City Council - Regular Meeting

Good afternoon, everybody, and welcome to the Visalia City Council. We're gonna call to order the special session. We're gonna go ahead and get started with public comments. This is the time for citizens are now invited to comment on issues within the jurisdiction of the city council and items listed on the closed session agenda. The council ask that you keep your comments concise and positive. Creative criticism presented with a appropriate courtesy is welcome. Each speaker will be allowed three minutes and a timer will notify you when your time's expired. Please begin your comments by stating and spelling your name and providing your city of residence. Anybody wishing to speak? Seeing nobody, we will close public comments.

And we will go directly into our special session items. Item number one, council presentation for the Houston Community Connectivity Project. Staff report, please.

Good afternoon, mayor and and council members. I'm Jason Huckleberry, the director of engineering building for the city. I'll be joined today by our city engineer, Chris Crawford, and assistant engineer, Rudy Lopez. And I'll kick it over to Rudy for the presentation on the Houston, multimodal improvements.

Hello, mayor and council members. I'm, like I said, Rudy Lopez, associate associate engineer with City of Azealia. And, today, I will be presenting the, Houston Connectivity Community Project. In this slide, let me see. This one.

This slide right here, we have the project timeline of events for this project starting from when the project was first presented to the public back in 2022 when the council authorized the ATP project application submission, the project funding, funding approval, award of the signed contract, this year's first public outreach efforts, research and investigation of the proposed concept design, second public outreach meeting in the month of April, and bringing us to today's presentation. Now starting with the project's background, transportation program is a state funded initiative approved back in 2013. The program emphasizes in active transportation for biking and walking projects managed by Caltrans and the California Transportation Commission, CTC. The goals of the programs are to get more people to walk and bike for transportation, to create streets that are safer and more accessible for cyclists and pedestrians, to promote walking and biking as accessible forms of daily physical activity, and to ensure that state funding for city projects that improve these type of infrastructures in the city. With this goal in mind, city staff conducted public outreach efforts, to gather the Houston community residents input back in April with the goal of assessing if the residents in this area would be open to a project like this.

Those efforts consisted of three online surveys, one pop up event, and two public workshops. The information gathered in these outreach events consisted on questions such as what is the resident's primary mode of transportation where 18% of the responses were walking and zero percent responded biking. How often do you, your child, your student, or self walk or bike to and from school where 46% of the responses said at least once a week and with 30% saying they never walk or bike to school or from school. Then we asked the following question. What prevents you from walking or biking to school or other destination within the Houston Avenue community?

Where 47% of the responses said it was traffic safety concerns. 40% said speeding cars was the reason. And 7% responded no crosswalks. Then we see 9% with no sidewalks. 5% of the responses said no lanes. This is where we started seeing

a pattern for no biking or walking around the Houston community area.

We also asked them what would encourage you to walk or bike to school and other destinations more, where 67% of the participants agreed on more traffic and comming measures, 13% said more marked crosswalks, 10% said more sidewalks, and another 10% said more bike lanes. Another question we asked them was would you be okay if the street parking on one side of Houston Avenue was removed to ask safer bike lanes? Where 70% of the participants responded yes and 30% said no. Lastly, in these events, concluded the Q and A session with the last question asking the participants. If improvements were made, will you consider practicing more walking or biking?

Where 49% of the participants strongly agreed, 21% agreed, and less than 7% disagreed. The public input gathered in these events highlighted the need for safer pedestrian enhancements in this area, and it also played a key role in securing funding for a project that could bring this type of improvements to the Houston Avenue community. Therefore, once the type of needs in this area were identified, city staff submitted an application to the ATP Cycle six Regional and Statewide Grant Competition in 05/16/2022. These identified enhancements became part of the application outcomes in which the city must meet in the project design and also deliver them in construction to keep funding eligibility. The outcomes in this project consist of intersection crossing enhancements, construction and reconstruction of ADA compliant ramps, new bike lanes, and filling in gaps of missing sidewalks.

