Planning Commission OK’s Changes at Mall Property

That possible pathway became more clear this week when the Visalia Planning Commission approved a change to parcel divisions at the 13.6-acre commercial property on the northwest corner of Mooney Boulevard and Caldwell Avenue. The move came at the request of the mall’s Tustin-based owners Paynter Realty and Investments, which is quietly pursuing the “de-malling” of the Sequoia Mall and has been since 2023, according to the online real estate marketplace Crexi.com.

While the commission approved Paynter’s request unanimously at its July 13 meeting, it was without knowledge of why the property owners asked for the changes or what they plan to do with the parcels. This is standard behavior for property development. All the city has to know is a plan complies with city standards.

“We wait and see like the rest of you,” said Josh Dan, senior city planner at Visalia City Hall. “Usually, they don’t like to disclose the type of business.”

The changes are a redrawing parcel of lines to redivide the western portion of the property into four portions. One of those is small, just 0.3 acres, has odd borders, and has Dan scratching his head.

“They have not alluded to what that may be in the future,” he said. “It’s a weird shape. I’m befuddled.”

Developers, Dan said, are often tight-lipped about their plans, seeking to protect deals in progress and to manage the public’s expectations. Despite City Hall’s being in the dark, Dan sees the changes as a sure sign of upcoming development at the Sequoia Mall.

“Whatever their plan for the future is, somehow these parcel lines make sense,” he said. “They’re setting up for their next steps.”

Payner Realty’s executive vice president Jim Sanders, however, gave the public a rare insight into the developers’ operations. He said the way the property has been reapportioned will let the company pay for rebuilding of the former location of Longs Drugs at the southwest corner of the property.

“We’re under construction with the drug store building to bring in Crunch Fitness,” he said. “With that, we wanted to get the parcels corrected so we could finance that parcel.”

It’s part of a long-term plan to turn the property into an open mall. Paynter abandoned the original enclosed design in 2023, and the interior portion of the mall was finally closed that year.

All the current tenets occupy outward facing storefronts, including the recent additions, like Saphora, Sprouts Farmers Market, Barnes and Noble, and Sketchers Warehouse Outlet. Payner is also rebranding the mall as it’s transformed. While many will always remember the property as the Sequoia Mall, officially it’s now the Boulevard at Sequoia.

The Rise, Fall and Rise of Sequoia Mall

The Sequoia Mall was once the favorite shopping location for many Visalians, and it drew a big customer base from surrounding communities, especially in the decade after it opened its doors in 1974. By 2013, when it was purchased by Paynter Realty, the property was listed as “distressed” by the commercial real estate tracker CoStar. The mall was a high-vacancy property – 60% empty storefronts – available at a price far lower than its assessed value. Its price tag was lower than the remaining mortgage on the property, a bargain-priced “short sale” in real estate jargon.

At the time of purchase, the county assessor’s office estimated the property’s value at $17 million. Tustin-based Paynter Realty paid just $10.7 million for the dead mall.

Only it wasn’t quite dead. Not yet. But it certainly was close.

Mervin’s Department Store, the main anchor store at the mall, went belly up in 2008, declaring bankruptcy and closing all its stores across the country, including in Visalia. An exit by Borders Books followed in 2011, with that company also declaring itself bankrupt. Along the way, classic mall shops like Kaybee Toys, Miller’s Outpost, Lerners and Orange Julius also shuttered their Visalia locations.

In 1998, the mall had changed hands for the first time, and it got its first and only interior renovation in 1999, perhaps too little and too late. The mall was sold again in 2003, with the new ownership paying $27.4 million for the property. It went on the market again four years later, and was purchased by the Schottenstein Property Group.

Schottenstein, too, held the property for four years, and during that period the vacancy rate continued to climb. In 2007, Schottenstein sold the mall to Kimco Realty Corporation with an asking price of $30 million. Kimco had little success. Apparently on the brink of foreclosure, the property went on the market again in 2013, getting the attention of Paynter Realty.

By the time Paynter Realty took possession, Sears Department Store was the last remaining major retailer from the mall’s glory days. In 1996, Mann Theaters had moved its Cinema I-II-III from the back of the mall’s parking lot to its interior and expanded to a six-screen complex inside the mall next to the Ross Department Store (another major anchor retailer that would eventually abandon the location). But the theater stayed, purchased by Signature Theaters in 2002 and by the Regal Entertainment Group in 2004, and expanded to 12 screens.

But the decline wasn’t quite over yet. Transformco, the owner of Sears and Kmart stores, was also in financial trouble by the late 2010s. Transformco eventually threw in the towel, selling 96 of its less viable retail locations, including those in Visalia. Liquidation of the Sears stock began in 2019, and by February, the store’s 80-year run in Visalia was over and done.

Fortunately, Paynter Realty saw the writing on the wall and purchased the Sears property, which was divided from the rest of the mall property, in 2018.

Where There’s Life, There’s Hope

Even through the period of its deepening decline, the mall was still attractive to certain retailers. In 2011, Hobby Lobby, despite ownership’s concerns about meeting California regulations, took over the former Mervin’s spot. It was the first location for the crafting goods store in the state, and, according to multiple online sources, the Visalia store broke company sales records.

There was also another major retailer still doing business at the mall, at least technically. In 1995, Marshall’s Department Store and Bed, Bath and Beyond opened in the Tower Plaza, an adjoining property integrated into the mall’s overall scheme and also owned by Paynter Realty. While Bed, Bath and Beyond has since shuttered, Marshall’s remains.

Marshall’s, Hobby Lobby and the Regal Cinema were the last three big boxes standing.

Yet Sanders said the company was still certain about the potential of the mall property and remains confident. But that doesn’t mean they’re ready to show their hand, though Sanders is definitely upbeat about the property’s future.

“I’m not trying to promote anything until it’s time to promote it,” he said. “There’s a lot of neat things to talk about in terms of what’s happened so far. The real estate has proven its worth. The first rule is ‘location, location, location,’ and it’s proven that with Sprouts and Borders.”

What’s Coming Next for Sequoia?

Now, 13 years after Paynter took ownership and three years after the decision to reorganize as the Boulevard at Sequoia, the once dead mall is rising back to its feet, and it could be that the revitalization is just getting into full swing. The addition of Sprouts in the former Sears space, the opening of a Barnes and Noble bookstore in the same storefront where Borders Books once operated, and the arrival of big brand names like Nordstrom’s and Sketchers all seem to herald better days ahead.

But Sanders still won’t say what other plans might be in the works.

“What you see is what we’re doing,” he said. “It’s a real success story, and now we’re bringing Crunch Fitness. And now Sierra TGX. This is only their second location in California.”

Sierra offers a wide variety of outdoor and sporting goods at what it promises are lower prices than other outlets offer. Sanders describes it as “a discount version of REI or one of those outdoor sporting goods companies.”

“They have not done a ton of marketing there,” he said. “It’s fully open and worth a visit.”

The sales pitch for the Boulevard at Sequoia listed by Crexi promises new building construction and a “state-of-the-art cinema” to come in the near future. What other retailers and changes the future holds not even the people at Paynter Realty know for sure.

“Everyone I talk to says that it was the mall. We’re trying to figure it out,” Sanders said. “It’s a strong intersection for the trade area.”

The company, he said, has an affinity for the area and is fully committed to the ongoing project.

“We love Visalia and really care about the community,” Sanders said.

And he let slip one more secret. There is no plan yet for the small, oddly shaped parcel next to the Shady Lane entrance and in front of the future home of Crunch Fitness.

“It’s for a drive-thru,” Sanders said. “We aren’t planning anything right now. It’s just for the future so we’re ready to roll if something comes along.”

The post Visalia’s shopping mall that wouldn’t die appeared first on Valley Voice.

The fee and rate schedule changes for all city departments were approved by the City Council on June 15. The majority of the adjusted fees went into effect on July 1.

Yearly Fee Changes Avoid Sticker Shock

City fees are adjusted annually to keep them in line with regulations set by other agencies, when contractors change the rate they charge City Hall or to match the city’s actual cost of providing a service. Not all fees and rates increased this year, and some were removed because of redundancy or just weren’t needed anymore.

By adjusting fees and rates on a yearly cycle, City Hall avoids hitting the public with big changes in the cost of doing business.

“When you’re jumping it up 30%, people are shocked or awed or angry,” said Mayor Brett Taylor. “When we’re increasing every year, then it’s a lot easier to swallow.”

