The
Visalia City Council makes a lot of routine decisions on behalf of our
community. On occasion, however, an
individual or neighborhood in the city gets involved. We try to balance their input with staff
reports and our own research. Similar to
a judge in court, we try to render our final decision based upon the facts and
merits, not upon which side has the most in attendance at a council
meeting.
Such
was the case with the Arco AM/PM application of Chandi Group USA, to be built
on the corner of Caldwell and West Street.
That location has been zoned mixed commercial for many years.
Chandi
Group USA has experience developing Arco AM/PM's throughout the state. They built and operate the one on Lovers
Lane, and have just finished building one on Plaza Drive. Both of these are well designed, maintained,
and compliment the surrounding neighborhood.
The
Caldwell project, however, is a little different. Although located on arterials, it is
surrounded by some residential. The
initial proposal was very large, including ten fuel dispensers (Costco has
eleven), was to be located on almost two acres, included a convenience store
with fast food restaurant covering 6,000 square feet, had a 5,000 square foot
automated car wash, and an 18.5 foot tall, 6,775 square foot canopy, with
underground fuel storage tanks at the northwest corner of the property. When the surrounding neighborhood learned of
this application, they organized and made their voices heard. Some city council members met with them in
advance to listen to their concerns.
The
project came before the Planning Commission on April 9, 2018, which voted 4-1
to deny it as it existed on that date.
The developer then appealed their decision to the city council.
The
city council heard the matter on May 7 at the Convention Center, with over 200
people in attendance. However, what the
city council considered on May 7 was not the same plan as the Planning
Commission denied on April 9.
Approximately one week before the city council meeting, the developer
presented a downsized plan. It now
provided that the land to be developed was less than 1-1/2 acres, it deleted
the car wash and vacuum bays, deleted the fast food restaurant component and
downsized the convenience store to 3,800 square feet, dropped the canopy height
to 16 ½ feet, and size to 4,370 square feet with eight fuel dispensers, and
moved the underground fuel storage tanks to the east side, to be a greater
distance from neighboring homes.
The
council was provided a new staff report, and many letters both pro and con from
interested parties. Additionally, I
spoke with each of the planning commissioners about why they had voted the way
they had. All five of them indicated
that they favored the project, but the four that voted against said that their
main concern was the car wash and that the project was too large for the
surrounding neighborhood.
At
the May 7 meeting, the council took testimony from interested parties for two
to three hours. There were some from the neighborhood who favored this
downsized project, but they were out-numbered
by those who opposed it in its entirety.
After considering all testimony and relevant information, the council
voted 5-0 to approve the downsized/revised site plan, and as part of that
approval, further downsized the project to only allow six fuel dispensers. This approved project was now a standard-size
gas station.
No
facts or studies were presented showing that a standard-size gas station
increases crime, homelessness, public drunkenness and disorder, or
otherwise. To the contrary, Visalia has
many fine gas stations that are clean and attractive, and take appropriate
security measures. The Shannon Ranch gas station is an example of a popular
location which is well kept and an attractive addition to their neighborhood.
The
neighborhood near Caldwell and West Streets did an excellent job presenting
their position as to this project. The
reality is that they won, since they may have had a much larger operation in
their neighborhood if they had not gotten involved and let the city know of
their concerns. Unfortunately, some in
that neighborhood felt that they "lost" because they did not defeat
the entire project. Neither side got
everything they wanted. This project
will result in additional jobs for Visalians, was properly zoned, and is
located on a major commercial thoroughfare through Visalia. The neighborhood indicated to us that they
would have preferred a Trader Joe's or Chick-fil-A on that corner. Unfortunately, the city is not in the
business of building and developing properties.
Instead, we leave that to the private sector.
Again,
congratulations to this neighborhood for their efforts which resulted in a
downsized project, which will be more compatible. It is my hope that these citizens, as well as
many others, will continue to get involved with the political process, which
will lead to Visalia being an even greater place to live.
Mayor
Warren Gubler
