s Board of Directors will consider the final document for approval during its two-day board meeting on April 20 and 21, in conjunction with the proposed approval of the preferred alternative alignment. If approved, this project section will move closer to being “shovel ready” for when preconstruction and construction funding becomes available.

“This environmental document is the culmination of years of analysis and stakeholder engagement and an important milestone in advancing high-speed rail between Silicon Valley and the Central Valley,” said Authority CEO Brian Kelly. “Connecting these two major economic regions will change the way people travel throughout the state and foster more equitable employment and housing opportunities. We remain committed to environmentally clearing all 500 miles from San Francisco to Los Angeles and Anaheim and advancing design statewide.”

In the San Jose to Merced Project Section, high-speed trains will travel through or near the cities of Santa Clara, San Jose, Morgan Hill, Gilroy and Los Banos, connecting Silicon Valley and the Central Valley. The proposed preferred alternative alignment would include upgrading existing rail lines between San Jose and Gilroy and constructing a new high-speed rail alignment with more than 15 miles of tunnels through Pacheco Pass in the Diablo Range.

By reducing travel times and integrating the high-speed rail system with other modes of transportation, this section of the statewide high-speed rail system will tie California’s regions together through public rail and transit. The proposed preferred alternative for the San Jose to Merced Project Section includes high-speed rail stations at San Jose Diridon Station and in downtown Gilroy, offering links with regional and local mass transit. The proposed preferred alternative will modernize and electrify the existing rail corridor from San Jose to Gilroy, allowing for both high-speed rail and electrified Caltrain service to South San Jose and Southern Santa Clara County.

The Authority serves as the lead agency under the California Environmental Quality Act and the National Environmental Policy Act. The Draft EIR/EIS was circulated for public review from April 24 to June 23, 2020, and a Revised/Supplemental Draft EIR/EIS focused on specific biological resources issues was circulated for public review from April 23 to June 9, 2021. The Authority has considered all comments received during the public review periods and responses to the comments are documented in the Final EIR/EIS. The document includes:
An analysis of alternatives, including impacts and effects
Mitigation measures proposed to reduce environmental impacts and effects
Public comments received on the Draft EIR/EIS and Revised/Supplemental Draft EIR/EIS and responses to comments
Revisions to the Draft EIR/EIS made in response to comments.
The Final EIR/EIS can be found on the Authority’s website, www.hsr.ca.gov. In addition to the website, printed and/or electronic copies of the Final EIR/EIS are available at the following locations during operating hours:
Santa Clara—2635 Homestead Road (Central Park Library)
San Jose—150 E. San Fernando Street (Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Library)
Gilroy—350 W. 6th Street (Gilroy Library)
Los Banos—1312 7th Street (Los Banos Branch Library)
Merced—2100 O Street (Merced County Library) and
2222 M Street (Merced County Clerk)
Morgan Hill—660 W. Main Avenue (Morgan Hill Library) and 17575 Peak Avenue (Morgan Hill City Hall, Development Services Department)
San Benito—440 5th Street #206 (San Benito County Recorder).
Printed and/or electronic copies of the San Jose to Merced Final EIR/EIS, along with electronic copies of the previously published environmental documents are also available for review during business hours at the Authority’s office at 770 L Street, Suite 620 MS-1, Sacramento; and by appointment at the Authority’s Northern California Regional Office at 100 Paseo de San Antonio, Suite 300, San Jose. To make an appointment to view the documents, please call 1-800-455-8166.

The Authority has previously cleared four project sections of the high-speed rail project prior to issuing this San Jose to Merced project section environmental document. Last fall, the Authority approved the Bakersfield to Palmdale project section, and in January, the Authority completed its CEQA approval for the Burbank to Los Angeles project section . Prior to these approvals, the Authority approved the Fresno to Bakersfield project section and the Merced to Fresno project section.

California high-speed rail is currently under construction along 119 miles in the Central Valley at 35 active job sites. To date, nearly 7,500 construction jobs have been created since the start of construction. For more on construction, visit: www.buildhsr.com.