Monitoring what the city charges for its various services is not a small task.

“We have nearly 1,600 fees,” said city financial analyst Jana Ferguson.

Those fees cover every service the city provides, from renting trash dumpsters to issuing housing permits to overnight airplane parking. The majority of the rates saw only small changes matching inflation.

Group Rental Fees Increased at Senior Center

The only large increase approved on the new rate sheet is the added cost non-residents will have to pay at the Parks and Recreation Department.

Beginning on August 10, out-of-towners will pay an additional 25% more than those who live within the city limits. The cost increase will not apply to children enrolled in programs funded partially by the Visalia Unified School District.

“This would apply across all Parks and Recreation fees,” Ferguson said.”Picnic areas and indoor facilities rentals, the rental of athletic fields or courts, the lights and concession stands, and then special permits and staff fees that are required for those facilities.”

By delaying the increase, the upward adjustment will match the upcoming fall enrollment in group sports. Identifying out-of-town players will be added work for parks and rec staff, but they make up a large portion of participants.

“It’s generally around 10%,” said parks and rec director Jason Glick. “For new registrants, we’ll ask for their place of residence. It will take some work. We’re not going to hide from that.”

Parks and Recreation also asked for and got an increase in the per-person fee it charges for rental of space inside the city’s four community centers. The city currently adds a $0.35 per person charge when renting out space for events. It’s going up to $0.50 a person.

The increases affect rentals at the Anthony Community Center, the Manuel F Hernandez Center, the city-owned facility at Whitendale Park and at the Senior Center. The centers have spaces for groups as small as 15 people, or as many as 200.

Some Changes Outpace Cost Increase

A small few of the fees City Hall charges bring the city into line with either regulation or industry practice, and the increases more than match an increased cost of living.

The hourly equipment fee for charged firetrucks used during responses due illegal activities, negligence or carelessness will go up a few percent to match the increased rates allowed by FEMA. The cost of overnight aircraft parking at the municipal airport is rising from $12 to $15 to “match industry standards.” And the fee for replacing damaged city-owned waste cans and bins is also going up to match the actual cost to the city.

At the Visalia Convention Center, the fee for maintenance and custodial services during events is going up $1 per hour to $28 ($41 for overtime and holidays). The cost of Internet service is rising slightly, up $2 to $70, and, finally, a change in wording is intended to end confusion about what is included (or not) when renting tables.

“In order for customers to be able to clearly identify that a table rental does not include the tablecloth or any type of linen or skirt, they wanted to add the word ‘bare,’” Ferguson said. “Those are obviously available at an additional cost.”

Also, in a boon for those who are hard on equipment, the cost to replace a damaged or burnt city-owned dumpster is being adjusted to match the city’s cost to replace it. Some of those replacement costs have dropped, meaning a financial break for those unfortunate enough to somehow destroy a reinforced steel bin.

The cost of some city services – like grading permit fees or home occupation permits – will go up to match the city’s labor costs. Some fees at the Visalia Police Department, such as processing fix-it tickets, are going up to match a rise in officers’ salaries.

The post Visalia hikes parks & rec fees 25% for out-of-towners appeared first on Valley Voice.

The spending plan includes a $110.4 million allocation for the general fund in its first year, and $110.8 for the general fund during the second year. The city’s Finance Department expects a combined surplus of about $7.8 million in the general fund when the books close at the end of June 2028.

City Leaders Declare City Coffers Strong

In presenting the proposed biannual budget, the city’s financial staff promised more of the fiscal stability that’s been the hallmark of City Hall’s approach to budgeting in recent decades.

“Overall, the city is in good financial shape,” said city financial analyst Jana Ferguson. “Revenues are up in all categories and are projected to continue. Development continues throughout Visalia. Departments are controlling expenses.”

The biannual budget includes spending for all the separate spending accounts maintained by the city: the General Fund, as well as various special revenue funds, capital funds, enterprise funds and internal service funds.

“The largest category is the business-type funds at 41% (of the entire budget), and that consists of 14 funds,” Ferguson said. Business-type funds include money earmarked for wastewater treatment, airport maintenance and solid waste disposal. “And the next one is our general fund at 27%. That’s our largest fund that we have.”

Planned spending for the next two years includes investments in our city infrastructure, including maintenance and replacement projects, she said, and the general fund has a healthy reserve balance. Both upcoming budget years are projected to end with a surplus: $2.6 million in 2026-27, and $5.6 million in 2027-28.

Reserve Cash, Low Debt Keep Visalia Solid

The city has reserves worth $27.4 million as the current fiscal year (July 2025 to June 2026) comes to a close. That nest egg should increase to $29.6 million in 2026-27, and climb to $30.6 million during the 2027-28 budget year. City policy requires a cash reserve equal to 30% of the general fund budget, and Mayor Brett Taylor said the city is within “several hundred thousand dollars” of meeting that goal.

Keeping the city ready to handle economic downturns with a large reserve fund, combined with saving for big projects to avoid borrowing, has given Visalia a solid financial footing most cities don’t have, Taylor said.

“Financially, our city is doing really, really well,” he said. “So many other cities are looking at ‘Which employees are we letting off?’ We’re looking at some of our school districts letting go of some employees. Visalia is in a strong position because we spend within our means.”

The city is almost nearly debt-free compared to most municipalities. Since Visalia has avoided borrowing to fund capital projects, like large construction projects, it has only $4.9 million in debt at the end of the 2025-26 fiscal year. The debt should be completely off the books by the end of the 2028-29 fiscal year.

Currently, repaying outstanding loans accounts for less than 1% of city spending.

“Any other city of our size or of any decent size, they’re putting out millions and millions of dollars a year in debt,” Taylor said. “And we don’t live off that, so we’re not having to pay off that debt, which is huge.”

The city’s low debt service and its large reserve keep Visalia in a unique position among California’s cities.

“No other city is in that position,” Taylor said. “That really speaks volumes about our community and what we do.”

City Manages Expectations in Budgeting

Caution and precaution have been key to the city’s financial wellbeing, according to finance director Renee Nagel. Her department’s policy is to avoid being overenthusiastic when predicting the city’s incomes and pessimistic about expenses.

“We’re conservative with our revenues, and we’re overly conservative with our expenditures,” she said. “We do that for several reasons. For the revenue side, we always hope that they will come in higher. If the economy starts to turn, we would have some wiggle room there because we weren’t overshooting it. You never know. The slightest economic change, it could be foreign or domestic changes, or a policy that can affect your revenues.”

Council member Brian Poochigian credits the wisdom of past elected city leaders for setting the stage for Visalia’s ongoing strong financial footing.

“Previous councils should be applauded for this,” he said. “We are in such a good financial state and very stable compared to a lot of other cities because of the conservative nature of what the (finance department) does and the long-term planning, that if something really bad happened, the residents could rest easy because we’re covered because we’ve been saving for years in case of emergency.”

An example of how this thinking has benefited the city shows up in the difference between the 2026-27 budget and the lower 2027-28 budget, which is $50 million smaller.

“Those large differences, those are heavier in capital projects for the first year of the budget,” said Ferguson. “So they have more projects and more money being appropriated for those capital projects in the first year of the budget.”

The money for those projects, including construction of Fire Station 51 and the expansion of the wastewater treatment system, was banked during previous budget cycles. And the projects and the payouts are happening now.

The city has a six-year capital improvements plan in place, but so far funding for only the first two years of projects is secure. The entire six-year list of capital projects is included in the 500-plus-page electronic copy of the city budget available at the city’s website:

http://www.visalia.gov/DocumentCenter/View/3095/Proposed-2026-27–2027-28-Budget-Document-PDF

“In that six-year capital plan were the first two years of proposed projects,” said Nagel. “Some of those were projects (with) continuing phases that we’ve started, and then some of them are starting new projects, with the heavy lifting being maybe in the first year.”

City Hall Now Hiring

City Hall plans to add 21 new full-time personnel over the next 12 months under the new budget. Most will be new police officers. The parks and recreation, finance and public works departments will also see new hires.

“(Adding) these 21 positions brings our full (count of) full-time allocated positions to 722 for fiscal year ‘27/’28,” said city finance and technology director Negal. “At any given time, the city, which includes full-time and hourly, on average we have about 950 employees.”

The single largest fund in the city budget is the General Fund, which receives 27% of the entire allotment in 2026-27 and 31% in 2027-28. The General Fund will spend $110.4 million in 2026-27, and another $110.8 million in 2027-28, and most of that cash will cover labor costs.

