SO WHAT'S THE PLAN?

On February 25, 2013, the city council met in special session to consider certain decision points regarding the new draft General Plan for Visalia’s future development.  Visalia’s last general plan was enacted in 1991.  Since then, Visalia has grown by over 50,000 people.  This draft was vetted thoroughly over a three-year time span by a task force comprised of twenty five members of Visalia’s business community, with hearings held by the planning commission before coming to the council. A U.S. Supreme Court Justice is reported to have said that the Supreme Court isn’t final because it’s infallible, but that it’s infallible because it’s final.  The same goes for the Visalia City Council in this case, ultimately the final decision rests with the council to vote as it determines to be in the best interests of our local citizens.

Amongst the decisions made by the council at this meeting was to have three tiers for opening up more residential land for development in Visalia.  Visalia has an inventory of 5,600 units of approved vacant residential land inside the current city limits.  A few years ago, when Visalia’s real estate market was red hot, such an inventory wouldn’t have lasted very long.  However, under current market conditions, this represents more than a ten-year supply of housing inventory.  The council decided that for the first tier, with a few exceptions, no additional lands will be annexed into the city for development purposes until many of those lots have been built out.  Once the city has less than a ten-year inventory (estimated to be when Visalia has grown to 135,000), then additional land may be annexed into the city limits.  This second tier build-out will allow certain properties on the fringes of the city limits to be annexed into the city until our population reaches 178,000, at which time the third tier would be opened up for annexation and development.  This plan predicts that by the year 2030, Visalia will have grown to 210,000!

Other decisions made included reaffirming the 200 foot setback reserve on West 198 known as the Scenic Corridor and allowing development behind such setback once the tier requirements are met, opening up south Mooney Boulevard beyond Packwood Creek to Avenue 272 (Mooney Grove) for regional retail development, and not developing further regional retail at the corner of Caldwell and Highway 99, but instead holding that land along with the land south of the airport in a reserve for future councils to consider.  As I spoke with many people in the business and retail community, it became clear that Visalians are not ready for regional retail development at Highway 99.  However, keeping that area in reserve allows Visalia to control its own destiny should a future special use present itself, particularly when Visalia pushes past 210,000 in population.  Again, the whole point of the general plan update is to attempt to peer into the future, to plan for future growth in a controlled way, while allowing the free market to meet the demands of growth.  The decisions that were arrived at by majority vote will not mean immediate development in any particular location, especially in this down economy, but will instead direct future growth as the economy continues to turn around and demand increases.

Let me make an additional observation regarding the Stonebridge neighborhood citizens who attended all the meetings regarding the General Plan over the last three years, conducted their own studies and let their views be known regarding development at the northwest corner of Lovers Lane and Walnut.  These citizens were effective advocates.  Regardless of whether one agrees or disagrees with all their positions, it was refreshing to see them participate in the political process.

With the preliminary draft General Plan being completed, the next step is for an environmental impact report to be prepared, time for additional public input and comment, and future public hearings by the Planning Commission before the final General Plan is adopted by the City Council.  My personal time estimate is that this process will not be concluded before 2014.

Finally, for those citizens who have followed the discussion and decisions to date, you may not agree with everything that’s been decided, but as a whole I believe that Visalians will support this General Plan.  As the late great mayor of New York City Ed Koch once said, “If you agree with me on nine out of twelve issues, vote for me.  If you agree with me on twelve out of twelve issues, see a psychiatrist!” 

                                                                                    Warren Gubler

                                                                                    Visalia City Councilmember

                                                                                    (559) 713-4400 ext. 3313

                                                                                    wgubler@ci.visalia.ca.us