Documented by Jackie Schuster

 Here’s what you need to know

  • In a 4-1 vote, the Visalia City Council approved zoning and general plan amendments that will allow the Visalia Public Cemetery to expand.
  • The council also approved an ordinance that will amend the Visalia Municipal Code to allow delivery-only medical cannabis businesses within the city to meet new state law requirements.
  • The council amended the Measure N Spending Plan to appropriate $190,000 for one new and one replacement marked patrol vehicle and appropriated an additional $30,000 to address a budget shortfall for vehicle purchases.

Follow-up questions

  • Are there consequences for the Visalia Public Cemetery District demolishing three properties without proper permits?

Visalia City Council Members 

Liz Wynn, District One

Vice Mayor Brett Taylor, District Two

Mayor Brian Poochigian, District Three

Emmanuel Hernandez Soto, District Four 

Steve Nelsen, District Five

The Scene

The Visalia City Council meeting started at 7:01 p.m. All council members were present.

Actions/Discussions/Public comment

  • Public comment
  • Visalia Water Resources Manager Rhett Anderson reminded residents that on Dec. 1 the city will move into the winter watering schedule. Anderson said that with the winter watering schedule, there are zero days a week that ornamental turf can be watered. He said that gardens, shrubs and other decorative plants that are not turf can still be watered during the winter watering schedule. 
  • Barry Kaplan, a Visalia resident, brought documents to hand out to City Council members and staff. He said since the last meeting he and the council had conversations about the Brown Act, the state public meeting law, and that staff members might experiment with ChatGPT to generate shorter agenda items. He said he tried doing it the morning of the meeting, and it only took him a few minutes, so he was disappointed that staff did not try it. The shorter agenda item wording he came up with was on the papers he passed out. Kaplan requested items 2-12 be pulled from the consent calendar so he could discuss their lengthy wording. 
  • Consent calendar
    • Taylor moved to approve consent calendar item 1, and his motion passed unanimously. 
    • Item 2, request to file a notice of completion for Greenway Trail Phase 2, appropriate an additional $10,000 from Measure R Trailways fund to the Mill Creek Pedestrian Bridge on the Greenway Trail project and authorize the amendment to the Measure R Expenditure Plan to reallocate $10,000 between projects.
    • Kaplan said that the item’s wording on the agenda was a mouthful and the furthest thing from a summary for the public to understand to decide if they wanted to attend the meeting. He said his suggestion for better wording is Greenway Trail Phase 2, approve completion for Greenway Phase 2 and allocation of $10,000. He said that would be enough information for the agenda. 
    • Nelsen moved to authorize the city manager to file a notice of completion for Greenway Trail Phase 2, appropriate $25,000 from the Measure R Trailways Fund and amend the Measure R Expenditure Plan to reallocate $10,000 between projects. The motion passed unanimously. 
    • Item 3, authorize the city manager to award the construction contract for $334,250 to JT2 Inc. for ADA pathway improvements from Main Street to the Transit Center. 
    • Kaplan suggested shorter agenda item wording. He said he hoped the city manager and staff would consider his information. 
    • Poochigian said that if providing more information to the public is a problem, then that’s a problem they should keep doing because he thinks it is important to include the location of projects. 
    • Nelsen moved to authorize the city manager to award the construction contract to JT2 Inc. for ADA pathway improvements from Main Street to the Transit Center. The motion passed unanimously. 
    • Item 4, second reading and adoption of Ordinance 2023-13 to amend Visalia Municipal Code Chapter 17.25, add Section 17.32.167, amend Chapter 8.64, and add Chapter 5.66 to establish standards for allowing delivery-only medical marijuana establishments within Visalia.
    • Kaplan said there is room between what he’s suggesting and the 20 words for agenda items the Brown Act requires. He said the law  requires a summary and not all the details on agendas, so current wording does not meet its requirements.  Kaplan said he is trying to encourage the city to use wording that will then inspire the public to come to meetings for issues they care about.
    • Poochigian asked Ken Richardson, the city attorney, if the item was Brown Act compliant. Richardson said this and all other agenda items were compliant with the Brown Act . Nelsen moved to conduct the second reading and adopt Ordinance 2023-13 for Zoning Text Amendment 2023-02. The motion passed unanimously. 
    • Item 5, authorize the city manager to award the contract for an initial one-year term of street sweeping services to SCA of CA, LLC for an annual amount of more than $1.86 million renewable for four additional one-year terms, and appropriate $115,797 from the general fund and $390,202 from the gas tax fund.
    • Richardson said he has already provided council members with his legal opinion on the matter and he will not share it with Kaplan, but council members can share it. 
    • Kaplan said that he isn’t asking Richardson to share his legal opinion but asking a council member to share with the public why it is necessary for items to be so complex. 
    • Taylor moved to authorize the city manager to award the contract to SCA of CA, LLC for the street sweeping service. The motion passed unanimously. 
    • Item 6, authorize the city manager to award a contract in an amount not to exceed $317,600 to Anchor 41 Construction for the design and installation of a new playground structure at Riverway Sports Park.