The largest expenditure from the general fund covers salaries and benefits for staff. It makes up 76% of total spending. In 2026-27, the city will shell out $84 million on labor. That’s an increase of 8% from the previous budget, and that mainly covers hiring more staff. But it also covers a 4% wage adjustment for current staff members. The cost of labor should increase another 4% in 2027-28, rising to around $87.5 million, depending on how wages adjust.

General Fund Spending, Income Expected to Rise

General Fund spending will increase by 7% in 2026-27, and by 3% in 2027-28 under the current budget.

Ninety percent of the General Fund comes from taxes. Sales tax is the largest source, making up 44% of the General Fund money. Property tax supplies 19% of the General Fund, a state scheme that uses property tax money to replace lost vehicle licensing fees makes up another 16%, and the rest of the General Fund money comes from franchise taxes, transit taxes, business license taxes and other sources.

City staff is predicting a 2-3% for all six tax revenue sources during the next two years. During the last 20 years, sales tax income in Visalia has increased by 3.9% on average, with a 5.5% average increase in the last 15 years. It increased 3.5% in 2025-26; and 2.5% increases are projected for 2026-27 and 2027-28.

But, of course, the budget is only a very thorough plan. Expenditures and revenues can change unexpectedly, but the city has prepared as well as it can for any financial surprises.

“We try to plan for everything, but things do come up throughout the year or two years,” Nagel said. “You try to plan for every foreseeable future, but you just never know what’s going to happen.”

The post ‘Conservative’ budget for Visalia promises surpluses, security appeared first on Valley Voice.

Supervisors Pete Vander Poel (District 2) and Dennis Townsend (District 5) apparently left the meeting to avoid being included in the presentation of the proclamation.

The county declaration honors the groups’ work to protect and support the LGBTQ+ community in Tulare County. Both men also declined to sign the proclamation.

Walk-Out Surprised, Disappointed Board Chair

The pair’s unexpected absence came as a surprise to Board Chair Amy Shuklian, who oversaw the presentation.

“I didn’t know they were going to walk out of the meeting. I’m disappointed,” she said. “I feel bad for the organizations that were up there talking about what they do in the community.”

The organizations being honored were support and advocacy group Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG) of Tulare and Kings Counties, the civic service club Visalia Pride Lions, and The Source, a community center for LGBTQ+ individuals.

The supervisors’ proclamation was intended to honor these nongovernmental groups, whose work, Shuklian said, are critical to the wellbeing of all county residents. Similar proclamations are regularly made for other groups like those honored Tuesday, she said.

“Organizations and nonprofits are what make our community, Tulare County, function,” Shuklian said. “We contract with The Source and a lot of other organizations to provide the services we’re (Tulare County) mandated to provide.”

Shuklian also said official recognition, such as the county proclamation, signal strongly that the people those groups represent are welcome here.

“It’s important they feel they’re members of the community no matter who they are,” she said. “It’s important to recognize everyone in the community, no matter who they are, if they are doing good work.”

Vander Poel ‘Doesn’t Believe’ in Activism, Protesting

According to Supervisor Vander Poel, it was the inclusion of PFLAG that prompted him to leave the room. Unfamiliar with PFLAG – a support group for the family and friends of LGBTQ+ people formed in 1973 – Vander Poel turned to the website of the local branch.

“When you look at their home page you will see a photo. In that photo, there are individuals holding signs that say, ‘Trump Treason = Lock Him Up,’ and ‘Fight Ignorance, Not Immigrants,’ and ‘Affordable Health Care for All,’” Vander Poel wrote in an email response to Caitlin Rauen, who had questioned his reasoning.

This is not the first time official support for PFLAG has upset its detractors.

In 1990, First Lady Barbara Bush wrote a letter of support to PFLAG’s president, in which she said, “We cannot tolerate discrimination against any individuals or groups in our country.” Bush’s private comment was reprinted by the Associated Press, drawing the ire of conservatives.

PFLAG’s founder, Jeanne Manford, was honored with the Presidential Citizens Medal in 2013.

PFLAG’s main approach is wielding legal power against public figures who attack the LGBTQ+ community, as well as organizing protests and other events intended to influence public policy. However, the wording the national organization used on its website was so concerning to Vander Poel he felt he could not lend his name to the local proclamation.

“On the PFLAG national website, they talk about ‘fighting’ and ‘protesting,’” Vander Poel wrote. “Activism and protesting are not strategies I believe in, and I did not want to recognize a seemingly political organization that focuses on that.”

Supervisors’ Action Was Not a Protest

Vander Poel, who represents the Tulare area, told other local media outlets his absence was not a protest. Rather it was to avoid a confrontation.

“I did not explain myself or make any comments at the meeting because I did not want to take anything away from the recognition being bestowed upon the organizations,” he wrote.

Supervisor Dennis Townsend, who represents the Porterville area, reportedly said the county proclamation was secret acknowledgement of Pride Month by Shuklian. He also said the honor was official validation of the behavior of LGBTQ+ individuals, and not simple recognition of the organizations’ beneficial work in Tulare County.

Shuklian denied this accusation.

“This was not a Pride Month proclamation. Obviously, this is Pride Month, but I wanted to recognize these organizations,” she said. “A lot of people say, ‘Well, why do we have Pride Month?’ To me, the opposite of pride is shame, and I will never be ashamed of who I am or who I love.”

During the ceremony, Brian Poth, CEO of The Source, explained why he thinks the work done there is important. It is not only critical to the clients who use the services, but serves to better the entire community.

“We believe that when people feel safe and included, they build lives that benefit their communities,” Poth said. “Every resident deserves access to success, opportunity and a sense of belonging.”

In praising the organizations’ work, Shuklian explained why her colleagues’ absence and their attitude was difficult to understand.

“You have definitely saved the lives of youth and young adults in Tulare County. I know that for a fact,” Shuklian said. “And anybody who can go against the fact that you work to save the lives of our young people is a shame.”

She was especially upset the pair left without explaining their behavior.

“If Pete had leaned over and said I’m not comfortable and don’t want to be in the photo, I might feel different,” Shuklian said.

Tulare, Visalia Support LGBTQ+ Community Officially

The Board of Supervisors wasn’t the only government body that chose to honor LGBTQ+ citizens in June. On Tuesday, the Tulare City Council proclaimed June as LGBT Pride Month in the city. The council there also recognized the work of The Source.

The Visalia City Council will present a proclamation honoring The Source during a celebration of the organization’s 10th anniversary, 6-8 p.m., Wednesday, June 10, at 109 NW 2nd Avenue in Visalia. The event is open to adults only.

Neither of those proclamations singled out PFLAG for specific recognition, unlike that presented by the county. The decades-old organization has never been seen as radical in its behavior or advocacy, which leaves Shuklian puzzled over why her colleagues singled it out. Shuklian also said the proclamation had been worded to be as inoffensive as possible.

“I really didn’t think that it was such a big deal, especially for those organizations,” she said. “I was shocked that PFLAG was the stickler.”

Kathryn Hall, PFLAG’s current president, was particularly offended by Vander Poel and Townsend’s action.

“I think it was rude to be purposefully absent when their constituents are being honored,” Hall said. “These three organizations do good work not just for the LGBTQ community.”

On a more sinister note, Hall believes behavior like that of Townsend and Vander Poel make life even more difficult for people who have been historically singled out for prejudice and bigotry, and violence.

“It’s mean spirited and a sign of the climate that has become threatening toward LGBTQ+ people,” Hall said. “And it’s just this kind of behavior that makes life difficult for LGBTQ+ people and those who love them.”

LGBTQ+ people struggle more with internal conflicts most other people aren’t forced to confront, Hall said, and official attitudes of intolerance make that problem far worse.

“The higher incidence of mental health problems and outcomes is due to the way people treat them,” she said. “It’s not that there’s anything wrong with people in the queer community.”

A more effective way of unifying the country and making our community better for everyone, Hall said, is making an effort to understand those whose views conflict with our own.

“I think a little empathy is what it takes,” she said.

The post Two Tulare County supes walk out as LGBTQ+ support organizations honored appeared first on Valley Voice.

“We found some errors in the ordinance that we’re correcting, as well as making some changes so that the ordinance reflects our best practices,” said Tracy Robertshaw, the department’s manager.

The updates to the Visalia Municipal Code Section 1.13 were unanimously approved by the City Council on April 20 in a first reading. The council reaffirmed the change during a second hearing on May 4.

