_March 10,2023-

Kaweah ,Kern ,Tule and Kings Rivers flood onto Valley floor

Pictured top is the Kaweh River spreading onto the Valley floor below the dam

The second photo is along the Kern River

Giant Forest gains 12 inches of of precip

Giant Forest in Sequoia National Park gained an impressive 12 inches of precip in 24 hours in today’s vigorous and warm storm according to the state DWR website.

Snow Lab heading for record snowpack?

Tahoe’s Central Sierra Snow Lab posted this graph before the latest storm.It showed this year as  the 5th  snowiest year.Add to that 9.3″ of rain-soaked #snow at today’s 8am measurement says  their website.’We have plenty more rain and snow on the way with additional precipitation amounts of 7-10″ predicted through Wednesday.” That would  put it ahead of 1982 with enough time to reach number one later this year.

FRIANT DAM VACATED TO HANDLE MELTING SNOWPACK

From mid-January to early March, the Bureau of Reclamation vacated about 200,000AF from Millerton Lake (Friant Dam) to make room for runoff(see chart). Good thing they did with an anticipated 200,000 AF coming down from the upper SJR watershed much sooner than expected due to the warm AR. The dam can hold 550,000AF but was holding 237,000AF March 8. Today the dam is holding 271,000AF -an increase of 35,000AF in two days(recorded at 6 PM/March 10)

Here is what Friant Water Users wrote earlier on March 10 about the next few days.

“Long range forecasts are indicating the atmospheric river system currently located in Central California will last three to four days and bring significant precipitation (as much as 10% more than the January storm) and high freezing levels, which will result in increased early runoff.”

 Tule River flooding today

Under construction for 16 months, the new 1.1 million square feet  Ace Hardware logistics center on Plaza Drive in the Visalia Industrial Park will open in the next few days. Mayor Brian Poochigian will cut the ribbon at the grand opening ceremony March 2.

“We are really excited to have Ace invest in our community providing good jobs to the residents of Visalia” says Poochigian, who was recently named mayor.

Ace Hardware Corporation, the world’s largest hardware cooperative, announced plans in August 2021 to open a new Retail Support Center in Visalia, California. The plant is bringing more than 400 jobs to the region.

The new facility augments the company’s Rocklin, California (Greater Sacramento Area) and Prescott Valley, Arizona distribution centers and will be centrally located in California, between Sacramento and Los Angeles.

The company was brought to Visalia by Arizona-based developer Seefried Industries. They are leasing the building to Ace. Seefried is developing two more spec projects in Visalia including a 553,500sf facility next door to the new Ace complex.They also have a contract  to develop a huge 280-acre industrial park north of Rggin and just west of Shirk.

The Ace building is located at 2045 N. Plaza Drive, on an 81-acre site just over 2 miles north of the interchange of state routes 99 and 198. It features a cross-dock configuration, offering 155 dock-high and four grade-level loading doors, 40-foot clear height and 140-foot-deep truck court. An approximately 20,000-square-foot office is part of the development as well as a 348,528-square-foot potential future expansion.Contractor on the big project was Clayco.

Ace officials are proud of their new California facility.

“Ace Hardware continuously evaluates distribution capabilities to ensure we meet our growing business demands and offer the best support and service to Ace retailers and our wholesale customers,” said Jeff Gooding, Corporate Vice President of Marketing, Ace Hardware. “Opening this new facility is essential for Ace to keep up with our historic growth and better serve our network of retailers, and ultimately, our Ace customers.”

The Visalia facility features new technology, a climate-controlled environment, and improved automation to help streamline and enhance operations—and importantly includes room to expand.

 Ace has recently built or is in the process of building several new facilities around the country as the company continues to grow. Ace’s network of distribution facilities, strategically located around the world, serve more than 5,500 retail locations. The new Visalia distribution center will serve more than 300 Ace affiliated stores servicing multiple states.

-March 2,2023-

Kings River runoff estimated at 180%

Steve Haugen, watermaster on the Kings River, says the latest estimate of April-July runoff is now 180% of average – enough to fill Pine Flat Dam and provide for a full run of the Kings River as well as meet irrigation demand on the Valley floor. ”It looks like a very good water year“ – the first in 4 years since 2019, the last wet year. Last month Haugen estimated the Kings basin snowpack could generate 130%-140% of spring runoff, so snowpack continues to build.

As you can see when you look out your window this week, there is more precip where that came from with Haugen saying the upper Kings watershed over the next week should get 3 to 5 feet of new snow.