    • Poochigian said he is grateful for the very thorough report on where money is going.
    • Kaplan began to discuss the wording of the item, and Poochigian told Kaplan he needed to comment on the item itself. Kaplan said he is commenting on the item because he is commenting on its wording on the agenda. He said these agendas are presented as PDFs and there are links with them where people can access the additional information on these items. Kaplan said people are intimidated by the lengthy items and that other cities in California are able to successfully provide brief summaries of information on agendas and still give citizens additional information. He added that maybe the Brown Act training the city received wasn’t thorough enough. 
    • Nelsen said he appreciates Kaplan’s passion for the Brown Act but that is one person’s opinion. He said that when he looks at item 6 on the agenda, he sees that  it provides what the item is, what construction company it is, where they are, how much money they are getting and who is doing something with this item. He said if he was a citizen he would be able to understand it. Nelsen said he applauds the staff for writing these agenda items the way they do. He said other items also include that much information, so he appreciates that citizens can read an item and understand the project. 
    • Nelsen moved to award the contract for the Playground Structure Replacement project at Riverway Sports to Anchor 41 Construction; the motion passed unanimously.
    • Item 7, authorize the city manager to award the Whitendale Park Arbor Replacement contract to R.E. Schultz Construction in an amount not to exceed $128,965 for the demolition and replacement of the three wooden arbors at picnic areas with new steel arbors and fabric covers at Whitendale Park.
    • Kaplan said he appreciates that Nelsen is chiming in. He said for this item, he suggests the agenda wording of “Whitendale Park arbor replacement. Award construction company contract not to exceed $128,965.” Kaplan said agenda items are not for council members but for citizens to understand what a project has and if they should show up to a meeting for that item. He said these items are for the general public and all the details in the paragraph on the agenda could be at the top of the packet or in a paragraph under the single summary item on the agenda. He said our city is consistently having agenda items worded with 50-100 items and other cities are able to keep their items closer to 20 words like the Brown Act suggests. 
    • Matthew, a Visalia resident, said he appreciates Kaplan’s comments. He then asked if in the interest of public service, would he be able to ask for information provided on the agenda to be longer. He was told no. He said the council members’ time is more valuable than this.
    • Taylor moved to award a contract for the demolition of existing wooden arbor structures and the installation of new steel arbors and UV-resistant fabric covers at Whitendale Park to R.E. Schultz Construction for an amount not to exceed $128,965. The motion passed unanimously.
    • Item 8, request to appropriate $142,000 from the AT&T Mobility lease set-aside account to the Riverway Sports Park Water Feature Repair Project.
    • With no public comment on this item, Nelsen said this item is concise and one sentence. He said it tells you everything you need to know. Then he moved to approve the appropriation for the Riverway Sports Park water feature repair project from the AT&T Mobility lease agreement set-aside account. The motion passed unanimously.
    • Item 9, nomination of Wynn to fill the vacancy representing a large city to the San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District Governing Board. 
    • Kaplan said he missed commenting on the last item because of the man who commented last time. He said he gave council members the sheet with his agenda examples so that they could compare them to what is on the agenda tonight. Kaplan said that Nelsen said this item has one sentence with all the information, so he would encourage them to look at those examples and think about what they think is missing from them. He said he doesn’t think the public needs resolution numbers to be included in the wording of agenda items, but if Nelsen thinks those are necessary, then maybe he could explain why.
    • Nelsen moved to nominate Wynn to fill the vacancy on the San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District Governing Board and approve Resolution 2023-57. Taylor seconded the motion, which passed unanimously.
    • Item 10, nomination of Soto as the City Council’s representative on the Tulare County Task Force on Homelessness, appointment of Visalia Housing Specialist Margie Perez as the alternate and appoint Wynn to serve as a city representative on the Mid-Kaweah Groundwater Sustainability Agency.
    • Kaplan said this item is similar to the one before. It’s one long sentence for three long clauses with three people being nominated for three separate roles. He suggested this item be broken up into three separate sentences, which would make it easier to read. He said people cannot grasp the information in agenda items when it is presented to them in large blocks. Kaplan said he is repeating the same thing over and over again because all of those items are worded badly for the spirit of the Brown Act. He said these agenda items could easily be simpler and he would appreciate it if they could look at the examples he gave them and see if anything needs to be added to them. 
    • Naomi, a Visalia resident, said that if one person is saying the agenda is not accessible, then the council should talk to the resident and see how they can make it more accessible. She said in the last city she lived in, she spent a lot of time working with the City Council, so she would be curious to know if council members nominated to these boards have access to consultants and grassroots groups who can help them make sure there is some kind of connection between people who are doing the work on the ground and the people who make the decisions. 