“I think the changes are more resident-friendly,” said Councilman Brian Poochigian. “It’s more fair. It makes things a lot more clear.”

60 Working Days to File an Appeal

Perhaps the most significant change in the city’s formal approach to enforcing city code is clarifying how long a resident has to appeal a decision once a violation has been identified and a notice of correction issued. Robertshaw said understanding the previous wording of Section 1.13 was nearly impossible.

“I had difficulty making sense of it, and that’s what I do,” she said. “It was like ‘15 days before this,’ and ‘30 days after that,’ and it was a mess. Now it’s just 60 days.”

And it’s not a hard deadline for either side of a code enforcement issue.

“If there’s a reason we can’t give you the 60 days, we can work with that,” Robertshaw said. “If there’s a reason you (a citizen) can’t have the hearing in 60 days, we can also work with that.”

They also clarified what remedies are available and what government codes are in play, mainly by getting references in the city code to match the state’s.

“There were also some typos in the ordinance in regards to the California Civil Procedure Code, so we changed that,” Robertshaw said. “In one area it was just a typo completely. It had the wrong number. In the other area it actually left off the second part of that California Civil Procedure.”

The city’s ordinance also referenced Government Code 11513, but did not describe what that law says. That code governs rules of evidence and sets the informal nature of an administrative appeal hearing, and its wording is now included in the Visalia City Code.

The changes also allow objections to the city’s selection of a hearing officer.

Avoiding Casual Civil Rights Violations

The updated portions of the city code also correct against a potential violation of due process in the appeals process.

The new wording removes a financial barrier to requesting redress that the old code allowed. City Hall, at least on paper, could demand part of the anticipated administrative fees in advance of an appeal. Without that deposit, a hearing would not be scheduled. Robertshaw said such deposits have never been collected by the city, and removing the language prevents them from being demanded in the future.

“The ordinance was written where if you had, you know, $500 in fines, you had to pay a $250 deposit on those fines to even ask for a hearing,” she said. “Code enforcement has never done that, and so we’ve made that change to pull that language out of the ordinance.”

While requiring a deposit from citizens who request an administrative appeal hearing is legal in California, the opinion at Visalia City Hall is that the practice poses a potential violation of due process. State law requires a hardship deposit waiver option for those who cannot afford to pay a deposit, however, the updated code eliminates the deposit entirely, thus removing the possibility of having to pay for legal review and the civil rights violation that may pose.

“That’s just to make it fair to the community that’s requesting the hearing,” Robertshaw said. “It’s pretty harsh you’re requesting a hearing, and we’re going to make you pay for a portion of the fines up front.”

More (or Less) Time to Correct Violations

Also eliminated from the updated code enforcement rules is the requirement all violations be fixed within 10 days of the city sending out a notice to comply.

“Our complaints vary from the simple fence to substandard housing, so we’re not going to require somebody that has to get a building permit (to do it in) 10 days because that would set them up for failure,” Robertshaw said “You cannot get a building permit in 10 days.”

Instead, the city will try to take into account the context of the violation, its seriousness and the threat it poses to safety, before setting a deadline for compliance.

This was a problem with the city Mayor Brett Taylor had encountered in the past.

“Long before I was on the council, I had an encroachment permit issue, and there was no way I could get anyone to come out and lay a new sidewalk in a 10-day period,” he said.

He got an extension from the city and was able to avoid fines or further escalation, but city code didn’t require that cushion. It didn’t even require a reasonable response. Now it does.

“I appreciate the fact we’re actually doing this in writing,” Taylor said.

But this approach will also mean some violations will be given a far shorter time for correction.

“On the flip side of that, if you have a broken sewer line and sewage is running down Mooney Boulevard, we’re not going to give you 10 days to fix that,” Robertshaw said. “You have to fix that now.”

The time allowed, however, won’t be arbitrary.

“We have a standard. If it’s a life safety issue, of course it’s less time,” Robertshaw said. “If it’s not a life safety issue, of course we’re going to give you more time to fix that. Ten days is not workable for most violations.”

When Is a Person Not a Person?

As it stood before the updates, the city’s code about code enforcement had no definitions of key terms. Now it does.

“Oddly enough, we did not have a definition of an ‘administrative citation,’ ‘person,’ ‘responsible party’ and ‘violation,’” Robertshaw said. “So we’ve added those definitions to clarify that.”

While these terms are easily understood, it might not be clear that “person” doesn’t just mean a person, at least not in the eyes of the civil code. It now means “any person, firm, association, business entity, company, corporation, government entity, organization, partnership, joint venture, limited liability company, trust or estate,” or at least it does at City Hall.

And not all days of the week are days, at least not for City Hall’s purposes when it comes to deadlines. This attitude is meant to give citizens more time to fix alleged violations or to appeal the city’s decisions.

“There were some places in the ordinance where it said ‘working days,’ and some where it said ‘calendar days,’” Robertshaw said. “Code enforcement has always used working days because it gives the public a longer period of time than calendar days, and so what we’ve done is just gone in there and made it all consistent throughout the ordinance to use working days.

That means when city offices are closed, that day doesn’t count against the deadline, something that wasn’t fixed in the city code.

“We also called out when the offices are closed,” Robertshaw said. “Because a lot of the city offices are now closed on Fridays, that is a day we would not count against the public when we’re making the determination on them to request an appeal.”

The post Visalia fixes errors in update to code enforcement regs appeared first on Valley Voice.

Former CEO of the Tulare Local Health Care District (TLHCD) Yorai Shimon ‘Benny’ Benzeevi can no longer practice medicine in the state of California.

The Medical Board of the California Department of Consumer Affairs announced today, May 7, that the disgraced onetime emergency room doctor agreed to surrender his physician and surgeon’s certificate. The agreement was signed by Benzeevi on April 20 following a disciplinary hearing.

Benzeevi was ordered to turn over his wall certificate and pocket license, and he will lose all rights and privileges as a physician and surgeon in California.

Benzeevi won’t contest medical board charges – but can’t escape allegations

If he attempts to reinstate his license or seek a new license, the agreement states that he will be forced to pay $49,928.25 in investigatory fees and that he will accept “all of the charges and allegations” in the state’s original complaint.

The allegations that led to Benzeevi surrendering his professional license stem from his illegal conflict of interest while he served as both owner and CEO of Health Care Conglomerate Associates (HCCA) – which was contracted to manage and operate Tulare Regional Medical Center for the TLHCD – and as CEO of the TLHCD.

In 2020, Benzeevi was charged with 40 felony crimes and six misdemeanors. He pleaded no contest in a 2024 Tulare County Superior Court hearing to six felony counts of conflict of interest, one misdemeanor count of failure to disclose his use of district funds to run a smear campaign against a candidate for seat on the TLHCD board, and a final misdemeanor count of using his position as a government official for personal gain.

For his role in defrauding taxpayers, Benzeevi was sentenced to 120 days of house arrest, ordered to perform 420 hours of community service (reduced from 600 hours), received two years of felony probation, and was ordered to pay $2.4 million in restitution to his victims: TLHCD and the Southern Inyo Healthcare District (SIHD). HCCA and Benzeevi were also managing the financially-troubled SIHD.

As part of his agreement with the Medical Board, Benzeevi will effectively accept the allegations of the charges for which he was convicted if he attempts to seek a new medical license in California.

“After years of fighting to be heard, the surrender of his license without contest speaks for itself,” said Patty Drilling Phelps, an organizer of Citizens for Hospital Accountability, which fought to expose Benzeevi and other HCCA officials’ fraud. “The community was right, and now the record reflects that.”

‘Corruption and Dishonesty’ Led to Medical Board Review

Among the crimes mentioned by the medical board was the use of TLHCD funds to finance his lawsuit against the former head of Tulare Regional’s medical executive board. When TLHCD board member Parmod Kumar faced a recall election in 2017, Benzeevi allegedly employed the Israeli company Psy Group to interfere in the campaign of rival candidate Senovia Gutierrez.

Later, after Kumar’s landslide defeat, Benzeevi illegally blocked Gutierrez from taking her seat on the board, according to the misdemeanor he pleaded no contest to.

Benzeevi also engineered a $500,000 line of credit to SIHD from the TLHCD, charging for the service and using the borrowed funds to enrich HCCA. He also arranged for SIHD to borrow money from another company he owned, Vi Healthcare Finance. That loan was secured by future tax income.

