COS Wants To Renovate Old Child Care Building
The College of the Sequoias trustees are expected to approve a plan to renovate the former child care building in the southeast part of the campus now called the Live Oak building. An agenda item for September 8 says the district is requesting authorization to enter into an agreement with Darden Architects for architectural design and engineering services for the Live Oak Building Renovation project.
Just what the building’s use is – is not clear however. The former COS child care operation had to move because of mold in the building that is now remediated says trustee John Zumwalt. “There are lots of ideas of what to do with it” remarks Zumwalt.
The college has been meeting with the City of Visalia to discuss possible idea to expand the COS campus that could include a new parking garage, business location that could benefit students and a possible location for a district Chancellor’s office that would oversees all three COS colleges eventually.
Porterville Faces New Delay Over Walmart Shopping Center
Plaintiff California Healthy Communities Network (CHCN) has succeeded in getting the Court of Appeal to overturn a Tulare County court order that gave the green light for the Porterville Walmart center. The Riverwalk shopping center Phase 2 anchored by a 161,602-square-foot Wal-Mart Supercenter, is now stalled again.
The appeal court ruling this month said Judge Melina Reed erred when she approved the environmental impact report for the project. The appeal court said Walmart and the city had to go back to the drawing board to re-issue the EIR. The court said said the EIR did explain adequately how it came up with an expected cut in the greenhouse gas emissions that the EIR claimed fall below a numerical significance threshold recommended by regulators. This finding was the basis of the EIR’s conclusion that the project’s impact from greenhouse-gas emissions would not be significant. “Yet the city failed to present evidence in the EIR or elsewhere in the administrative record that would support a major portion of the reduced quantity of emissions claimed.” The retail store project started the EIR process in 2008 and it was issued in 2010 and revised in 2011. CHCN appealed the approval of the EIR to Judge Reed who ruled in favor of the City in April 2013. Now in September 2104 the appeal court sent the matter back to the city who will have to revise the EIR again and recirculate it again putting any new court approval likely year away or longer.
Kaweah Delta May Expand Residency Program
Kaweah Delta hospital officials including CEO Lindsay Mann will be traveling to southern California September 23 to explore options to expand the medical residency or Graduate Medical Education (GME) program. “We will meet with UC Irvine officials and other to look at a possible expansion for both the class size and scope of the specialties offered in our GME program” in the future in Visalia. The GME program already has 28 resident physicians working in Visalia in fields from family medicine,emergency medicine and psychiatry with plans to include general surgery by July 2105 says Mann. The news means possibly more new docs could be practicing in Tulare County in the future,good for the health of of what is an underserved region.
8 Roundabouts In The Works In CalTrans District 6
Encouraged by evidence of both of their cost saving and safety, CalTrans District 6 is working on plans for at least 8 Roundabouts on state highways within the Central Valley.
CalTrans is working on roundabout street circles in Kerman, in Prather at 168 and Auberry Rd, in Arvin at Hwys 223 and 184, Whitley Ave and Hwy 43 near Corcoran, Reservation Rd and Hwy 190 near Porterville, Laird’s Corner on Hwy 190 east of Rd 148 near Tipton, in Woodlake at Hwys 245 & 216, and in Farmersville at Hwy 198 and Farmersville Blvd. In addition Hanford City Manager Darrel Pyle says there are plans in the works for new roundabout near the proposed Costco center off Hwy 43. All the CalTrans sponsored projects are expected to be built between 2015 -2017.
Roundabouts, where traffic in an intersection goes in a one-way circle are common in Europe and gaining popularity here. A 2007 study of 55 roundabouts in the U.S. found a 35% reduction in accidents and a 90% reduction in fatal accidents when intersections with stop signs or signals were converted to roundabouts. It costs about the same to construct a roundabout as part of a new development as it does to build traffic signals, and requires significantly less maintenance than traffic signal intersections. Traffic exiting the roundabout comes from one direction, rather than three, simplifying the pedestrian’s visual environment. Traffic moves slowly enough to allow visual engagement with pedestrians, encouraging deference towards them. Other benefits include reduced driver confusion associated with perpendicular junctions and reduced queuing associated with traffic lights. They allow U-turns within the normal flow of traffic, which often are not possible at other forms of junction. Moreover, since vehicles on average spend less time idling at roundabouts than at signalled intersections, using a roundabout potentially leads to less pollution.
Home Building Permits In Visalia Slow Down Some
Visalia new home permits slowed in August compared with both July 2014 and the year before but are still up year to date. The City permitted 42 new homes in August 2014,down from 51 in July and down from 53 in Aug 2013. For the year home permits are ahead 11% from last year and 18% higher in valuation.