    • Poochigian said a lot of these boards have requirements for how people can get on them and each board sets up its own requirements.
    • Wynn moved to approve item 10. The motion passed unanimously. 
    • Item 11, authorization to enter a contract for $285,000 with JFS Enterprises Inc. to remove vegetation at the Eastside Regional Park, accept grant funding from the Department of Water Resources in the amount of $313,500 and appropriate funds of $346,350 for the project.
    • Nelsen moved to award the contract for land clearing services to JFS Enterprises, authorize the city manager to accept grant funding and appropriate funds from the park impact fund. The motion passed unanimously.
    • Item 12, authorize the city manager to execute an agreement between the city of Visalia and the city of Dinuba to provide animal shelter services and animal licensing for one year at a rate of $202,573 with four one-year renewal options, for a maximum of five years totaling a little over $1 million.
    • Taylor moved to authorize the city manager to make any additional modifications to this draft agreement and execute a one-year animal shelter services agreement with four one-year agreements for a maximum of five years of service to be provided to the city of Dinuba. The motion passed unanimously.
  • Regular item 1, public hearing and consideration of the certification of the final Environmental Impact Report (EIR) prepared for the East Side Regional Park Project, initiation of proceedings for Annexation 2021-02 and General Plan Amendment 2021-16.
    • Brandon Smith, a city principal planner, said that the council was given an overview of the EIR at a planning meeting in March. 
    • The location of the East Side Regional Park Project is on the east side of city limits bounded by Mineral King and Houston avenues, Road 148 and Road 152. He said some of the area is within city limits and some is outside city limits. 
    • Smith said the approval of the EIR will allow this project to continue and the city to get grant opportunities. 
    • This park would have 139 acres of recreational space with lighted softball and baseball fields, soccer fields, tennis and pickleball courts, a dog park and multi-use trails. 
    • All parcels in the project are owned by the city, and upon annexation these areas would be zoned as quasi public, which is consistent with the general plan amendment. 
    • The general plan amendment only applies to the northern side of this project because it has land currently zoned as residential, which needs to be rezoned to quasi public. 
    • There has already been a public review period for this item, and comments the city received were included in the final impact report. This project is compliant with the general plan because the plan lists the need for a new large park on the eastern side of town.
    • Since this project was initiated prior to 2019, it is not subject to the Housing Crisis Act of 2019, so the loss of medium- and high-density residential growth Tier 3 land for this project is allowed. It is also consistent with the no-net-loss law, which increases the standard of proof required for a local government to justify a denial of low- and moderate-income housing projects. 
    • The Visalia Planning Commission reviewed the certification on Oct. 23 and they received one public comment regarding noise pollution from the amphitheater and traffic. The Planning Commission passed a motion to move this project along to the City Council. 
    • Dawn Marple, principal planner at consulting group Provost and Pritchard, said this project is the co-location of citywide park amenities and functional groundwater recharge and stormwater layoff basins. Phase 1 of the project would be developing the groundwater basins. 
    • Marple said this project was initiated in 2014. 
    • When circulating the draft EIR, they received three comments from residents in the neighborhood near the proposed project site. The first concern was noise impacts, which were addressed in the final EIR. Phase 1 of the project would not have any noise impact, but Phase 2 would require an 8-foot sound wall to be constructed on what will become Tower Street and Phase 3 would require the sound wall to remain in place. 
    • The second concern was lighting. The construction of the sound wall will help prevent some light pollution, and this project will comply with city standards for light pollution, so the lighting impact has been considered less than significant. 
    • The other concern was the effect on traffic. Two existing intersections near the project already exceed city congestion standards, and Marple said those intersections still would even with mitigation standards. 
    • During the public comment period, they received letters from the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, Caltrans and the San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District. Marple said everything those letters mentioned was addressed in revisions to the EIR. 
    • Marple said they did implement mitigation measures in the draft EIR but even with mitigation implementation, there were still significant impacts to agriculture and traffic. She said that because of those significant impacts, in order to approve the project, the council would have to make the finding that the benefits of the project outweigh the impacts. Marple said the benefits were presented to the commission and it moved to make the requisite findings a fact. 
    • Nelsen said this is a great project to have on the east side of the city,  and it is an amenity that is sorely needed. He said it’s sad that it took this long for this project to advance, but that’s part of what they have to deal with because of state laws. Nelsen said he also applauds the agenda wording of this item.