Crossing enhancements with this project include protecting intersections at the signalized intersections of Houston at Giddings and Houston at the Visadero. The protected intersections are those that use physical barriers in their design to separate cyclists and pedestrians from cars with the use of concrete corner islands, as you can see in the picture where it says mountable. A concrete corner lane that protects the intersection is a design feature where cyclists can travel through the intersection without being squeezed by turning vehicles. And these physical barriers are designed to be mountable so that, larger vehicles can drive over them when needed. The other identified enhancements submitted in the application were two new types of bike lanes along the Houston Corridor, bike lanes class two on the north side and class four on the south side of the street.

The class two bike lane is marked and signed bike lane that is not physically separated from traffic but is defined on the road with painted lines.

Excuse me?

Yes.

I struggle when you see this picture right here because there has been no Class four bike lane that we've done in Visalia that looks like this. But we keep getting shown this picture right here. This is what I have an issue with. If you look at Tulare, we first got pitched this. This was the picture that we were shown.

This is the class two.

This is that class two?

Class two?

Okay.

Yeah.

I guess though to clarify because that's one of the things like

The walnut, yeah.

The only really thing that defines this between class two and class four is if we put those bike curb modules right on that painted line, all of a sudden that would magically make this a class four. So, that's the difference is that this is class two until you have the vertical separation, then it turns into a class four.

So, it looks pretty similar minus the bumpers. But where I have the issue is we keep showing this picture, but we don't have a single bike lane that looks like this. Everything we have is the next slide where it's the bull belts and stuff like that. And I think this is where frustrated. Because if you showed me this picture, it looks fantastic. I go, oh, it's great. We're extend the curb. It's a lot safer. But then when you go to the next picture that we're gonna show, it's something completely different.

Thing is that with the project there's two different type of class bike lanes. On the North Side of Houston Avenue will be the Class II, the one that I'm showing right now. And on the south side will be the Class IV bike lane, the one I'm going to present on the next slide. It is a combination of both throughout the quarter.

Yeah, and I would just add to that clarification that the south side will look more like Tulare Avenue with the parked cars there in the striped area and the north side is going to look like this on this one. No parking on the north side, yeah.

These work great where there's no parking. But the second you have houses and residential, it fails completely. Just my opinion.

Okay. So once again, the Class II bike lane is the one marked sign lane that is not physically separated from traffic, but is defined on the road with painted lines, the one we see right now. On the other hand, the Class IV bike lane is a type of bike lane where cyclists are separated through physical barriers. In this project, will be using parked cars and physical ground delineators to separate the cyclists, something similar to the one we have in the picture. That's what we're going to apply on the South Side Of Houston Avenue.

In 2023, the active transportation program, ATP, awarded the city Of Azalea $2,300,000 grant to fund the Houston Community Connectivity Project. This the project area within the boundary shown in red includes the Houston Avenue corridor from Mooney Boulevard to Willis Street and extends out to several local streets such as Rinaldi And Turner Streets, Allen, Switzer, And Goshen Avenues. The project enhancements are as follows. On the Houston Avenue corridor, there will be concrete bulb outs to shorten intersection crossings, new and reconstructed ADA ramps, mountable concrete corner islands. There will be permanent on street parking on the north side permanent removal of on street parking on the north side to incorporate the class two bike lane, the one that is buffered with the stripe line on the ground.

Me. On street parking along the South side will be relocated away from the curb phase, and that will be to incorporate the class four protected by lanes, protected with parked cars and the delineators on the ground. To the south of Houston Avenue corridor, the surrounding local streets, the only proposed improvements within this project are the construction of missing ADA compliant curb ramps and the installation of sidewalks installation of in existing gaps. There will be no implementation of bike lanes along those minor streets.

One question. On Houston Avenue, whenever we do fix some of the sidewalk, I know the sidewalk isn't five feet or four feet. Are we just fixing it to the same length that the same width that it is now or are we extending it all the way through for the whole street?

