Category: Central Valley

Company spokesperson teases response

-June 5,2022-

A sprawling 1.1 million square foot warehouse under construction since last year and now nearing completion,is just north of the existing Amazon Fulfillment Center and Riggin. The huge tilted concrete building is located on Ave 320, a mile north of Riggin, on a street that now carries the name of Kibler by the city.On Visalia city permits the address of the project is listed as 8817 W Kibler.

Caption:Amazon warehouse number 2 seen from Plaza Drive earlier this spring

Formerly this country lane saw little traffic but now trucks carrying construction supplies often clog the 2-lane road. The big building makes an impressive half mile silhouette viewed from Plaza Drive from cars moving along the north entrance of the industrial park prompting many gawkers to wonder – Hey, what’s that?

Conventional wisdom has said’ that would be another Amazon.’ Since the company is typically closed lipped on these matters until they have to – as they were the first time that Amazon landed in Visalia in 2021 – our latest conclusion would be understandable and turns out to be correct.

Now several issued building permits with the address 8817 W Kibler are listing Amazon as the tenant.

Asked if that was true – Amazon spokesperson Natalie Wolfrom did not deny it and instead waffled in an email “No update on this. Will have more to share hopefully in August. I’ll circle back then!”

Reliable sources say Amazon expects to take occupancy of the new facility this fall with the goal to be in business in time for the holiday season this year.

That means hundreds more jobs coming here, added to the 1200 or so that work at the existing Amazon at Riggin and Kelsey. Kelsey also runs next to the new warehouse.

Concerns that the volatile stock market and inflation worries may be slowing new distribution warehouse deals or even cancelling some underway have yet to surface in Visalia. Asked about any slowdown he has seen – Visalia Economic Development chief Devon Jones retorted “not at all.”

“We’ve heard that on-line sales activity is not as strong but we don’t expect to see a negative impact here” says mayor Steve Nelsen.

Nelsen says he understands the new Amazon number 2 in Visalia will handle smaller items while the Riggin Amazon does larger packages.

The Wall Street Journal recently reported that Amazon’s” decision to throttle back on its e-commerce operations threatens to slow the growth of the industrial-space sector, one of the hottest areas of commercial property.”

At least half a dozen new industrial buildings are expected to break ground later this year in the Visalia Industrial Park.

Industrial real estate construction in the U.S. rose 48% year-over-year in the first quarter as the national vacancy rate fell to a 27-year low, says Supply Chain Quarterly.

Tilt-up concrete walls go up this week in the industrial park’s latest new building, a 350,000sf warehouse owned by YS Industries and being built by Visalia contractor BJ Perch. The building is expected to be ready for occupancy by the fourth quarter of this year.The spec warehouse is south of Riggin off Clancy, near the big Amazon 1 facility.
Residential growth

No slowdown in Visalia’s booming residential construction market can be seen in the latest permit numbers despite the big uptick in interest rates.

Visalia permitted 101 new single-family homes in May, the highest monthly total for the year. In 2022 new home permits are up 27% and multi-family permits are up 80%. The total of all permits are up 86% vs last year.

 
BJ Perch construction photo

-May 17,2022-

The shuttered Union Bank on Mooney and Walnut has a new and familiar owner. The Orosco Group has purchased the 5700sf building that has been vacant for about a year. No word what the developer – who put together the Packwood Creek project and Dunkin’ Donuts center -has in mind  – whether they will re-tenant it or knock it down to allow a new user like fast food. Orosco has the building, next to the mall, for lease as of May 5, listed with 60 parking places.

former bank is for lease

Visalians Cali and Brandon Sorensen will be opening a walk-up ice cream parlor next to the new Dave’s Hot Chicken restaurant in front of the Sequoia Mall. Handel’s Ice Cream may be the perfect compliment to spicy chicken in the former Mainland store being re-tenanted for 4 different food users now. Mainland Skate moved to the Visalia Mall and owner Fung Lee is now leasing out the space divided into 4 stores -Handle’s Ice Cream, Dave’s Hot Chicken, a pizza place and sandwich store.