The double-dealing CEO also extended loans from HCCA to TLHCD beginning in 2015, and he eventually sold $3 million of TLHCD equipment to a third party company, then signed an agreement for TLHCD to lease back that equipment. He used $2.4 million of those funds to pay TLHCD’s debts to HCCA.

His conviction for these crimes was the primary cause for the initial allegations to remove his license. The Medical Board, however, also cited Benzeevi’s corruption and dishonesty, as well as his general unprofessional conduct as added causes for prohibiting him from practicing medicine.

Case Against HCCA Attorney Resumes Next Week

Benzeevi did not act alone as in the alleged fraud against TLHCD and SIHD. Former HCCA CFO Alan Germany was also convicted on two counts stemming from his involvement in Benzeevi’s actions. Germany was convicted of felony conflict of interest and a misdemeanor for failing to file a financial disclosure form required of all public officials.

For his part in the HCCA scheme, Germany paid $150,000 in restitution to his victims, served two years probation and performed 540 hours of community service work. He was also required to write a letter of apology to residents in the TLHCD. He faced a maximum sentence of three years.

Former HCCA attorney Bruce Greene faced an identical set of charges to those alleged against Benzeevi and Germany. However, Greene rejected a plea bargain deal similar to those offered by the Tulare County District Attorney’s Office to his former co-defendants. In May of 2024, the Tulare County Grand Jury found sufficient cause to indict Greene on 11 felony charges and five misdemeanors.

Greene pleaded not guilty to all charges.

The ongoing criminal case against Greene is in addition to a disciplinary hearing against him before the California State Bar. The state’s attorneys accuse Greene of using his influence with HCCA and TLHCD to benefit himself and his client, Benzeevi. The matter is pending, awaiting the outcome of the criminal charges.

Greene’s criminal trial is scheduled to resume next week before Judge Michael Sheltzer. A pretrial conference is set for 1:30 p.m. on Thursday, May 14. The department location will be announced.

A jury trial for Greene is currently scheduled for 10 a.m. on September 26, with Sheltzer presiding.

The post Benzeevi surrenders medical license after conviction in Tulare hospital corruption case appeared first on Valley Voice.

Del Lago Residents Object

The crucial zoning change, city officials said, is necessary to complete a state-required update of the housing element of the city’s general plan. That update is already years overdue and has been underway since 2022. Yet the move still triggered a last-minute outcry by those living in the subdivision that surrounds the rezoned parcel.

The rezoning and updated report to the state were approved April 21 in a 3-1 vote.

A handful of residents of the Del Lago subdivision in northeast Tulare turned out Tuesday night to voice concerns about the zoning change before the council made its final decision. Speaking about the hypothetical increases in traffic and crime that could result from living near multi-story apartment complexes – as well as the loss of privacy and degradation of the neighborhood’s calm atmosphere – they asked the city to preserve the status quo.

“The winery was quiet. It didn’t throw loud parties,” said Del Lago resident Devin Tucker. “It didn’t cause problems. And now nine years later, they’re talking about building multi-level apartments and adding a lot more population to a neighborhood. And that’s just not something we’re interested in. I don’t think that’s a good move.”

Besides upping the area’s housing density, the council also approved giving the owner of the acreage the right to develop the land without City Hall’s OK, as long as the project meets the city’s design standards and fits the new zoning designation.

Those who objected believe it’s too great a degree of freedom.

“A future project that fits the zoning could move forward by right without any other public hearing,” said Trisha Dean, whose Del Lago home is adjacent to the 10-acre plot. “So tonight might be the only opportunity families get to speak before something that much larger and more intense is placed directly behind our homes. This is a big ask of us.”

The land under review is surrounded on three sides by the Del Lago subdivision. Its fourth side faces onto Mooney Boulevard north of Prosperity Avenue. The area is in City Council District 4 and represented by Dennis Mederos. He was not in attendance at Tuesday’s meeting.

No Plans Yet to Develop Rezoned Area

Following the council’s action Tuesday, City Hall no longer has any say about how the property can be developed in the future, no matter what income level it’s aimed at. Any properly zoned high-density housing project has to be allowed to move forward.

However, Mario Anaya, the city’s director of community development, said that doesn’t make it a free-for-all. Any potential future builder must meet the city’s established rules for any project that they propose. And there’s not a construction proposal on the table yet.

“One thing the public should note: There’s no specific project now,” he said. “And even though there’s not a discretionary process in the future if this rezoning is approved, projects still have to go through site-plan review.”

In the meantime, Mayor Patrick Isherwood said the council is aware of neighbors’ safety and quality-of-life concerns, and they intend to review and update city ordinances to preserve the neighborhood’s quiet atmosphere.

“How can we button that up?” Isherwood said. “How can we address those concerns so that when a project comes in front of us, we have these additional items further addressed? We can work through that.”

Vice Mayor Steve Harrell wanted definite protections in place, and he would eventually cast the only no vote against adopting the zoning change and approval of the state-mandated update to the housing element of the city’s general plan.

“I would be more comfortable with something that’s more concrete, that we’re going to protect these people’s privacy, do something about traffic control, traffic calming measures and things like that,” he said. “To be perfectly honest at this point I cannot support this.”

Tulare Experiencing State-Ordered Growing Pains

Rezoning the 10 acres in question presented a perfect opportunity for Tulare to complete and submit a state-required update to the housing element of its general plan. Adding the pocket of high-density housing was the final piece needed to meet the Regional Housing Needs Allocation (RHNA) requirement for the California Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD).

A city’s RHNA (pronounced ree-nah) is an examination of the city’s housing needs based on income and household size. The HCD requires all cities to update their version on an eight-year cycle, and there are eventual consequences for missing the deadline. When Tulare fell short of the high-density requirement by 95 acres in 2018, HCD threatened legal action and fines.

Despite beginning fact-finding in 2022 for the current RHNA, the city is now years behind schedule.

“Each year they seem to have more requirements, and this sixth cycle, if you ask any planner in California that’s worked on it, it was really a gauntlet,” Anaya, the city’s community development director, said. “It took a lot of effort, a lot of years to put together. In hindsight, we would have started earlier. Because here we are kind of behind. We should have had the new one adopted in 2024, so we’re about two years late.”

Tulare wasn’t the only tardy city in Tulare County. Eventually under the umbrella of the Tulare County Association of Governments (TCAG), every city in the county joined forces to complete the more than 500 pages of data needed to satisfy the HCD. During the four-year-long process, the city received only one written comment until the final approval process began.

The update to the housing element of Tulare’s general plan was reviewed by the city’s Planning Commission last month, unanimously approved and then forwarded to the city council. It came with a recommendation of adoption.

Too Much Power and Outdated Outlooks

Despite the state mandate requiring cities to address the housing needs of all their citizens, there was still the claim it represents an overreach of state authority the city should perhaps ignore.

“All I’m asking is to maintain it the way it is, regardless of what Sacramento is trying to push on us,” Del Lago resident Tucker told the council. “Sacramento will be changing soon, because we have an election coming up. So the policies we have now may not be in place in the future.”

While pushing back against the notion that high-density housing leads to bad outcomes, such as increased crime, Councilwoman Terry Sayre said old and familiar biases seemed to be at the root of some of the objections to the rezoning plan.

“I also represent the West Side, and so I’m aware of some of the feelings that are traditional in Tulare about the difference between west and east sides,” she said. “I don’t think the tracks actually delineate people’s worthiness. It’s a mindset that’s been in Tulare a long time.”

According to the TCAG Sixth Cycle report for 2023-2031, Tulare has 4,749 households in total. Of those, 1,435 (30.2%) have very low incomes of less than 50% of the area median income (AMI). Another 884 households (18.6%) have low incomes of 50% to 80% of the AMI; 677 households (14.3%) have moderate incomes of 80% to 120% of the AMI; and the largest and richest portion – 1,753 households (36.9%) – have incomes greater than 120% of the AMI.

Tulare grew by 16.7% between the 2010 and 2020 census counts. That’s more than three and a half times the rate of Tulare County’s growth, and nearly three times the growth rate of the entire state. Yet 77.4% of Tulare’s housing is single-family detached homes.

“We don’t have a lot of variety in our housing stock,” Anaya said. “We kind of produce a lot of the same type, and the needs in our households have changed over the decades, so we’re kind of seeing that bear out a little bit with the data.”