The ones on the minor streets? On Houston. On Houston we're not repairing any sidewalks. The sidewalks are for the minor streets that extend to the South Of Houston.

And I think we already

addressed that. Like Reynaldi and Allen, Goshen And Switzer Avenue.

Perfect. Thank you. The

project was presented to the public again earlier this year in January and the outreach efforts consisted of creation of the and delivery of 2,300 postcards to the surrounding residents of the Houston Avenue community. I also personally delivered 700, postcards to the Houston Elementary School for individual student distribution. I attended a PTA meeting at the school to personally invite the members to assist the event. Two press releases were published on the city's media channels and also there were six exhibit boards were created to provide a clear visual understanding of the project at the day of the event. The outreach meeting was attended by 31 participants, not including city staff.

And the project was presented via PowerPoint presentation followed by Q and A sessions during which members of the public voiced and they brought their concerns. Most participants expressed approval of the presented design, and they emphasized their preference for enhanced pedestrian safety and reduced vehicle speeds over the retaining of the on street parking. There were a few participants that inquired about the new the need of traffic calming measures for intersections of Houston and Rinaldi and Houston And Turner, asking for more visible crosswalks and flashing beacons. Those were not included in the original design that were suggested by public. In the same manner, proposed project concept design was presented to the police and fire departments in internal meetings where they expressed concerns of their own.

They were concerned about potential conflicts between pedestrian and turning vehicles, intersection site visibility, fire response times through the corridor, and the need of at least 120 feet of clear parking space for emergency response vehicles in case of an emergency along the corridor. The public and emergency department input was taken back to the drawing board to reevaluate the project concept design presented to the public. And it took substantial amount of work, coordination, and effort for the city staff to develop a design that that address the community needs, the emergency department concerns, and the ground funding requirements as well. Emergency department concerns were evaluated through a field test on 02/05/2026 where the proposed design was temporarily laid out to simulate its real world functionality. These tests confirmed the need to redesign some areas along the Houston corridor and that was to accommodate the emergency department needs of 120 feet of minimum parking.

Also, staff conducted traffic counts to assist the right turn vehicle movements, parking occupancy, and pedestrian crossing volumes. Parking counts along Houston Avenue indicated the parking demand is generally low on both week weekdays and weekends. On weekdays, the north and south side, they average thirteen and thirty three parked vehicles respectively, while weekend averages drop just six and seven vehicles per day. That's what it was observed on the counts. As previously presented to the public, the North Side will remain unchanged with the permanent removal of all on street parking.

And in the project redesign, the only modification now, it was the strategic placement of 29 parking stalls on the South Side, and this was to address the emergency department concerns and to accommodate most of the 33 parked vehicles observed during the parking counts. Because of these design changes, the staff opted to present the changes to the public one more time before continuing with design. The efforts of this second outreach meeting conducted on 04/23/2026 were similar in scope and format to those held previously in January, with addition that this time, local businesses were personally invited to the meeting by a council member and that I participated personally in a short social media video inviting public to attend the second meeting. The attendance at this second outreach meeting was lower than the first one with only three participants in attendance. I personally spoke to all three participants and presented the design and updates to each one of them individually.

Now because of the input collected and the updated design will now include from the public and emergency response vehicles the high visibility crosswalks at intersections at hues of Houston at Rinaldi and Houston at Turner, one with pedestrian warning signs and the other with rectangular rapid flashing beacons on each side of the street. That's something that was not in the original design and it was added due to public concern. Per the emergency department concerns, the other changes to the design that we made include the reduction in easier to mount mountable concrete corner islands, reshaping of the raised concrete medians, and the relocation of stop bars at the signalized intersections, positioning the cars away from the crosswalk on pedestrians. As a result of the conducted field test, reduction in strategic reconfiguration of parking on the South Side of Houston Avenue was redesigned as well. This is maintain and provide 120 feet of emergency response vehicles.