Cali says Handle’s Ice Cream features “home made” ice cream made daily on-site with 40 “super creamy flavors” offered each week.You get your scoop at the walk-up window and sit at an outdoor shaded patio. Cali expects the store to open this winter after construction is complete. The couple also own the franchise Crumbl Cookies location down the strip in a 1500sf building at 3839 S Mooney. That place should open in about 8 weeks, she says.

A 7300sf Texas Roadhouse sit-down restaurant is under construction at Mooney and Visalia Parkway.

The new Mountain Mikes Pizza is installing their new sign at the site of the former Ryan’s on Mooney

Bakersfield-based Fastrip, a discount gasoline retailer- is still working on permits for a 24 pump location in front of the former Toys-R-Us store. The project does not include the former toy store itself nor the parking lot to the west of it. Fastrip gas stations often have one of the lowest prices in town.It would be the biggest fueling spot in Visalia.

Engineered Mosquitoes coming to Central Valley
Tulare County officials hope the region will soon be a testing ground for a new generation of technology, including a genetically modified mosquito, as they try to prevent the kind of disease outbreaks now common in regions of the Caribbean and Central and South America where the species is widespread.

The most immediate mosquito danger in Tulare County comes from a the genus, Culex, a type that typically bites at dawn and dusk and can carry West Nile virus, St. Louis encephalitis, and western equine encephalomyelitis virus, all of which can be fatal. Over the past decade, California has registered more than 4,000 cases of West Nile and at least 220 deaths.

Tulare’s mosquito control districts have poured extensive resources into that battle, including releasing a range of chemicals, maintaining a hatchery for larvae-eating fish, and, most recently, buying a drone to ferry pesticides deep into cornfields. Aedes aegypti, however, is a growing concern, and much harder to combat. Aedes aegypti mosquitoes in the area are also broadly resistant to pyrethroids, the family of chemicals most frequently used to kill the adult mosquitoes. Pyrethroids are in heavy use among the area’s agricultural companies, likely contributing to nearly 100% resistance.

So the Tulare agency is interested in the genetically modified mosquito. Their hope is that the engineered mosquitoes reduce the number of wild Aedes aegypti as they interbreed and produce short-lived offspring.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency recently approved a trial in Tulare of the engineered mosquito, which is made by a company called Oxitec. The company says its latest product releases only male mosquitoes, which unlike females do not bite. The mosquitoes are genetically modified to carry a “self-limiting” gene that is passed on during breeding and theoretically prevents the offspring from surviving to adulthood. They have been released in several places, including Brazil and the Cayman Islands. From Kaiser Health News

Valley Strong Credit Union coming to Hanford

Kern County based Valley Strong Credit Union continues to expand with three locations in the works in Visalia and now a proposed location in Downtown Hanford approved at a city council meeting this month – a request by Valley Strong Credit Union to alter the façade of an existing storefront. The property is designated as a building within the Historic Overlay Zone. The project is located at 216 W. Eighth St.

California in-migration rebounding, earlier estimates were overstated says Think Tank

News stories last year that suggested there was a huge drop in the number of people moving to California may have been overblown after all.

The number of people leaving California for other states appears to have slowed during the last quarter of 2021, while the number of people moving into the state appears to be rebounding, according to new estimates released today by the nonpartisan California Policy Lab (CPL) using credit-bureau data through the end of 2021.

These trends are especially pronounced in the Bay Area counties that originally saw the largest pandemic-era shifts in domestic migration, like San Francisco. CPL also released a corrected version of its December 2021 Pandemic Patterns report, which corrects an error that led CPL to significantly undercount the number of people moving into California since 2020.

