Category: New Developments

The city of Visalia plans to open up more land for industrial development following a recent report. At its Feb. 3 meeting, the Visalia City Council heard a presentation by 4- Creeks consultants suggesting expansion of industrial park zoning south of Highway 198 adjacent to the airport as well as west of Highway 99 around the city wastewater treatment plant. Currently the industrial park is east of Highway 99 concentrated in the northwest corner of the city. The council voted 5-0 to take the next step to move the project forward that will require a full environmental impact report. Mayor Brett Taylor said he was generally in favor of expansion of industrial lands but not so much west of Highway 99 where the city has the sewer farm surrounded by farmland. The report suggested the city allow for a 248-acre solar farm to provide more renewable power to the community. The site would be near the wastewater treatment plant where the consultant also suggested the city consider new industrial zoning. City-owned land west of the 99 adds up to 1,475 acres that can be potentially developed, the study said. Again, that idea may not move forward.

There does seem to be support for setting up a so-called “reserve” industrial area adjacent to the airport and south of Caldwell stretching down to Highway 99. The report points to the major overhaul of the Caldwell interchange underway over the next 3-4 years.

The reserve area could be around 405 acres. Staff will have to suggest a trigger for opening this land. It will be years before new zoning is in place. The study makes the case that the city needs more available industrial land to meet demand, suggesting there is a low inventory of available space and empty land. The report calculates Visalia has 389 parcels totaling 3,543 acres of industrial space with just 945 acres remaining vacant in its sphere of infuence.

“Visalia could see a demand for up to 6.4 million square feet of industrial space by 2033,” 4-Creeks stated in its report. But the study does not seem to acknowledge that there are active industrial projects lined up to build at least that much right now. That includes the vacant CapRock building, a 1.2 million square foot spec “building 3” on Plaza Drive that has sat empty since completion last July. There is also a new 3.7 million square feet industrial park project north of Riggin and west of Shirk going through a final EIR now.

At the same time industrial building activity in the past year has slowed to a crawl in Visalia and across California. Now the city may lose the 635,000 square foot JoAnn fabrics distribution center, according to a recent letter the company sent to Mayor Taylor.

Consider that Visalia added 1.1 million square feet of industrial space in 2019, 2.4 million in 2020, 1.5 million in 2021, 1.6 million in 2022 and 1.9 mil in 2023 but just 330,000 square feet of industrial space was added in 2024. Things have slowed down. Nevertheless, councilmember Brian Poochigian said the city needs to plan ahead and adding more space in the future could attract new business to town – smaller entrepreneurial industrial projects that could find the area near the airport attractive.

TULARE – From overpasses to parks to businesses, the city of Tulare is pushing ahead on developments set to reshape the community within the next year and beyond.

City Manager Marc Mondell explained in an interview with The Sun-Gazette that some of the major projects included the Zumwalt Park project, the city dog park and the business incubator project. Ongoing projects include the Agri-Center overpass, the emergency homeless shelter and construction of a new overpass on Paige Avenue. “We are going to do a lot of deals, we are going to try to get as many deals that make sense to go forward, but some of those deals might not,” Mondell said.

He cited the recently announced project at Mefford Field that could see the development of a heavy industry alternative energy fueling station as one of the major projects that could get underway in the next year.

“We have an opportunity and that is what we are doing, we are exploring an opportunity,” Mondell said of the preliminary plans. “We are in a really good position and I hope it happens. I know the guys with Cyclum are working their butts off to make it happen, so we will see.”

One of the major projects that will hopefully be completed in 2025 is the Agri-Center overpass project, which the city is not involved in directly. The project is spearheaded by Caltrans and is anticipated to be completed by winter of 2025. Environmental studies and planning are also underway for the proposed Paige Avenue off ramp, but that project won’t be complete for several years.

“Most city managers are lucky if they get one interchange built in their time frame and we are having four,” Mondell said. “We got Cartmill built, we have got J Street almost finished now, we have got the South interchange at the Ag Center under construction now, and then we will have Paige Ave.

“There probably isn’t another decade in Tulare history that has seen this much investment – plus the widening of Interstate 99, which is a $550 million investment by Caltrans.”

New development projects are also underway along Cartmill Avenue that will see housing and business construction begin during 2025. Two developers are working on two properties in the area but recently ran into complications related to infrastructure. The city was able to use a creative incentive deal to ensure the projects stay on target. Mondell explained that the developers identified the need for an additional gas line that was not originally anticipated.