As you can see in this before picture, this is before design was redesigned. We can see the cars in yellow the yellow cars parked away from curb. And you can see the ambulance, the police car, and the fire truck parked next to them. They're blocking the eastbound lane, which was not ideal for the first responders because it was creating a conflicting traffic flow. Now in the updated design in the same scenario, concrete medias were removed and reduced at the crosswalks and some parking was relocated to accommodate the needed parking space where you can see the emergency parking vehicles.

Now they're still parked away from curb but without blocking any traffic lanes, remaining keeping the east and westbound lanes open for the flow of traffic. Now from the design, I'll move to the schedule of the project. The city department coordination, public outreach efforts, and design changes have impacted the regional design project schedule that was aimed to be completed late twenty twenty five. City staff has been working with Caltrans District Local System Engineer to request extensions for two deadlines from the California Transportation Commission, CTC. The deadline for design expenditures, that one has been requested to be extended by twelve months.

And similarly, the deadline for construction funding allocation, that one has been requested to be extended by twenty months. Now with council approval of this project and pending CTC approval for deadline extensions, the anticipated project schedule is expected to have a bidding date 2026, expected to start construction in late April twenty twenty seven, and with construction anticipated to be completed by 2027. That concludes my presentation. Thank you council members.

Thank you. Councilwoman Nelson, do you have any questions at this time?

Good report and appreciate the amount of public outreach you have done. It's amazing. I think your first public outreach meeting was in 2022 and you're going to have completion in 'twenty seven. It's a five year project. I think we could have moved quicker than that. But that's just because it's a sorely needed area. So a couple of questions. On your crosswalks, why can't you put up a flashing sign that says someone is in the crosswalk?

It is based on warrants, traffic warrants, depending on the traffic counts in the studies. So if there's a high pedestrian traffic count and need, then it meets the warrant and then that's when we apply those specific flashing beacons.

What's the threshold?

I'd have to go back to our traffic engineer. I want to say it was something I want to say off the top my head it was like 300 per desk. I can't remember honestly. It was something pretty high. We get weekly requests for things like the rapid flashing beacons and crosswalks and stuff like that, enhanced crosswalks over with our traffic engineer. And she does studies on those constantly. And it was a really high number, like over a day that has to go across those crosswalks. I don't remember the exact number off the top of

my head though. Okay, so you have flashing crossing around We do. The Oval which has a minimal amount of people crossing that crosswalk. I would venture to say you probably have more kids crossing the crosswalk on Houston Avenue than you do at the Oval, but you have a flashing sign. I mean, you're looking at safety. You're looking at pedestrian safety. Why don't we go that extra step for the elementary school?

We don't have one currently. That's the one that was suggested by public. You're talking about that's the one that you said it will be implemented in the intersection of Houston and Turner. Was a high concern because that's where the neighborhood park is and that's where a lot of people used to cross to the elementary school because the other one is a signalized intersection at Houston And Giddings.

Steve, were asking about the Oval? Is that what you said?

Well, what I'm saying is you don't have a lot of people crossing at The Oval when you have a flashing sign. There's not a lot of usage because I go around The Oval a lot. I would venture to say you have more kids, more parents crossing around the Houston's elementary school site. If you can have a flashing sign at The Oval, then why we have another flashing sign for pedestrian safety? This whole thing is about pedestrian safety.

I think that Chris, let me

just confirm, Rudy. We have a sigma intersection at Houston Elementary, Houston and Giddings, and then Houston And Turner is going to have the rapid That is the one where we have.

You didn't show any

want go back to that?

I don't have the picture exactly where it's going to be located. But in the design, we already have specified that it's going to be Houston and Turner. That would be the opposite end of where the signalized intersection is.

Right by the neighborhood park.

Yes. Yeah.