“The changes in domestic migration we’ve seen since the pandemic began appear to be slowing and perhaps even reversing,” explains co-author Natalie Holmes, a Research Fellow at the California Policy Lab and a PhD student at the Goldman School of Public Policy at UC Berkeley. “In the Bay Area, in particular, exits are down and entrances are up during the last quarter of 2021 – though they remain significantly different than before the pandemic – which suggests that pandemic migration shifts may be weakening.”

The updated brief that CPL released today corrects earlier estimates of entrances. Exits were not affected. CPL’s errata provides more background on the error and a table summarizing the main corrections.

“We are glad to correct the record and release these updated estimates of how many people moved into California since the start of the pandemic,” explains co-author Evan White, Executive Director of the California Policy Lab’s UC Berkeley site. “One of the biggest takeaways from our corrected research is that while domestic migration into California did decrease between the start of the pandemic in 2020, and the end of the third quarter of 2021, it was only an 8% decrease, not the 38% decrease that we had originally estimated.”

Corcoran ID will get new recharge reservoir

The state has funded the Mid-Kings River Groundwater Sustainability Agenciy’s Corcoran Irrigation District’s North Reservoir Project that will construct new reservoirs for water storage and recharge basins. The project will directly benefit the Tulare Lake Subbasin by increasing groundwater availability and stability by recharging the aquifer, reducing groundwater pumping, and increasing groundwater quality.

Kings population numbers

The latest population estimate by the state for Kings County shows the county lost about 500 residents in 2022 with a total of 152,023. Only Lemoore showed an increase in population -up by 249. Hanford lost 1682 residents in 2022. Where there was an increase was at King’s correctional facilities with Corcoran prison increasing by 1340 persons and Avenal prison up by 507.

Faraday files financial report

As the company promised, Faraday Future filed their 2021 financial report on May 5 retaining their membership in the Nasdaq stock exchange.Electric vehicle maker Faraday Future Intelligent Electric Inc. released third-quarter financial results for the period ended Sept. 30, 2021, which had been delayed as a result of a previously announced special committee review.
For the quarter, Faraday Future reported a net loss per share of $1.06. In the prior-year period, the company reported a net loss per share of 21 cents. Faraday also said it had operating expenses for the third quarter of $186 million, compared to $18 million in the year-ago period. “The increase is primarily due to an acceleration of costs to bring the Hanford manufacturing facility to full commercial production,” the company said.
Faraday also said Friday it expects to launch production of its flagship FF 91 vehicle in the third quarter of this year.At press time the stock had fallen to $1.78 from a 52-week high of $17.48.

Shipping delays hurt California nut exports
Three out of four containers at U.S. ports are returning to Asia empty.As a result of shipping delays, the California agricultural industry has lost $2.1 billion in exports between May and September 2021, according to a letter to 13 major shipping carriers from California Sens. Dianne Feinstein and Alex Padilla.
Nearly 1.4 billion pounds of almonds, requiring more than 30,000 containers, need to be moved between now and July 31, 2022, the letter said. There are similar amounts for walnuts.
Biden could drop China trade tariffs
The Biden administration has suggested they may drop tariffs imposed on China first imposed by the Trump administration. The Biden administration is hopeful the move could ease inflation as well help ag exports. In the past few years California farmers have urged the removal of the tariffs.
Easy Peel citrus to surpass oranges

The sustained popularity of easy-peel citrus varieties should result in them surpassing navel oranges in the next few years as the most consumed fresh citrus in the U.S., according to Rabobank research.“Availability of mandarins in the U.S. increased at a compound annual growth rate of 6% during the past decade to about 7 pounds per person per year. If the trend continues, in the next few years mandarins will surpass oranges as the most-consumed fresh citrus in the U.S. The attractive combination of convenience, healthfulness, and taste will continue driving consumer demand for mandarins in the U.S.”

One local firm still promotes the ride

-May 7,2022-

It’s not just Tulare County farmers who are crying about the drought.

Only one local white water rafting company is left in Three Rivers offering rafting trips along the scenic southern Sierra – Kaweah River. Once a beehive of rafting activity along the middle reach of the river, several years of drought have dried up interest in what was a Spring ritual in these parts.