    • Wynn said the traffic impacts keep coming up, but if the land stayed zoned as residential wouldn’t the traffic impacts be much worse? 
    • Smith said he couldn’t comment with a definite answer.
    • Soto said that Riverway Park is definitely not big enough to serve the city, especially during peak baseball and soccer seasons, so he is excited to see this project move forward.
    • Taylor asked if there is a realistic date for the project’s completion. 
    • Smith said he can say that this step brings the city closer to pursuing funding. He said Phase 1 is groundwater and flood control, which are the most important, but the planning division doesn’t have a definite date for the opening of the park itself.
    • Poochigian said he wants to encourage a focus on parking. He said the Riverway Sports Park doesn’t currently have enough parking so they should keep an eye on that for this project. Poochigian said he thinks it says a lot about Visalia that the girls in the city play in the same facilities as the boys.
    • Public comment 
    • Kaplan said he looks forward to this park being ready. He said that the summary of this item on the agenda is half a page long when the Brown Act encourages summaries that are close to 20 words. Kaplan said the information Nelsen said is important for residents to know is just strings of numbers that weren’t even delivered in the reports. He said summaries get bogged down by these. He read out all the strings of numbers in the item and asked how they could be important for the public to know if they should come learn more about the park. Kaplan said this is not helpful information so it isn’t appropriate under the Brown Act. He said he would like the council to have a discussion with the public about why they think this information is appropriate.
    • One resident who did not give his name said he appreciates the council putting APN numbers in. He said on one map, an address shown to the east of the future Tower Road is outside of the park area but in the area to be annexed, but then there is another map that has it in the park and annexed area. He said the people who live on that property would like to know what is happening to it.
    • Marple said they studied additional areas in the EIR for biological purposes so there may be maps that show the areas that were studied, but that doesn’t mean that area would be in the park. 
    • Smith said that the property is outside of the park master plan, but he did show a map of current land use designations within the city’s general plan. He said currently that area is designated as parks and recreation and has been since the adoption of the general plan in 2014, but that area is not part of the improvement plans for the park. Smith said if there were to be changes to the improvement plans that would add that area, they would have to come back to review the project. 
    • Paul Bernal, director of community development, said that the site address is already annexed and is Tier 1 development. He said that if at any point that project planners looked at that land, they would go through the proper processes for that. 
    • Nelsen moved to approve Resolution 2023-54 certifying the final EIR, Resolution 2023-55 to initiate proceedings for annexation and Resolution 2023-56 to approve General Plan Amendment 2021-16. The motion passed unanimously.
  • Regular item 2, public hearing to consider a request by the Visalia Public Cemetery District for General Plan Amendment 2022-01 and change of Zone 2022-02.
    • Associate Planner Cristobal Carrillo said there are 15 properties within the existing master plan boundaries that the cemetery owns and would need to be rezoned to quasi public. He said eight of those properties are currently vacant. If the project is approved, the cemetery plans to use the vacant properties immediately, which would keep them in operation through 2030. Carrillo said the cemetery has also implemented policies to reduce their impact on the nearby neighborhood. 
    • Carrillo said when this project was first presented to the council on May 1, there was strong opposition from the public and concern about the effect on affordable housing and the sustainability of the cemetery’s plans.
    • He said the Visalia Public Cemetery District had a public outreach meeting in June and decided to not expand the master plan boundary, committed to not using eminent domain to acquire properties within their master plan boundary and will provide occupants 90 days rent-free to vacate the property prior to the removal of the residence if they have decided to use an occupied property for cemetery expansion. 
    • Carrillo said three structures were removed by the cemetery without permits but those issues have been resolved as of Sept. 29. 
    • Carrillo said the quasi public zone is considered appropriate for this land and this plan is compliant with the city’s housing element policies. All properties within the master plan boundaries need to be rezoned to maintain consistency. 
    • Public comment for item
    • Domingo Lopez, district manager for the Visalia Public Cemetery District, said they appreciate that they have been able to reach out to the community. He said Wynn asked in May if the cemetery board could say they would not ever use eminent domain, and at the time she was told they couldn’t say for sure, but the district has now decided to include that as an item. Lopez said they also removed the properties located off Turner Street from the plans. 