So his project can do exactly what you're

asking Okay. Then the other question I have on class four bike lane, on some of the pictures you show a parked car, and there's a separation of a parked car to the curb but you don't show any bumpers. So is that a class four still or you have to put the bumpers in? Just some of the pictures.

It's pretty you might cycle back through those a little bit just to kind of point some of

those out.

But we would probably pull them back where vehicles need to turn into a side street,

something else, and run over the bumpers. But we typically, Class IV, have the bumper there.

The reason I'm asking is class four bike lanes I think work really well on a new roadway because it's brand new traffic flow. You put in class four in a used old roadway, change is hard. And I think the more you can do to make sure there's separation, I think the better it would be. That's all I have. Great report though. Great public outreach. Thank you. Councilor Mapuchin, any questions?

I'll save my comments for after public comment.

We'll go on to Councilor Morsodo.

Yep. Same. I'll wait for a thinker's report, but I'll wait for public comments to see if there's any before I. Vice Mayor?

The only thing I have to ask is it was my understanding that this whole project was started several years ago asked for by the Houston parent group. Is that correct? Unlike Tulare where they, you know, it's kind of not their idea, I think this was their idea.

Yeah. In, 2022, before applying for the grant, we went and we did the outreach events and, the input as you saw in the first slides, it was their input. It was what was

their safer serving. Routes.

And they're the ones that suggested that. That's why we decided to go back and apply.

Okay. And I think

I reserve a right to ask more after public comment.

I was

just gonna note, they it actually started with them coming to us and asking for it and then going with the outreach.

That was my recollection as well.

Thank you. I just have one question at this time. Recently I was in Sacramento and I saw, now I'm kind of questioning it, but I thought I saw like a class four or class two bike lane on one side and the other side of the street was completely normal. Would that be an option in this scenario? And if so, would the bikes just travel on the one side, like going both east and west?

The thing with the grant, there were specific outcomes that were written for the application in order to be funded for this project. One of them was the class two bike lane on the North Side Of Houston and the class were on the bike lane. There's specific linear footage of how much bike lanes we're gonna provide and that is part of the outcome application.

So what's the minimum requirements of this grant then for bike lanes or for the classes? Does it have to have a minimum four on one side and two on the other, or it would a minimum of two and two or two and three? What are the minimum requirements for this grant?

It goes by the CTC approval. It's a grant competition. It's not that we have to meet the specific number. We just submitted the application. This is what we're hoping to implement into the project. And they selected it, and that's what they are holding us with, with those outcomes of what we submitted.

And so if we attempt to change from what's being currently presented, the funding might get pulled.

That is one of the things. Yes, if we do a specific or an intensive scope change, we will have to get their approval, which will have to it will be extensive paperwork just to change the scope that was already submitted.

And is there specific amount of deviation where it would be allowed until it would be required to be resubmitted, or is it exactly as presented?

It is as presented, yes. Okay.

All right. That's all I have right now.

Also, that would be a very different type of approach. I think that would be closer to the cycle track. If you have because one bike it'd be going both ways, so it is a very different approach. Would be significantly different than what we're talking about here. You couldn't just take that class four and make it two ways without widening it significantly.

One last question, are we getting any repaving out of this on Houston? No. So it's just striping?

Yeah. Whereas the Tulare Avenue project is really Yeah, was a whole repaving project that's

been stripped, yeah. Not this one.

This was purely at the ATP project as generated from the questions and issues that were being brought up by the Houston area.

Right. I

guess to answer the mayor's question, though, a little bit more is that we have outcomes that are listed in the grant application that we have to meet, but there's a little bit of flexibility there. So while it says protected intersection, we did things like reduce those concrete cushions at the corners to make it so the fire trucks and the garbage trucks don't have to run over those every day. So we're trying to minimize that a little bit more than you've seen on some of these other project horses been done recently. But there'll be things listed on there like you have to have a shortened crossing. Well, doesn't say it has to be shortened by 10 feet on each side.