Already users downstream are putting Pine Flat releases to work with more coming out of the reservoir than is flowing in. Some growers are already pre-irrigating fields and others are using irrigation to protect trees and vines from the very cold temps out there. As far as the Kings River is concerned, this summer will feature plenty of water for recreation during those100 degree days. But remember, reminds Haugen, that that the famous river will be a chilly 50 degrees and care must be taken
Kings County Water Commission will discuss disbanding

The Kings County Water Commission will discuss plans put forward by the Board of Supervisors to disband the advisory group in favor of a new water advisory group.The idea was not popular among members of the commission. The Water Commission will meet February 27 says county planner Alex Hernandez.The new entity would be the Water Resources Oversight Commission that was proposed upon the adoption by the Supervisors of the groundwater export ordinance, now in place. The groundwater export ordinance was adopted despite comments received from a number of local water agencies who asked the Board to postpone the ordinance last year to allow some modifications to be put in place. But the Supervisors put the new law on the books without modifications. Sources say now – after the fact as it were – some of those comments are being discussed and could still be inserted in an amended groundwater export ordinance. No word if this new dialogue could also save the Water Commission.

JD Heiskell to build new Hanford grain silo

Tulare-based JD Heiskell will expand their Kansas Ave granary adding a new silo and underground tunnel to connect to their Hanford feed mill The proposed grain silo will be 105′ in diameter and have a volume of 840,000 cubic feet. The existing truck route will be extended around the proposed grain silo.
USDA predicts lower price for cotton and milk

The latest USDA “long term” crop projections says two of Kings County’s most famous crops could be staring at lower prices in the next few years.

The report says “after reaching a record of $0.914 per pound for cotton in 2021/22, the price is expected to fall to $0.80 per pound in 2023/24. Cotton prices are projected to continue to decline through 2025/26 to $0.75 per pound.”

As for our top crop – the “all-milk price” is projected to decrease from its high level in 2022, falling through 2025; it then rises from 2028 through 2032. Adjusted for inflation, the all-milk price decreases throughout the projection period.” The USDA says the All Milk price for 2021 was $18.53, rising to $25.60 in 2022 but retreating to $22.90 in 2023, $21.90 in 2024 and staying at that level for several years.

Kingsburg rezone approved

Tulare County BOS approved a rezone of 15.71 acres onto the border with the City of Kingsburg this past month. The Reed Rezone Kingsburg Project will designate the entire property along Highway 99 to Commercial (C-2) and Light Industrial (M-1), for the future development of an industrial park, with various size parcels to accommodate commercial and industrial uses (195,000 square foot industrial park).

Pacific Coast Calf Ranch to expand

Pacific Coast Calf Ranch wants to expand their existing 55-acre facility in both herd size and facility improvements. The proposed project would include an approximately 208’ by 430’ area of open lot corrals as well as two (2) new 430’ by 25’ shade structures. The project will be located at 18644 16th Avenue, Stratford. Herd expansion would go from 9500 head of cattle to 13,500.

-March 2,2023-

Great Wolf Lodge will not build at Caldwell and Hwy 99 in Visalia after all says a top Tulare County economic development official.This week Mike Washam, Assistant Director, Economic Development & Planning Resource Management Agency, confirmed the Chicago-based developer of the Great Wolf resorts has decided not move forward on what had been touted as a $2 billion impact project to build a 500-700 room resort and water park at the the Sequoia Gateway Commerce Center. As recently as December, news reports said the resort project, first proposed in January 2022, was expected to break ground in 2023 and open in 2025. As of a few months ago, Washam was still optimistic.

Timing not right

But Washam says he was advised last weekend that the company,who have 19 Great Wolf resorts, decided that “the timing was not right” on the Visalia project suggesting they was busy breaking ground on several other new lodges in other parts of the country.”I don’t think they have any other potential locations in California they prefer” instead focusing outside the state, said Washam. Great Wolf has existing California locations in Anaheim and Manteca.

Washam has been leading an effort to bring Great Wolf to Tulare County offering an incentive package that included a15-year rebate of their bed tax and deferral of fees on the 35-acre project.The Board of Supervisors approved the offer last summer.

The project envisioned visits of up to 600,000 tourists each year, mostly from the Central Valley. Catering to families, all the Great Wolf resorts have an indoor water park, restaurants, arcades, spas, and children’s activities.

Washam says the County had taken care of the proper CEQA approvals although the scale of the project had drawn some opposition. ” The only remaining agreement that was pending but never finalized was with the City of Visalia” on the use of their wastewater facility. Talks on this issue have been going-on for months with no resolution. But besides now retired city council member Greg Collins, no other city opposition has surfaced publicly.