And now “People need to hurry with only about two more weeks left when we can offer trips” says David Hammond, owner of Sequoia Adventures, based in Three Rivers. He hopes to offer service till around May 20.

At one time the website Kaweah River Page, devoted to the sport of white water rafting listed 10 companies offering pulse pounding raft rides on the Kaweah.

Today Sequoia Adventures is the only local company offering guided trips now that long time rafting company Kaweah White Water is no longer in business. Another local firm, listed on Google, Mountain Descents, has its phone disconnected.

The Kaweah River is fed by snowmelt from the 12,000 foot peaks in Sequoia National Park, and has been advertised as offering some of the finest whitewater rafting in Central and Southern California. It is one of America’s steepest rivers, dropping at 85 feet per mile in its first few miles.

If rafting depends on snowmelt, this season snowpack is melting fast – just 15% of normal, says the state as of May 1. River runoff is better – 54% of normal.

The last big year on the Kaweah was 2019 as can be seen on this graph. Since then, the flow has been underwhelming.

“We started rafting trips in early March and this year it’s been like a big labor – although it is a labor of love” adds Dave saying he has been in this line of work all his adult life. “We ran our first trip on the Kaweah River in 1988 and more than 30 years later this is still our and many of our guides favorite river trip. The Kaweah River is the only river we run.”

Not based here, All-Outdoors operates professionally guided whitewater rafting trips on 10 California rivers including the Kaweah, they say.

Here’s how earlier advertisements describe what would be Kaweah’s wild ride.

“Imagine – a river that drops 85 feet per mile full of class IV-V rapids flowing from the 13,000 foot Sierra Nevada Great Western Divide mountains. The Kaweah River is one of America’s steepest river runs featuring long boulder slaloms and tricky hydraulics that create an adrenaline pumping ride. Due to its steep fall, the Kaweah River passes through a wide range of climate and vegetation zones in a relatively short distance. This river trip is for strong swimmers, in good shape and ideally with prior class 3 paddling experience. The rapids are fast and technical, our experienced guides will help you navigate these waters.
The Kaweah River, pronounced kah-wee-haw, is a native American Yokutsan word meaning “crow cry.” Located near the inspiring Sequoia National Park and the Kings Canyon National Park there is incredible alpine scenery with dense concentrations of giant sequoias that can be enjoyed as you rush through this canyon.
The main stem of the Kaweah is only 33.6 miles long flowing southwest from the Sequoia National Park, but it has a vertical drop of nearly two and a half miles on its short run to the San Joaquin Valley. Water flows are determined by Sierra snowmelt and at higher than 2500cfs, the Kaweah River is a force to be reckoned with, offering boaters a fast-moving, exhilarating run.”

Today the river’s high flow is under 800cfs.

-May 6,2022-

NWS Sacramento says to expect a series of storms and cool weather though mid month despite what the calendar says.May is not usually cool and unsettled and heat is more often the order of the day.

Today’s storm will bring snow down to the Sonora Pass and drop over foot of snow on Lassen Peak. Here is what they say short and long term as of May 6.The pattern is a pleasant surprise in drought-plagued northern California.

Pattern change is well underway with the big cool down that began
Thursday with the initial short-wave brushing across far northern
California.

Next short-wave moves in later today and tonight. Ahead of it, a
cold front will push south again this afternoon. Moisture will be pretty
limited behind the front, but increasing forcing with the approach
of the short-wave will lead to scattered showers across the
northern mountains later this afternoon into this evening, with a
few showers possible in the northern Sacramento Valley and
northern Sierra. Enough instability is also present for a few
thunderstorms across Shasta County into this evening.

A relative break in the weather is expected Saturday, then the
main upper trough is forecast to settle in across the region
early next week leading to several days of more widespread shower
and thunderstorm activity along with even cooler temperatures.
It`s a little early to pin down the finer details, but ensembles
have been trending toward potential for impactful snowfall across
the northern Sierra Sunday afternoon and evening.