It says shortened crossing. So we got a little bit of flexibility there. So there's some parameters we can play with and we adjust in the design. But as far as the class four on the south side and the class two on the north side, that's what was presented with that grant.

Okay, wonderful. Well, thank you guys for your report. I appreciate it. So let's go ahead and open this up to the public. Anybody from the public wishing to speak, please come forward and step up to the podium up here to our left.

I see like three, four members of the public and no one running up there. So we'll go ahead and

Wait, wait.

Oh, if you wanna come up, ma'am, come on up. Hello.

My question is as far as lighting.

Ma'am, you go ahead and state your name and city of residence for the record please?

Rosemary Garcia Ribeiro Visalia.

Thank you.

And I actually drive down Houston a lot. So my question would be lighting. Is there anything section because at night it's really, really dark. So is there anything that you I know the safety of the children and everything like that, but the time change does make it darker in the evening for children. So when they're driving, riding their bikes or anything like that, is there anything implemented for extra lighting?

So go ahead and direct all your questions to us.

Yes.

And then when we're done with public comments we'll go ahead and ask the staff all your questions.

Okay. So that is my concern when it comes to because not all children wear or use the crosswalks and stuff like that. A lot of them even coming down this road right now they're just going in front of cars. So that is my concern. If that's the primary reason why we're doing all these changes is for the children and pedestrians and people riding bikes and stuff like that. So that would be it.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Anybody else wishing to speak right now? All right. I guess we will go ahead and close public comment and I'll turn it back over to counsel with any further questions or comments. Question on Can

we answer a question?

Yeah. So, at the public outreach, was it pretty positive?

The first outreach that we had, I created some type of a form for the attendees to write their concerns. Most of them were positive. I kept a really good record of it. Half of them were in Spanish, half of them were in English. But most of them, they were really happy that their concerns were being heard, especially the second time that I went to the PTA meeting to offer them to attend the second meeting. They're like, If you're already voicing our concerns, there's no need for us to attend. Thank you for listening to us. And all of those were in writing as

well. Okay. And you're saying the school really wants this project done, correct?

They were really happy about it when I brought it up to the principal and vice principal from the school.

Parents, I I don't want to sound bad, but I care about

the parents thing. These are the ones driving the

roads more than the principal and vice principal. Do

you have any other questions? Yeah.

So just a little bit of back story. So the group that meets at Houston Elementary, parents have been meeting for years there. Neighborhood degree has been a part of the neighborhood for, I believe, over eighteen years. And I know from what I've learned is they had a lot of focus groups that included people from different organizations, PD, to kind of go over and discuss some of the concerns on Houston. And The Juntas Group is the one who essentially brought this up to everyone's attention.

All the mothers there complain about the speeding and the safety of their children. At the first outreach meeting that we just recently had, only two of the people there in that group were in opposition. And it was mainly because of the loss of parking. But when I spoke to a couple of businesses,

a lot of

them said if it's gonna slow cars down, that they're okay with losing that parking. And so I think this project will do that. If you drive down to Larry Avenue, you see that now and how people slow down. And so I'll be supporting this project and excited to see it come to fruition. And then also happy to see some new sidewalks. So thank you.

Yeah, I really like this project because it was led by the parents. And I have a statement from the leader of the Juntas group that was unable to make it today. And she said that they brought that to the city because they were concerned about the speed of traffic. And there had been at least two incidents where a kid was hit and not badly injured and also that the crossing guard at Houston was hit but not badly injured. So that's kind of what sparked this. So this to me is it's a good thing because it was brought to us by the constituents who want to see some change. So I would support this one.

Thank you. Can we go ahead and get a response for that question of whether or not there'll be lighting installed along with this project?

The main funding from the ATP program is for bike lanes and the striping of it, but not for lighting at this point.

Okay. So there will be no lighting No, within this part of Okay.

So it wasn't included in ATP specifically. We'd have to probably back and look and see how out of standard are we for the lighting for the corridor and probably put together a future project to address lighting needs if we needed to.