The official conclusion is Tulare needs a wider variety of housing options for all income levels. The county as a whole also needs a greater diversity of housing types. Single-family detached homes make up 75% of available housing, compared with 57.7% statewide.

The post Tulare OKs high-density housing zone besides high-end Del Lago appeared first on Valley Voice.

City strategizing for new state laws concerning cannabis sales

At the latest council meeting on Monday, March 16, city economic development manager Devon Jones unpacked the latest tweaks and changes to a set of proposed ordinances that would give City Hall the right to oversee and tax recreational cannabis businesses. The process began in May 2024, and this is the third time the plans have been presented for council review.

Yet there’s still no indication the city will ever issue licenses to sell recreational cannabis, even if the proposed changes to the law are eventually enacted.

“The direction currently is to establish the entire regulatory framework for a cannabis business program, but set the number of licenses to be issued for all use types to zero,” Jones said. “This at any point in the future could be changed by a simple resolution at whatever time either the council desires to open that up, or maybe the state perhaps passes the mandate in the industry.”

The work is being done now to get ahead of any possible changes to state law that could force cities to allow recreational sales. A similar state mandate in 2023 forced Visalia to begin allowing the delivery of medical cannabis inside the city limits. It’s been a particular concern since then for Councilman Brian Poochigian.

“Let’s put some kind of tax measure on the books so we have it there so the state doesn’t come down and say, ‘Hey, you have to allow this, and this is where the money goes,’” he said of the proposed code changes. “I’m glad we’re setting up a framework where we locally can determine – if we ever decide to do this – where the money is going to go to best help our community. So, I like what we’re doing.”

City’s Cannabis Consultant to Craft Fee Schedule

In the end, the council approved spending another $12,000 on consultant fees to continue shaping the future of the city’s potential cannabis industry. HdL Companies, which serves as Visalia’s cannabis law consultant, will assist staff at City Hall with a fee schedule for various types of potential cannabis businesses.

HdL’s job is to make sure Visalia taps all available revenue from the future potential sales of cannabis, Jones said.

“Obviously fees are an important part of this entire regulatory framework,” he said. “And they (HdL) will help us in the finance department, more specifically, make sure we’re covering all bases in terms of all the applicable fees for this.”

The planning going on now is intended to ensure the city maximizes its portion of the revenue flow while making doing business reasonable. And it will not be cheap to operate a cannabis business in Visalia.

“A clear thing that we’re going to indicate is that all licensees will be expected to pay an annual minimum to the city of $50,000 or 1% of annual gross receipts, whichever is greater,” Jones said. “How we came to that figure, there was some research conducted (in) neighboring jurisdictions, I won’t go through all of it, but that number on an annual basis seemed to be appropriate.”

Visalia Studies How Other Cities Handle Cannabis Business

The city’s research included evaluating how Tulare, Porterville and Lemoore have approached licensing and fees. Data from Farmersville, Woodlake and Lindsay was not included. The three cities studied have all negotiated individually with the various retail cannabis businesses. These agreements sometimes include initial fees, and each city requires annual payments.

As the cannabis code stands now, Visalia would not charge a large initial application fee. However, one could be added.

“There’ll be application fees, like some of them you notice an annual license fee,” Jones said. “We’ll have those kinds of things, obviously.”

Each city has set its own cannabis tax rate, which varies in Tulare County from 5% to 10%. Visalia has yet to fix its retail cannabis sales tax rate, though it has set a maximum.

“The tax rate of course will be factored in,” Jones said. “Currently, we have the ability to charge up to 10%. That’ll be something we have to establish at a later time.”

The city could also reverse course on initial lump-sum payments for new applicants, Jones added.

“The initial kinds of fees are something else that could be considered,” he said. “We’d create new licensing fees. That’s something to be determined.”

City Manager to Control Applications, Appeals

Should the city ever allow retail cannabis businesses to operate in Visalia, they’ll all be required to get a conditional use permit (CUP) from City Hall to open their doors. Delivery of cannabis for medical use will be exempt.

Retail shops open to the public will be allowed in established regional and service commercial zones, as well as in commercial mixed zones. But they won’t be allowed in the city’s downtown microbrewery district on East Main Street. Businesses without storefronts – such as distributors, processors, testing labs and manufacturers – will be confined to the city’s Industrial Park.

“That would mean the industrial park proper west of Shirk (Road),” Jones said. “There are pockets of industrial zoning in town, and some light industrial. So we’re just being clear that this is specifically the industrial and light industrial zone we’re wanting to include.”

The businesses will be allowed to operate from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily. Because of state law, medical cannabis delivery will be allowed from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. The plan is to roll the current medical cannabis ordinances into the set of regulations now being crafted.

An entirely separate city ordinance will cover the license application process and how the applicants will be selected. The city manager will have control of who can apply and oversee the qualification process. However, those who ultimately receive the licenses will be chosen by lottery.

“The city manager is authorized to make all decisions concerning the issuance of renewal licenses and the licenses themselves,” Jones said. “And similarly, all appeals will be heard by an appointee designated by the city manager.”

By choosing licensees from a pool of qualified applicants, the city hopes to avoid becoming entangled in long appeals with applicants who ultimately don’t win the right to do business.

“This is more of the current industry standard in terms of establishing this kind of business framework. (We have a) strong recommendation from our consultants at HdL,” Jones said. “It’s kind of more streamlined, and a process that we believe will assist us with the likely appeal process that will occur for any unselected applicants.”

Loads of Paperwork Await Cannabis Biz Applicants

The application process for getting a cannabis business license in Visalia will be rigorous. Applicants will have to prove they have a location to do business and the landlord’s OK. They’ll also have to provide documentation from an insurance company that their business can be covered. The city also wants its own exposure minimized, requiring inspection agreements, statements of limitations on liability and background checks for owners and managers.

Jones said the city will look at four areas of concern.

“First is the business plan, which consists of such things as the owners’ prior licenses that they’ve held and their jurisdictions, whether they’ve had any licenses suspended or revoked in any other jurisdictions, their proof of capitalization for the project, including their construction budget,” he said.

Applicants will have to present a neighborhood compatibility plan to show the business will have adequate buffers from things like churches and schools. They’ll also need a safety and security plan, and a community benefits plan that shows how they intend to be an asset to the city beyond creating revenue.

“Knowing that we want to select quality applicants in the process, staff and the consultant worked hard on ensuring that there were certain requirements in the application process that kind of ensured quality applicants,” Jones said. “But also post-selection means to ensure that people are delivering on their development plans.”

Once a license is issued, it cannot be transferred or sold for at least five years. When a license is transferred, the city will look as thoroughly at the exchange as it looks at new applicants.

“It’s going to basically be prohibited to transfer a license during that timeframe,” Jones said. “And also any transferees or (applicants) who might want to transfer a license are approved by the city manager, and the process is essentially treated like a new application.”

Mayor Brett Taylor still has concerns about license transfers despite these precautions. He’d like the ordinance to include a considerable fee for transferring existing recreational cannabis business licenses.

“I’d like to do that, because at the end of the day what we’ve heard from the consultant that we met with is that they (cannabis business owners) just play games, change up management, change up ownership,” Taylor said. “I prefer that if we catch that, we just hit them with a transfer fee of $500,000 or $1,000,000 or whatever it may be. So if they’re going to play games, there’s going to be pain.”

When Will Visalia Allow Cannabis Sales? Not Yet!

As city officials and staff are quick to point out, there is no plan to allow recreational cannabis businesses to open in Visalia. But all the pieces are moving into place.

“We don’t exactly have a timeframe,” Jones said about creating a fee schedule. “I would assume a couple months to get the work conducted and then come back.”

And there’s apparently no sense of urgency at City Hall.

“Really, because we’re still going to be establishing the licenses at zero, we could take this in chunks,” Jones said.

Meanwhile, the public remains of two minds. Visalian Gabriel Jaquez spoke of his concerns over how cannabis businesses were certified, as well as the effect of cannabis on homelessness and mental health, and the reduced ability of workers to pass drug tests as a result.

“Anytime you have drugs and alcohol, it’s not a good thing,” he said. “Cannabis is a drug.”

Adolpho Ace Castillo, owner and operator of the popular retail cannabis outlet Banyan Tree in Fresno, spoke in favor of the city opening itself to recreational sales.

“As an operator, I just want to take you behind the curtain,” Castillo said. “At a 4% rate that the city of Fresno (charges) and at about a 600 to 700 customers per day that come into the Bayan Tree, an average of $25,000 to $26,000 or around that a month goes to the city as a local tax, and close to $200,000 a month to the state of California.”