.EXTENDED DISCUSSION (Tuesday THROUGH Friday)…
Long wave trough off the West Coast with embedded short wave
Tuesday brings a threat of showers to much of the CWA. Lingering
mountain showers possible over the Sierra Nevada Wednesday.
Another short wave trough progged across northern portions of the
forecast area Thursday. Drier weather expected Friday with some
breezy north to east wind as EPAC upper ridging builds inland.
Below normal high temperatures expected Tuesday through Thursday,
then warming to slightly above normal Friday.

-April 28,2022-

Visalia’s biggest retailer wants to build a second store in northwest Visalia, says Mayor Steve Nelsen. ”I think it could happen quickly, “ adds Nelsen. The world’s fifth largest retailer has reportedly tied up land at the northeast corner of Shirk and Riggin – open land masterplanned for mixed use. Nelsen says he does not believe rezoning the corner for retail commercial use “should be a big deal.

”I don’t see any reason why we could not have this store up and running in a year and half.” Construction of these big commercial buildings using the same “tilt-up concrete” technique to quickly erect industrial buildings shortens development time.

Word has spread of the NW Visalia plan with council member Liz Wynn at a recent public meeting saying she had heard “it’s done deal.”

Even administrative staff at the existing Visalia Costco responding to questions said that the rumor is true but that it could be a couple of years before a store was operational.

The Visalia Costco remains one of the busiest retailers in town and is said to be near the top in sales in the chain. In 2018 it was estimated the store generated $230 million in sales annually and increasing every year. As it is , the Visalia Costco is likely the top contributor to Visalia’s all-important sales tax revenue with an anticipated increase year after year. Indeed Visalia sales tax revenue in the most recent year was up 14%. The trend has helped spread the notion that Visalia is experiencing “boom times” – something this news will do little to cool off.

As to the location at the northwest edge of the city, it appears to be the pattern Costco followed to build their existing Visalia store in 2007 and the Hanford store -both at the edge of town on land cheaper than in the heart of the retail district. Costco knows that picking a location like this won’t hurt business since shoppers will beat a path to their door – wherever it is.

Northside growth

Like other national retailers in Visalia, growth in the north side of town has brought a number of the popular Mooney retailers like Target to set up shop 6 miles north of  S Mooney along Dinuba Blvd that is filling-in fast.It has drawn crowd pleasers like In-N Out and Pollo Loco and now Tractor Supply is coming too.

Costco at edge of industrial boom area

But Costco has apparently made a big leap to the west to where there are no retailers. The site -Carlton Acres -is proposing   approximately 507-acres of land planned  for mixed-use development. Carlton Acres will feature a variety of uses including single-family residential, multi-family housing, commercial, educational, and parks/trails facilities. The proposal features several different types of housing for a total of up to 3,368 residential units at buildout.The 500 acre development includes a site for the new high school along Sedona. The land is owned by the Shannon family.

A site plan review for the new Costco to be heard by city staff in early May shows the retailer at the corner of Shirk and Riggin with an adjacent 16 pump gas station and separate car wash. There are five pads along Riggin that are not a part of the filing for fast food uses.Here is the site plan.The filing says they expect to serve 5000 customers a day.

The site’s location has the opportunity to draw from northern Tulare County and southern Fresno County bringing new shoppers to this Costco just 15 minutes from Dinuba. The closest store to the northwest is Clovis.

Not many towns have two Costco stores – particularly ones with less than 200,000 population. But a look at pending subdivisions and multi-family projects along with the impressive industrial pipeline must have spread the fever to Costco site-locators that this city’s prospects are good. Now everyone wants to know- when will Trader Joe’s get the word?

Costco looks to build a 160,000 square foot store on about 20 acres with an expected cost around $80 to 100 million based on industry standards.In 2021, Costco was ranked #10 on the Fortune 500 rankings of the largest United States corporations by total revenue. As of March 2022, Costco has 828 warehouses worldwide: 572 in the United States.