Okay. I did have another question and it might actually I don't know if this would be for the police department. But since we've installed the new road design on Tulare Avenue, I've heard from people complete hearsay. I've never actually seen it. But are we seeing a major increase in hitting of parked cars that people feel like are parked in the middle of the road, but they're technically where they're supposed to be parked. Have we seen a major increase in those?

We're actually running counts now in preparation for the next council meetings address of the Tulare Avenue, the Westerly project. So we'll probably bring back some numbers for you. Nothing that we've seen so far would indicate that it's been a big increase in collisions. We're also studying both collisions as well as speed, so checking to see how much slower have speeds been on Tulare Avenue just to see the impact for the project.

So I don't have that data now, but we'd bring it back for you.

Okay. All right. I mean, honestly, at the end of day, we want to protect our

Mr.

Mayor, I believe the police department may have some indications. I know it was a little higher in the initial couple

So that's a two part answer to that. To start with, in the initial part, yes. We started seeing an increase. So we went from we basically use it as a turning violation when somebody sideswipes a car because you turned into a lane. And we had three of those in the first year. So we did see a significant increase in a year over year upon the initial implementation. However, we can't necessarily tie all those directly to the work that was done. It could be just because of the change in the patterns. What I will say, though, is as people become accustomed to the pattern, that number has decreased significantly. So, we ran that same report over basically from January 1 through April.

And we have only had one that was directly related to the traffic pattern, and that's a sideswipe. So, if we're looking at this predicting, we are going to see a little bit of an increase in some of that with this project. But I will say that they did a great job working with both PD and Fire. We were not very openly supportive of this initially, but the work that we did, I think it was on Turner, did a lot to help us make sure that we got enough to make this a safe thoroughfare. So yes, we are going to see probably a little bit of increase on this, but I think it's manageable compared to what we're seeing as people kind of got used to the pattern.

Questions for PD? Thank you. Appreciate it. So, at the end of the day, we want to protect our kids. I love the fact that we're giving opportunities for people to ride in the streets are safer than what we're currently seeing. Man, I know we're gonna catch a lot of flack because I mean everyone can agree with protecting kids, right? Nobody in this world will say no, we don't wanna protect kids. But then they're all gonna be pissed off by change. They're gonna be pissed off because they're driving slower. When there's kids not there, that they're still gonna be pinched in there.

And so a lot of people, I mean, 33 people is not a big sample size. And then at the next meeting with only three people, that's a non existent sample size. So I feel like I'm gonna support this, but I feel like the community is gonna be pissed about this. And again, not for protecting children, it's just because we're changing the roads and taking away parking. And every time one car gets hit, they're gonna make a huge deal even though it probably does happen on a fairly regular basis no matter if they're in the middle of the road or But I probably will be supporting this.

Comment real quick. Like I said, I don't like these lanes. I dislike them greatly. The only reason I'm gonna support this tonight because it was pushed by the school and the parents. If it wasn't for that, I would be a hard no on these. And like as these kind of keep coming, it would probably be a hard no unless it's on a new road where people are used and accustomed to them. But like I said, if wasn't for the parents group, like I said, I wouldn't be supportive of it. But I will be supportive of this because they're the ones that push this. And those are the projects that I like to see where the neighborhood buys in and all the parents are buying into that. And that's why I'll be supportive of this today.

I think also just one thing to keep in mind. One of the unique things about this area of town is there's a lot of cross streets. And so a lot of the businesses when I talk to them, they're like, yeah, 's plenty of parking on the cross street still. And so, again, they're okay. They're willing to lose that parking if it's going to slow cars down, which I know is a main concern for a lot of people there.

Any other questions or I'll entertain a motion?

I'll make a motion to move to approve staff report to proceed with the recommended design option. Second.

All right, we have a first and second. All those in favor, please vote. And item passes five zero. Thank you very much for your report. Appreciate it.

Counsel, this is not only Rudy's first presentation to you, but his first council meeting ever.