    • Kaplan said he used a stopwatch on his phone while Poochigian read the item’s agenda wording and it took him 3 minutes and 5 seconds to read it. Kaplan said that’s more time than is allowed for public comments. He asked how the public can be expected to understand complex items like this, and said staff can reach out to him before they prepare their next long agenda item. He said the city attorney doesn’t seem that interested in doing right by the people but staff and council do. Kaplan said that this time Poochigian decided to read all the APNs but he normally doesn’t, but did this time since Kaplan had mentioned it. He said this is wrong for the people that the council is doing business on behalf of. Kaplan said they are all professionals and he knows they can do better, so he’d love to meet with them and help them create a first-rate agenda.
    • Soto confirmed that the district’s plan says they won’t vacate any properties until 2030. He then asked if there had been any talk of creating a second cemetery. 
    • Lopez said that there haven’t been talks about that because the cost of land, additional staffing, water and everything else is so high so they haven’t even talked about it. He said the cemetery is working off a plan put in place in 2005 because they know it takes so much time to plan these things. 
    • Soto said there was not a single person at the last meeting who was in favor of expanding the cemetery. He said only six nonstaff members or elected officials showed up at the public meeting the district held. Soto said he submitted news articles of people who have been complaining about the cemetery plans since 2005. He said other cities nearby have opened second locations, and he will not support this plan today.
    • Wynn said she appreciates the cemetery district taking the public into account so she will support this.
    • Nelsen said there are probably more people here to complain about the project who don’t live in that neighborhood than those who do. He said he understands that there are many costs associated with opening a second location so he understands why the district does not want to open one. Nelsen said he knows that in 2005 there was some concern about this plan but then it quieted down, so why is the plan now facing so much pushback? 
    • Taylor said obviously the cemetery district reaching out to the public worked because there were fewer people here to comment today than there were last time. He said that the plan is controlled by cemetery board members and the county officials who elect them, so he is only looking at the question of whether the land can be rezoned.
    • Poochigian said this isn’t a city of Visalia plan. He said this plan has been in place for nearly 20 years, and it would not be fair to make them change the plan now. Poochigian said the cemetery district said they won’t use eminent domain and won’t charge rent for 90 days if they have to relocate people, so the board went above and beyond to address the concerns of the public. 
    • Nelsen moved to adopt Resolution 2023-10, approving General Plan Amendment 2022-01 and introducing the first reading of Ordinance 2023-04 and approving Change of Zone 2022-02. Wynn seconded the motion. It passed 4-1, with Soto opposing. 
  • Regular item 3, conduct the second of two public hearings to amend the Measure N Spending Plan to appropriate $190,000 and advance the purchase of one marked patrol vehicle for fiscal year 2024-2025, replace one marked patrol vehicle and appropriate an additional $30,000 to address the budget shortfall for fiscal year 2023-2024 vehicle purchases.
    • Kaplan said that during the last public hearing, he spoke and then Darlene Mata, chair of the Measure N Oversight Committee, spoke in response to his comments. He said Mata told him that the committee is professional, so he said he wanted to give her the benefit of the doubt. He said he looked at every Measure N Oversight Committee agenda back to 2017 and only one agenda in 2018 mentioned meeting minutes, and even then it had no packet with it. Kaplan said “we don’t know anything about any discussions the Measure N Oversight Committee has ever had” and that is not a professional way to run a meeting. He said he was at the meetings for this topic and he asked about the rush to get through it, and the committee told him that’s just what they wanted to do. He said some members did ask a few questions but not enough for it to be as thorough as the chairperson said it was. Kaplan said the equipment being asked for with these cars also provides surveillance of Visalia residents that is shared with other cities and counties nearby. He said the chief of police told him he isn’t concerned about hearing concerns about surveillance.
    • Jim, a Visalia resident, said he was shocked when he saw the price tag of a police car. He asked if that’s the price with all the equipment or if they have to pay for equipment on top of that price.
    • Dan Ford from the Visalia Police Department said that the price does include everything, and so far it seems like the price will end up falling under the $95,000 they have been requesting. He said he was asked very interrogative questions by the committee at the last meeting and those questions do hold the Police Department accountable. 
    • Nelsen said looking at what the cost of cars could be in the future, he thinks the council made a good choice to get the year one and two buys started now. He said he knows lots of people on the Measure N Oversight Committee, and their recommendations are normally sound.
    • Taylor moved to amend the Measure N plan to advance the purchase of one marked patrol vehicle for fiscal year 2024-2025, replace one marked patrol vehicle and appropriate an additional $220,000. The motion passed unanimously.

With no closed session report, the meeting adjourned at 9:07 p.m. The next meeting will be on Dec. 4 at 7 p.m.

If you believe anything in these notes is inaccurate, please email us at documenters-admin@fresnoland.org with “Correction Request” in the subject line.

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