For the property owner – Sequoia Gateway Commerce Center- the loss of this big anchor tenant must be a bitter disappointment given the long wait to develop their center, first discussed at a county hearing back in 2015.To date only one highway commercial tenant has built on the open land -a Dutch Bros coffee drive-thru.

Two medical clinics have been proposed on the land – one by Valley Childrens Hospital for a clinic and one by Kaweah Health. Neither have moved forward but Valley Children has purchased their property.

Washam says he understands another developer may be interested in buying the entire 126-acre Sequoia Gateway land to develop it.The former farm field was approved for commercial development by the County since it is located outside the Visalia City limits.

-March 2,2023-

Chasing a Record Wet March is expected with a good chance of a record water year in the southern Sierra and perhaps all over California.With a month to go in the typical rainy season, the Sequoia Park region is forecasted to get another 4 inches of precip by March 6. Models predict a potential nine rainy days coming into the state through March 17 including a couple of stormy AR events, maybe warm. Official word of how the snowpack is doing will come this Friday from DWR. The Central Sierra Snow Lab in Tahoe reports they have 44 feet of snow to date with a ways to go to reach the 1951 record for snowfall of 67.6 feet. For California the rain record was in the 1982-83 season when we got 42.81 inches in that water year. But the precip record in the Tulare basin is 56 inches in 68/69. To date we have 32 inches in the bucket as of this March 1- a ways to go.

Yosemite Foods Stockton-based Yosemite Foods, a meat processor, has purchased the interests of Smithfield Foods in the Corcoran hog farm. Smithfield Foods has closed all locations operating in California including their big packing house in LA, claiming it is too expensive to do business in the state. Yosemite Foods is a small poultry, beef and pork processor owned by Michael Lau. The company was a recipient of a grant from the USDA looking to promote more competition from small producers in the meat industry. The Corcoran hog farm has a long history in Kings County previously owned by Hormel and then Smithfield. It provided pork marketed under the Farmer John label and Dodger Dogs.

Property owners within a mile of NAS Lemoore were recently notified by the base about findings of groundwater contamination from PFAS-Per-and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances used in the past at military bases. The Navy said they are doing testing of groundwater looking for the solvent used for years for fire fighting and as a cleaner.

The Kings County Board of Supervisors are studying a plan put forward by the Tachi Yokut Tribe to bring in about 37 acres into their trust lands to carry out development plans west of the gaming center. The county would lose the tax base if it goes into trust. The tribe wants to build a tribal cultural center or museum as well as some commercial buildings for member businesses on the Rancheria.

Gang sweep Looking to work to clean up the gang problem in the Central Valley, a team of 17 law enforcement agencies carried out a 4-day crackdown arresting 26 people and searching 97 homes and 23 prison cells. The raid, led by the Tulare County Sheriff department was in response to the horrific “cartel-style execution” of six people in Goshen, including a teenage mother and her baby, that investigators think was a result of gang rivalry

Cheaper diabetes drugs Good news for the thousands of diabetes sufferers in the Central Valley. Under pressure by the government, the drug company Eli Lilly has announced they will reduce the cost of insulin to $35 – a 70% drop. Medicare patients already get the cheaper price. California Gov. Gavin Newsom recently announced the state will begin making its own insulin to help lower the cost of the diabetes medication.

According to a 2019 Hanford Sentinel article the California Health Interview Survey said 16.2 percent of adults in Kings County have diabetes, compared to the statewide average of 9.9 percent. Diabetes leads to increased rates of hospitalization and death. Hospitalizations in Kings County due to diabetes exceed 21 per 10,000 people, compared to the statewide average rate of 17, according to the California Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development.

A UCLA study suggested many more people in Kings County are pre-diabetic. For young adults, pre-diabetes rates ranged from lows of 26 percent in Lake County and 28 percent in San Francisco County to a high of 40 percent in rural Kings County and Imperial County.

Demo of the interior of mall will start in late March

-February 14,2023-

Barnes & Noble bookstore will be opening in the winter of 2023 in Visalia, CA. Barnes & Noble will be 16,000 square feet and will be located in the Sequoia Mall shopping center located at the intersection of Mooney Blvd and Caldwell Avenue, the busiest intersection in Tulare County. The shopping center includes Hobby Lobby, Marshalls, Raising Cane’s and soon to also include Nordstrom Rack, Sprouts Farmers Market, Sola Salon and more businesses which will continue to be announced as part of the ongoing redevelopment of the property, said developer Jim Sanders of Paynter Realty this week.