In February 2021, Costco announced that it would be raising the starting rate for its hourly store workers in the United States to $16 an hour. Today it is $20 an hour with reports of mostly happy workers. The average store has 250 to 300 employees.

Costco operates an international chain of membership warehouses, mainly under the “Costco Wholesale” name, that carry quality, brand name merchandise at substantially lower prices than are typically found at conventional wholesale or retail sources. The warehouses are designed to help small-to-medium-sized businesses reduce costs in purchasing for resale and for everyday business use. Individuals may also purchase for their personal needs.

$5 chicken

One of the most famous items sold at Costco is their cooked chicken -a generous 3-pound bird that is fully cooked and seasoned, and they sell for just $5 — cheaper than most supermarkets. Costco loses money by keeping the price so low, but its overall revenue has surged to its biggest year ever right along with chicken sales, the company’s top executive, W. Craig Jelinek, said at a virtual shareholder meeting in January. The company serves 101 million chickens every year. A chicken in every pot.

-April 2,2022-

A funny thing happened to Visalia on the way to the recession. Predictions of her demise turned out to be greatly exaggerated. Despite the economic shutdown due to pandemic and forecasts by Visalia Finance officials of doom and gloom, our fast growing city saw a 14% increase in sales tax income in fiscal year 2020/2021, a substantial 6% increase in property tax income and an unexpected 22% increase in bed tax revenue!

Adding it up, the City saw an extra $7.6 million in General Fund income than had been anticipated, the City Council learned in mid January.”We were pleasantly surprised, says Mayor Steve Nelsen, still vowing to use conservative principals as the city adopts a new 22/23 budget in coming weeks.

In a report to council in June 2020 city Finance Director Renee Nagel sang a much different tune, predicting a 9% ($2.7 million) decrease in sales tax in 20/21.Also the City’s property tax revenue was projected to increase just 1% each year (20/21 and 21/22). As for the bed tax – Nagel, based on expected low hotel occupancy – predicted only a 1% growth in each of the next two years. The report appeared to be a sobering wake-up call that leaders should prepare for belt tightening.”At the time of this writing, a majority of businesses are closed or operating at a limited capacity, and the unemployment rate has reached levels not seen since the Great Depression ”Nagel wrote.

But instead, annual bed tax revenue as of July of last year went up 22% Instead of a projected 9% reduction in sales tax- the receipts went up 14% and property tax did not go up 1% – it shot higher by 6%.

The 2020 budget estimated the city sales tax would be $30.0 million in FY 2020/21. Instead it’s $9 million more.

Now we are nearing the finish line for this fiscal year – in June (21/22) – and from all reports the boom times are continuing despite Covid’s long shadow. It might be reasonable to assume this present fiscal year with just a couple of months to go- will report similar “good times.”

Whether its retail sales, new single-family home numbers, a surge in new multi-family projects or the millions of square feet being built right now and a half dozen more giant warehouses pending in the industrial park -it seems clear we are still firing on all cylinders.The Feb 2022 EDD jobs report shows more than 10,000 additional jobs in the county compared to a year ago. Also the labor force here has increased by 7000 as both supply and demand for jobs has climbed. Like or not – we are on the grow.

One unappreciated fact is that some of the new industrial distributors are contributing to our sales tax take under a law where the city gets revenue based on where a product is shipped from.(pictured: Ace Hardware rising)

In the end, the Finance Dept in 2020 was operating in a very uncertain economy with plenty of bad news on the doorstep and was forced to make a guess about the next year. But they were way too pessimistic, still through no fault of their own. Here’s how they put it.

“We will apologize in advance, because we have to assume that many of our predictions and estimates will be less than accurate, and we ask for your patience and understanding as we navigate through uncharted waters.”

So what does the Visalia Finance Department say now?