He also asked the city council to keep ownership of cannabis businesses limited to those who already live here.

“I just want you guys to consider local ownership as a bonus of some sort as deciding who’s going to get this license,” Castillo said. “Especially in a city like Visalia, it’s going to be very limited. Please keep it local.”

The post Visalia reviews rules for cannabis sales again, but still no licenses appeared first on Valley Voice.

There will be one less item on the November ballot after the Visalia City Council decided not to ask voters for approval of a new sales tax to cover the cost of unfunded capital improvement projects already in the works, including an aquatics center, the East Side Regional Park and the third and final phase of the incomplete civic center project.

Council Divided on Unclear Motion

In a split 3-2 vote at their March 2 meeting, members of the Visalia City Council declined to spend $45,000 for a survey of voters to gauge their support for a 0.75% sales tax. Voting for the measure were Councilman Emmanuel Soto and Vice Mayor Liz Wynn. Opposing the item were councilmen Brian Poochigian and Steve Nelsen, and Mayor Brett Taylor, who had previously supported it.

The revenue generated by the tax would have been earmarked for construction projects the city expects to complete during the next decades. Those projects include upgrades to the Visalia Convention Center, improvements to the Senior Center and the long-awaited aquatics center.

In recent years, voters in Visalia have approved two similar sales tax measures: Measure N for items like public safety, road construction and parks maintenance, and Measure T to fund the needs of the fire and police departments. The idea of asking voters to approve a third tax measure, one to fund so-called capital improvement projects, such as building new facilities and upgrading existing ones, was introduced back on January 20, when the council was looking again at costs and specifications for an aquatics park.

However, the wording of the item considered March 2 apparently wasn’t clear in the minds of the council members.  Poochigian and Nelsen stated the proposed tax was only to fund the aquatics center, while Soto, who proposed it in January, said the tax revenue would be used for the long list of underfunded and unfunded projects City Hall is planning.

Mayor Wants Citizens to Take a Leading Role

But the deciding no vote that put the item to rest came from Mayor Taylor, who believes it should be citizens not the council who get the proposed tax measure in front of voters.

“If we had funds for pools and parks and East Side Regional Park, and if we could do it all tomorrow, that’d be fantastic,” Taylor said. “My eyes are wide and my tail is bushy over the potential of getting $100 million, $200 million, whatever it would get from this potential tax measure, but I always said it shouldn’t be coming from the council.”

Previous voter-approved sales tax increases, which were initiated by the council, have targeted immediate and pressing needs, and Taylor doesn’t see the urgency this time. But if citizens do see that need, he would like them to take the lead.

“If it was a major need – police, fire – that’s a different story,” he said. “I want this to come from the citizens. I want it to be a citizen-based ballot measure.”

Swimming Pool Talk Turned into Tax Measure Study

Back on January 20, after hearing about the costs and benefits of an aquatics center with both a competitive 50-meter pool and a large recreational pool for general use – 64% of the $1 million annual operating cost is labor, and 24% utilities, with the facility fees generating about half that amount – the council ultimately decided to have the staff at Parks and Rec investigate funding costs for either a one-time construction project or a phased project, as well as coming up with an initial project timeline.

But before that happened, they questioned Parks and Rec director Jason Glick about funding on hand for a swimming facility.

“We have no funding available right now,” he said.

City Manager Leslie Caviglia said a city-owned property purchased with Parks and Rec funds could be sold, and the income used for the aquatics center. The land is located at Akers Road and Riggen Avenue.

“There has been discussion that that could then be used to start a pool project,” she said. “We will be getting additional impact fees and, if you direct us, then we go out and figure out what to do. There are limitations, and then there can be tradeoffs with other projects.”

“Tradeoffs” in this case could mean delaying other projects and redirecting funding to the pools. Caviglia also introduced the idea of sales tax as a funding source. That was when Poochigian tried to put the brakes on discussion, using the ongoing three-phase Civic Center construction project as an example.

“We planned the Civic Center for 20-plus years. So for anyone who thinks this is going to be a quick decision that we’re going to vote on this, and then be done, I just want to put this in perspective that we are a government agency that doesn’t make snap decisions,” he said. “We make long-term plans, and that’s the way the city looks the way it does today.”

Poochigian cautioned construction of an aquatic center is still years in the future. Going slowly prevents mistakes, he added.

“We put a lot of thought into things. So anybody who thinks we’re going to have a swimming pool in a year, just look at the timeline. It’s not going to happen. But we want to make sure we do things correctly,” he said. “I want to temper expectations. I know there’s an article in the Valley Voice that says there’s a swimming pool coming. That doesn’t mean it’s going to be coming soon.”

That’s when Councilman Soto introduced the idea of putting a tax measure before voters.

“The one thing we can do is instead of making it 20 years, we could make it five to 10 years,” Soto said. “That can be with a sales tax measure that we let the voters vote on, and then set priorities.”

City Needs the Money, but Council Hasn’t Planned How to Spend It

Soto’s proposal would have seen voters asked to increase the city sales tax rate by 0.75%, an amount equal to the combined income of Measure N and Measure T. Those taxes generated $25 million over the last year, and the capital improvements sales tax measure should earn a similar amount.

But how the council would use that money hasn’t been discussed yet.

“How we set that percentage-wise, 70/30 with new projects opposed to current projects, that’s up for debate,” Soto said. “Measure T, which is 1/4 of a cent, and Measure N, which is half a cent, which is 3/4 cent by extension, generated about $25 million just this last year.”

The sales tax measure could have appeared on the ballot as early as November of this year. Had it done so and voters approved it, the city would have started seeing that revenue come in during fiscal year 2027-28. Soto said the need for added income is clear in planning documents.

“We have a $10 million shortfall on Parks and Rec as we speak,” he said. “This funding for the next couple of years, whether we set a timeline on it or not, would help tremendously with all the CIP (capital improvement projects) we’ve been discussing for the last couple months.”

Councilman Poochigian refused to support any move to increase taxes, while Councilman Nelsen expressed his doubts voters would OK added taxes.

“I disagree on a sales tax measure. There are other agencies looking at sales tax measures, and in the current economy, I question if a sales tax… (could get approved),” he said. “You only get one chance at a sales tax measure, and then you have to wait a while. You have got to make sure it goes through.”

Vice Mayor Wynn also supports the sales tax idea.

“I’d love to see us look at a sales tax measure that wouldn’t just be for the pool, but other recreation,” she said. “We’ve got a senior center that needs help. We’ve got a shortfall in our parks. There’s other things that are quality-of-life issues here in Visalia, and when you spread it out over a sales tax measure it’s not just people from Visalia that are helping with that burden.”

Wynn also wants to see the results of a survey of voters.

“If they come back and say no way, then we’ll have to get creative,” she said.

While Mayor Taylor supported the survey when it was proposed in January, he was worried there was no income stream to pay for the $1 million in annual upkeep an aquatics center will require.

“My worry is the cost. Saddling our community with a million dollars in debt a year, that can be dangerous. I’m not going to go into debt just to get a party pool,” he said, adding that community support is strong for public pools, but he wants more citizen involvement in finding the money to build them.

“I would like to see the community get together and see if we can really put something together,” he said.

Opposition Says Council Moving Too Fast

All that discussion, however, was at the first council meeting of the year. Two months later issues had ripened, and some opinions had changed.

When the topic was introduced at the March 2 meeting, it met with pushback, starting with objections from someone with extensive experience getting the voting public’s support behind a sales tax measure.

“I’m asking the council to … vote no on spending the money for a survey,” said Visalia resident Harold Myers. “I’ve served on two citizen committees for the city council to evaluate potential tax measures. In both cases, the process started with identifying a clear need. Only after that did we look at surveys. That distinction matters, because there is a real difference between a need and a want.”

Poochigian then reiterated his anti-tax stance, yet offering his support for an aquatics center.

“Where I struggle with this is I don’t believe in taxing our individuals for something like this,” he said. “I think it needs to be well thought out. I’m not against the pool, but to just say we’re going to tax our residents, increase taxes for that, I’m totally against.”

He and Nelsen then stated their belief the proposed sales tax measure was intended only for an aquatics center. That was the item up for discussion when the idea of a new tax was introduced at the January meeting. The wording of the item voted on March 2 does not include limiting the use of revenue to any project or fund.