The three big name retailers new to Visaia will be in-line south to north-Sprouts,Nordstrom Rack and Barnes & Noble.

“With Barnes & Noble joining the Sequoia Mall, this also ushers in a new transition for the Sequoia Mall as the interior of the mall will be officially closing on March 31st, 2023 so that construction can begin.” says Sanders.

Sanders confirms that 8 current tenants in the mall’s interior have been informed they need to move in March to allow for demolition. Sources say the air conditioned enclosed mall will be replaced by an open-air format shopping center with a road lined by stores going down the middle. This design has not been confirmed by the developer.

The fate of the Sequoia Mall movie theater is still not known as its owner Regal Cinema continues to work through its bankruptcy court hearings that started last fall The theater chain has closed scores of theaters across the US including in California. But no announcement as to what will happen to the two Regal Visalia theaters, at the mall or Downtown, has been made.

The theater will lose its main entrance in front of the mall with the demo work but retain its other two entrances to the rear of the mall.

Sequoia Mall is owned by Caldwell-Mooney Partners I, LP and managed by Paynter Realty & Investments, Inc.

“We are very excited to announce the next major addition to the ongoing redevelopment of the Sequoia Mall. Barnes & Noble will be joining the Sequoia Mall this winter. Barnes & Noble has proven the ability to achieve success in its omni-channel retail presence in both ‘bricks and mortar’ and e-commerce and will be a welcomed presence in Visalia and the greater Tulare County community. The future of the Sequoia Mall is bright as it will reopen but for now, to make way for Barnes & Noble and more new exciting retailers to come, the time has come to close the doors so that new doors can be opened in the future,” said David H. Paynter, President, Paynter Realty & Investments, Inc. and Managing Member of Caldwell-Mooney Partners I, LP.

The shopping center will have one more space to fill with impending closure of Bed Bath and Beyond in coming weeks.

About Barnes & Noble
Barnes & Noble is the world’s largest retail bookseller and a leading retailer of content, digital media and educational products. The Company operates approximately 600 Barnes & Noble bookstores across the United States, and one of the Web’s premier e-commerce sites, BN.com. Our Nook Digital business offers a lineup of NOOK® tablets and e-Readers and an expansive collection of digital reading content and an audiobook subscription service. Barnes & Noble’s mission is to operate the best omni-channel specialty retail business in America, helping both our customers and booksellers reach their aspirations, while being a credit to the communities we serve. Barnes & Noble is owned by Elliott Advisors (UK) Limited and run by CEO and bookseller James Daunt, who is also Managing Director of Waterstones bookstores in the U.K. and founder and owner of Daunt Books. Barnes & Noble was founded in 1971 by bookseller Leonard Riggio when he acquired the Barnes & Noble trade name and bookstore on Fifth Avenue in New York City. Learn more at www.barnesandnobleinc.com.

About Paynter Realty & Investments, Inc.
Established in 1988, Paynter Realty & Investments, Inc. has developed over 3.6 million square feet of commercial building space during its 34 years of history and currently manages approximately 2 million square feet primarily in Central California. as mixed use and professional office buildings.

-February 10,2023-

Aerial measurement of the snow water content in the upper San Joaquin River watershed is finding lots more water up there than estimated, says Friant Water Users on their website. Here is what they wrote early this month. ”The first Friant Water ASO flight of the water year found there is approximately 340,000 AF more snow water content than previously estimated and the water year appears to be near the top 3-5 years for February 1st snowpack in SJR history (dating back to the 1920s).”

This week the DWR Bulletin 120 report on expected runoff predicted 3.26 million AF on the San Joaquin River, source of the all important Friant Kern Canal.That is much better than the 1.6 million AF annual average from the 16,000 acre basin.

Indeed this chart tells the story – there is a record amount of snow in the upper Sierra for this time of year, already 160% of April 1 average in the South and on track as the wettest year ever (if the rain keeps coming). The pictured three-region chart shows the Southern Sierra ahead of 1982/83 water year water content for the date and 201% of average for the date (Feb 8).

Flood releases drain the lake

Recognizing all that stored water up there, the thinking of water managers and the Corps of Engineers has been to dump thousands of acre feet from Terminus Dam (Lake Kaweah) since Jan 1 (see chart). Vacating the reservoir built to insure downstream floods don’t happen, the Corps took the reservoir from over 83,000AF down to 25,000AF in anticipation of a whopper of a snow melt in coming months.

