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!”
(559) 713-4400 ext. 3313
wgubler@ci.visalia.ca.us