“If we do go down this path, the motion was to vote purely for parks and recreation. I don’t want this to play any games and pull public safety or any other organizations that pull just to get this passed,” Poochigian said. “If you guys do decide to go down this path, I do want to make sure that this is solely for a new swimming pool and a Parks and Recreation sales tax. I think it would be very dishonest if we try to play word games just to get this passed, just so we could get the funds.”

Nelsen agreed with Poochigian’s reasoning despite the lack of any spending limits in the item presented to the city council.

“If any other fluff is put on this, it’s dishonest,” he said, adding that the idea of a new sales tax was “a knee-jerk reaction” to the city’s budget gaps.

Tax Revenue Could Fund Any City Project

Soto countered that Nelsen and Poochigian misunderstood his intent when he proposed the sales tax idea in January. The funds would be available wherever they’re needed.

“I didn’t just say the pool when I mentioned this at the last meeting,” he said. “I mentioned the convention center, which needs a lot of funding, the Civic Center Phase 3, which we don’t have the complete funding for, yes, I mentioned the aquatic center, East Side Regional Park, the $10 million in funding that we don’t have for our current parks projects, and then just recently we’re losing a grant on public safety for clinicians on the HOPE (Homeless Outreach and Proactive Enforcement) team.”

Soto said the revenue stream could be used to fund any need the council perceives, not just those projects in the works that still lack funding.

“So this is for anything that we as a council see that the city needs,” he said. “Some of these things are quality-of-life items. I don’t want to plan here for an aquatics center, Civic Center Phase 3, convention center (and) East Side Regional Park that’s going to happen 40 years from now. I’d love to see it in the next 10 years if possible.”

Nelsen, while still voting no, said the idea was more appealing to him when presented in its intended form.

“If the motion included East (Side) Regional Park, convention center, civic center, and I forget the other litany of items you said, I probably would be more in support of putting a survey out, but my recollection is the vote was for a sales tax for the pool complex, which included a rec park and a humongous pool,” Nelsen said. “I think the timing is poor. I think the economy is poor.”

He suggested using the $45,000 consulting fee to fund parks already approved by the council that have no funding or too little.

“Take the $45,000 and put it in the inclusive park,” Nelsen said. That’s been languishing for seven fricking years. It’s time to complete what we start instead of setting up another Taj Mahal, and this is what you’re looking to do.”

With Wynn and Soto supporting the proposal, and Poochigian and Nelsen firmly against it, the deciding vote fell to Mayor Taylor. He became philosophical as he explained his reasoning, praising a recent presentation on City Hall’s recent accomplishments.

“We’ve been running this city so well, what’s left? Well, really, the life enjoyment, the parks and recreation,” Taylor said. “So I can see how we got here, because so many things have been going well, what other things can we do well?”

But the proposal before the council, he said, was too loose. City leaders need more time to think through the options and consequences.

“We’re trying to rush this through, and that’s something we’ve never done on this council,” Taylor said before casting the vote to stall the sales tax survey. “Let’s think this out and put some long-term planning into this.”

The post Visalia council says no to capital improvements sales tax vote appeared first on Valley Voice.

Fences Meant to Give More Playing Time

The original plan for fencing at Riverway envisioned setting apart the 10 full-size soccer fields with chainlink fences, and it grew into a two-phase project to surround the fields, as well as to enclose the whole park, inside 7-foot-tall spiked iron security fences. The cost, of course, grew as well. The entire project allocation is $3.89 million, up from $1.5 million when first proposed.

“It’s probably going to be finished in the next few weeks. We’re hoping the project will be finished by the end of the month,” said Parks and Recreation manager Jason Glick. “There will be a punchlist (a list of possible issues with the project) with the contractor, and we expect to be done by the end of March.”

The two phases serve two purposes. Surrounding the entire park in a fence protects the whole facility. Specifically, it’s intended to end after-hours use of Riverway, which has been a target of vandalism and the scene of criminal activity, city officials say. Surrounding the soccer fields with fences inside the fence – and keeping them locked even when the rest of the park is open to the public – is the result of an entirely different issue.

“What we’re trying to do is make the soccer fields open for more of the year,” Glick said. “This is so they’ll be more available to the public.”

Fencing off the soccer fields allows grounds crews time to rehabilitate them. It also prevents the fields from overuse, a problem that has plagued Riverway in the past.

“When the park opens after the summer closure, they’ve (the soccer fields) been open for 13 weeks,” Glick said. “When November rolls around, the fields have just turned to dirt. We’re trying to avoid that for future years.”

The city is also cutting off open access to the soccer fields during the park’s regular operating hours, and that’s left some of the people who use the park on a daily basis resentful.

Lack of Answers Frustrates Park-Going Neighbors

Closing off the soccer fields with a minimum of information has left neighbors and other regular park-goers feeling as if they’ve been cut off suddenly with little or not enough explanation.

Estrella Correa, who lives across the street from Riverview Sports Park and is a frequent visitor, isn’t satisfied with officials’ responses to her requests for clear information about who can use the park and when. She’s been having problems getting answers to her questions since the plan for fencing was hatched, she said, and is still not satisfied.

“I live across the street from the park, and I’ve been asking a lot of questions about access to the park,” she said. “Then the fencing started going up, and I went to a Council Corner meeting. I spoke to Mayor (Brett) Taylor about the park being closed so much of the year. I asked if the fields could be open part of the year.”

She says she never got an answer.

“I expressed concern about the fields being open to the public,” Correa said. “He (Taylor) said he’d talk to someone and get back to me. He never did.”

Correa eventually exchanged emails with Parks and Rec director Glick, who gave her an outline of the fencing project’s development, she said, but not the practical answers she wanted. The public, Correa learned, will no longer have open, free access to the fields.But that information wasn’t readily available from the city, Correa said.

“I called the number on the application,” she said. “The woman who answered at Parks and Rec didn’t know. She didn’t know anything.”

Public Can Rent Soccer Fields, but Insurance a Must

Correa has been seeking help from her district’s council representative, Emmanuel Soto, who also had to dig to find information about when the fields were open and to whom, she said.

“I just knew the fields were closed some of the time. I was concerned about public access,” she said. “You (city officials) said all these things are discussed in public, and you don’t know. My councilman has to dig for answers. I’ve been told at the city council meeting, agendas are always available online. If you care about these things you can go to the meetings.”

Soto said he’s been fielding complaints from citizens related to Riverway Park since the fencing started going up.

“I haven’t been a big fan of the fence since the beginning, since I asked for changes to the design,” he said.

The original fencing design had no pedestrian entrance at the park’s southwest corner, making it more difficult for those living nearby to walk in. Soto said Parks and Rec fixed the issue, but he believes cutting off open access to all the soccer fields goes too far.

“They did listen to citizens about access and added a gate at the southwest corner,” he said. “At the end of the day, I don’t see any reason for the fence. You can make an argument for a couple of fields, but not all the soccer fields.”

The bottom line is any member of the public can still rent the fields for their own use. But anyone wishing to use the fields for an event must complete an application form and provide proof of $1 million in liability insurance. And the coverage has to indemnify the city against loss and litigation.

Soccer Fields Will Be Open Four Days a Week

Perhaps the reason information about who can use the Riverway fields and when is because the city’s policy is still changing. While the public will be able to rent the fields, just as clubs and other organizations have in the past, they’ll only be able to do it on certain days.

“What we’re doing right now is a pilot program of having soccer games on Saturday and Sunday,” Glick said. “We’re letting the public rent them for practices and Tuesdays and Thursdays. And they’re dark on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.”

The dark days are intended to allow the fields the recovery time they need to remain in good playing condition. Overused and under-maintained fields present a safety issue for players, and the city wants to avoid potential injuries and associated liabilities.

Soto said he’s gotten the same information as he looked into the issue.

“I reached out to staff and did get a similar answer,” he said. “They’re doing a pilot (project) this year, since it’s the first year they can control access to the soccer fields.”

The city, he said, needs to do a better job communicating its plans to citizens. Of course anyone who wishes to discuss the soccer fields, or any other city-related matter, is welcome to attend any meeting of the city council or the Parks and Recreation Committee to voice their opinions.

That might be particularly important here, as Glick said the city will evaluate the results of the pilot program and perhaps retool it. Much depends on the playing condition of the field under the new scheme.

“This is just a pilot program. We’re trying to see how this works out,” Glick said. “We’ll reevaluate when the spring is over. We’re going to reevaluate the soccer field conditions.”

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