The cost of the pipeline is $400,000. Rather than risk losing the development, the city brokered a deal with the developers who will front the cost of the pipeline, then recoup the cost through sales tax payments once the development is done. The project will include a Chick-Fil-A restaurant and a Maverick gas station, which will enable the city to repay the investment in about seven years.

A second issue with one of the two developments also arose after the developers learned that a program provided by Southern California Edison (SCE) to provide electricity had sunsetted in January. Now, the developer will need to pony up $350,000 additionally to get power. The city has arranged a similar incentive deal with the developer to ensure the project moves forward.

“We have been very hungry for development at Cartmill for a while, so it was very exciting to start getting projects going,” Mondell said. “Once we get one project going, others will follow. Nobody ever wants to be first, I don’t know why that is, but it is the way it goes.” The city uses a variety of metrics to determine estimates of sales tax that led to confidence in the ability of the developers completed projects to meet the repayment goals.

Mondell explained that the city looks at other similar projects in the state and nation and determines the amount of sales tax generated, then puts together a low estimate, an average estimate and a high estimate. The city typically bases its forecast somewhere between the low and the average estimate to give a conservative number. This helps when unexpected economic issues arise.

“Here is how I look at it; the city is making zero on that property now,” Mondell said. “If somebody is going to come in and say, ‘I can generate $100,000 in sales tax annually, but I need $50,000 back to recoup costs for a few years, then you can keep all of it,’ I will do that deal all day long.”

The city is using a variety of tools to drive economic growth and development throughout the city. Examples include grant funds that have allowed several downtown businesses to renovate and improve their properties, agreements with state and federal agencies to generate funds for projects such as the homeless shelter and creative uses of city monies and regional sponsorships to complete projects like the Zumwalt Park amphitheater.

“Cities have some great tools and we try to use all of them to encourage the right kind of development,” Mondell said. “Cities have the land use and zoning controls, cities have the permitting process, how efficient and affordable we can make that process, the city has the extension of infrastructure as far as where we put our roads, water and sewer, and of course, we have incentive programs.”

Mondell said that the city leverages opportunities with state and federal programs to encourage development and he said the city will continue to use its leverage in 2025 to identify opportunities to continue development in the city in the coming years.

https://thesungazette.com/article/news/2025/01/13/tulare-plans-for-significant-development-projects/

During their meeting on Wednesday, Oct. 2, 2024, the Los Banos City Council unanimously adopted the Downtown Master Plan for a total estimated cost of $94,200,000 in phases.

Downtown Master Plan

Paul Martin of engineering, design, planning and consulting firm Mark Thomas provided the presentation on the Downtown Master Plan. He said the plan is to “position to get money…grants. Our firm…does a lot of work with agencies pursuing grants”

According to the City staff report for the item, #12, the goals of the Plan include enhancing walking and biking facilities, enhanced streetscapes and new community gathering spaces, implementing green street concepts and high-quality landscaping, upgrading underground utilities, and improving signage and wayfinding.

The plan provides a phased approach to implementation that improves infrastructure needs such as undergrounding utilities, repaving roadways and shortening crosswalks as well as the urban design and placemaking elements such as paving, lighting and public assembly areas.

The Downtown Master Plan outlines strategic phases to enhance access to key destinations, improve roadway safety and foster economic growth in the City’s downtown area. The content provided in the comprehensive plan positions the City to pursue grant funding for implementation of priority corridors such as Sixth Street and I Street.

Cost estimates have been developed for recommended plan improvements per representative block face and ranges between $3,300,000 and $19,200,000. The estimated cost for implementation for all the streets within the Downtown is $94,200,000.

A comprehensive analysis of funding programs administered by regional, state and federal agencies was compiled to support implementation of the Plan’s priority projects.

Questions from Council

Following the presentation, District 3 Councilman Brett Jones asked about the alleys to be used for dining and closed off to traffic saying, “Is that what the public decided on and wanted?”

Community and Economic Development Department Director Stacy Souza Elms responded, “The steering committee was more of a stakeholders committee…they were able to help us further identify…an issue…parking, outdoor dining was one of the priorities we heard from the community…workshop. That was their desire. That’s what helped us develop the conceptual plan.”

“The data is great. It helps us make decisions, up here,” Jones stated.