Kaweah Delta Water Conservation District“s GM Mark Larsen says the releases have stopped at 25,000AF of storage as of Feb 8.

On January 10, this writer wrote “Kaweah Lake was 412% of average with releases beginning downstream to insure there is enough room for a big snowmelt coming this spring, according to Kaweah watermaster Mark Larsen. The reservoir water supply chart had an arrow pointing straight-up over the past month with the near empty lake going from just 10,000 acre feet Nov. 1 to 80,000 acre feet today. That’s nearly half of the lake’s 185,000 acre feet capacity.”

Now it’s down to 25,000AF with releases down the Kaweah River channels being put to beneficial use in scores of recently constructed recharge basins and about 40 such recharge basins overall that have been waiting for wet year to be put into service.

Larsen says one of the biggest basins is Hannah Ranch that is under construction still and won’t be ready until next year. Then there is Paregien Basin, already in service with a plan to triple its capacity funded by a grant.

Larsen says in recent days Kaweah Water Conservation District made a deal with Kaweah region growers in the “white areas” who do not get surface water but depend only on drought-impacted groundwater.

Kaweah Delta, because flood releases require places to put that water – reached out to growers in the so-called white areas. They agreed to take some and use it to recharge their groundwater – a move not only in their best interest but a decision that should put them in better standing with the state under the SGMA program. That flood release program also ended this week.

Larsen says the region has seen a relatively dry February so far after a wet January, but is encouraged by the prediction that runoff could be around 163% of average on the Kaweah. The average annual runoff is about 440,000 acre feet for the water year but 277,000AF on an April-July basis, used to estimate irrigation water supply. Using either measurement “it looks very promising” says Mark.

Could be double dose

For the South Valley Rivers the Bulletin says “For the Tulare Lake Basin (Kings River, Kaweah River, Tule River, and Kern River), the accumulated unimpaired runoff of 782,000 AF is 215% of average.”

Tomato growers get 31% bump in price

The California Tomato Growers Association announced January 27 they have agreed to $138.00 per ton for 2023 with major processors. Processing tomatoes are one of Kings County’s most important crops processed here into popular staples like salsa and ketchup.

Corcoran reports new development 

Locals gear up for crowds at acclaimed World Ag Expo

Energy Commission staff approves 99MW battery storage at Henrietta power plant

ZEVS sell big but not in Kings County

-February 3,2023-

Look for an organized storm hitting Central California starting very late Saturday night bringing the region yet another atmospheric river reports the NWS in Hanford

Models place subtropical moisture surging toward California on Saturday and Sunday before diminishing on Monday. Therefore, will expect enhanced precipitation rates as models place good jet-streak dynamics over Central California which will in-phase with the plume of atmospheric river moisture
crossing the area.

Presently, models place the heaviest precipitation over Central California
on Sunday morning as orographic effects allow for values to reach over one inch of liquid water. Total precipitation values could reach 1.5 to 2
inches of liquid while the lower elevations will see a quarter to half of an inch of rain.

Ensembles are expecting a weak atmospheric river as lower precipitation values will be observed
across the valley with less than one inch being more common along with some rain shadowing also occurring over the west side of the
San Joaquin Valley. This will be due to the orientation of the southwesterly flow during the event.

Based on the precipitation totals, models place snow levels near the 6500 to 7000 feet at the start of the event. Yet, with the
frontal passage occurring early Sunday, will see snow level lower to near 4000 feet by Sunday afternoon. This will allow some lower
elevations to see snow while the higher terrain observed as much as two feet of new snow

Hopefully, the lower snow levels will limit the threat of more water on an already saturated ground.

-January 26,2023-

Three Tulare County projects are resurrecting images from the past that locals don’t want you to forget. They may be good for business too.

In Exeter the Kiwanis Club wants to construct a sign that will read “Welcome to Exeter,” on one side, and “Gateway to the Sequoias,” on the other, reports the local paper. It will be held up by two large wind machine towers and will look similar to the original sign that was designed in 1914. It would be placed on the intersection of Pine and B Street.

Also in Visalia, developer Johnny George plans to build a full-size replica of Mearle’s Drive-In near Mooney Grove that will be a throwback to the era of carhops and tall malted milks.

In Downtown Visalia the former Plunkett Coin – Main Street Coin- store, a landmark itself, is now closed to be replaced by a cinnamon bun store. But locals want to save the familiar 1920s Main St Clock that stands outside the store.City Council member Steve Nelsen vows to keep the clock in working order and a landmark for the city center. It was made by the Brown Street Clock Company in Pennsylvania.