Growth statistics

In the January 2022 report they said “We can only surmise that the record breaking stimulus packages issued by the Federal and State government combined with the gradual reopening in the early part of 2021 from the historic lockdowns, contributed to this growth.”

In the latest report the department says” The main areas of the growth in Sales Tax for Visalia were in General Retail (department stores, apparel stores) which grew$1.5 million; Business to Business (office equipment, industry) which grew $1.4 million; andTransportation (auto sales, service stations) which grew $.8 million. Property Tax maintained its growth
trend increasing 6% as existing home sales, new development, and property values increased in Visalia.

The ending of the shelter in place and reopening of things in California really was evident in Transient Occupancy Tax (TOT) revenue as fiscal year 2020-21 had an increase of 22% as compared to last year.”

Instead of shrinking, the business community expanded.Visalia has 12,505 licensed businesses operating in the City, an increase of 190 as compared to last year, the report adds.

“Construction activity in the City increased 13% (based on the number of all permits issued) in fiscal year 2020-21. The total valuation for all permits issued was $473 million, a 39% increase from the prior year. The City added 1.9 million square feet of new commercial property and 3.6 million square feet of space overall.

In terms of single-family dwelling permits, fiscal year 2020-21 had an increase in construction activity compared to the prior year. The new single-family dwelling permits issued were up from the prior year by 36%. The construction value for 749 new single-family dwelling permits came in at $197 million, which was up 40% from the prior year valuation level.”

It was the eighth consecutive year that the General Fund has ended the year with a surplus.

Not included in this surplus was The American Rescue Plan federal grant funding- a total of $29.3 million earmarked for Visalia. The Act states that funding can be used to:
▪ Respond to COVID-19 or its economic impacts
▪ Replace City revenues lost due to COVID-19
▪ Provide premium pay to eligible essential workers
▪Invest in water, sewer, storm water, and broadband infrastructure

All this saves the City money it would otherwise have to spend from local sources. Then there are Emergency Reserves at 25% of operating expenditures with a balance of $16.4 million .Beside these monies Visalia received Coronavirus Relief Funds (CARES Act) of $1.7 million which helped offset expenses and contributed to the General Fund surplus. The large surplus is also due to vacancies throughout the City, especially in Public Safety, where a large number of vacancies for fiscal year 2020-21 were actively being recruited for.

The unexpected surplus has helped move along at least one pending project- the Civic Center on Oak near Burke. As a result of the surplus this past year, $12.2 million was transferred to the Civic Center Reserve Fund as per the current Council Policy on surpluses. The current General Fund emergency reserves replenishment policy states that any revenues in excess of actual expenditures would continue to be deposited in the emergency reserve to maintain the reserve at 25% of operating expenditures and then all remaining surplus is to be deposited into the Civic Center Reserve Fund. So this year-21/22- more will likely be added. Council has settled on building a police building and council chamber building.

The other capital project that may now be seen in a more positive light is retiring council member Greg Collins’ plan to build a new 50meter aquatic center with kids pool near the Children’s Museum.That’s next to where a grant-funded children’s park will be built near Oak and Burke – also adjacent the Civic Center.

Collins recently made a presentation only days ago to a joint meeting of the council, VUSD trustees and the COS board to work together to help maintain the pools.Collins said the large pool could host swim meets, water polo events, senior aquatic exercise classes and kids swim lessons as well as free time swimming. All Visalia pools are at schools – limiting public access.”When I was growing up here, the COS pool was open to the public, Collins noted in his presentation. ” But not any more.”

Being in a low income area, the proposed aquatic center would likely garner grant funding. But Collins, who has been laboring to get the project off the ground for years, has yet to convince his fellow city council members to support any move forward. The facility is expected to cost $10 million. CalWater has agreed to fund $500,000 for its maintenance. In the past, a majority of council have suggested there wasn’t the money to build the complex despite big support from the city Parks and Recreation Committee and the public. Given the surplus – could it happen now?
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