So Well,

sorry if we were a little rough on you. It'll be easier after this one. That will be easier. Thank you and good job. Appreciate you.

All

right, next we're gonna go on to item number two which is a review of capital improvement programs.

Good evening, mayor and members of council. I'm Nicole Ritchie, finance manager. I'm joined with Renee Nagel, finance and technology director. And this evening, I'll be presenting the final fund proposed of the six year capital budget. The capital improvement program represents a six year capital plan.

The first two years, twenty six-twenty seven and twenty twenty seven-twenty eight are included for appropriation as part of the upcoming budget adoption that will take place in June, while the remaining four years are provided for a longer term planning outlook. As we move through the presentation, you'll notice that anything in PEACH is considered to be multi funded. And again, some of this will repetitive, but that's intentional to ensure clarity for and transparency for both council and public. This slide outlines the capital budget. Oh, no.

Sorry. This slide outlines the capital budget review process. The projects are identified by departments and reviewed based on the available funding and then brought forward to counsel for review and feedback. The approach ensures that the priorities are aligned and that projects are thoroughly reviewed before final adoption takes place in June along with the operation budget operating budget. Before reviewing the individual general fund projects, this slide provides an overview of the ranking methodology that has been used to prioritize the general fund CIP requests.

As with prior budgets, the general fund CIP projects requests were reviewed and ranked by the general fund CIP review committee, which consists of department head group. The committee used the following criteria when ranking projects in six, twenty seven, and 27, 28, implementation of council priorities, consistency with the city's general plan, resolution of health and safety concerns, operate opportunities to reduce or avoid future costs, and promotion of efficient operations. As you can see here, level one ranking represents the highest priority needs. Level two rankings is to identify projects that are useful but of lower priority. Level three would provide operational or facility improvements, but generally it can be deferred if necessary.

And projects beyond fiscal year 2627 through '28 are typically not formally ranked as council is only being asked to approve appropriations for the upcoming two year budget period. The general fund supports a wide range of city services, and the revenues are included tax, fees for services, and fines. And over the six year capital improvement plan, the general fund is projecting approximately 34,000,000 in capital improvements with 4,000,000 proposed in twenty six-twenty seven fiscal year and 3,000,000 in fiscal year twenty seven twenty eight. This slide identifies projects ranked as one a by the general fund CIP review committee. These projects are considered the highest priority and generally address the critical operation, public safety regulatory compliance, and health and safety needs.

For fiscal year twenty six-twenty seven, approximately 695,000 in general fund appropriations for the 1A category is being requested with an additional 145,000 identified in twenty seventwenty eight period.

Item number two, pollution burden study and reduction strategy. That a new requirement or is it the first time? Help me out here because I don't remember seeing this. At $150,000 I could think of other things to do.

Good afternoon, mayor, members of council, Paul Burnell, your planning and community preservation director. So it's something that's been identified in our budget. It is new in the sense that based on the city's adoption of its six cycle housing element, one of the strategies and programs in that was to identify under a new term that was mandated with housing element called place based strategies, ways to seek funding sources and study pollution burden in some certain areas in Visalia, were identified in the housing element for both central and kind of Northeast Visalia. It's gonna be a new concept and new program that your planning staff's gonna deal with, but it does require the help of a consultant because we don't have that expertise in identifying what those strategies will look like going forward.

So this is the first of many?

This will be the first one under the housing element that's something that's outside of our wheelhouse and expertise. So yes, we are looking and bringing in hopefully a firm or a consultant that can help us implement the program so that when we report back to the state when this is due that we've checked the box and have gone through that process. We do know that the seventh cycle housing element update will be coming up in the next six years. What those requirements are, we'll have to deal with it when those arise at that time.

So this is kind of their fancy way of requiring you to look at transportation, transportation for walkability to shopping centers and all that stuff to reduce greenhouse gases.

Yes. So there is a kind of somewhat of a common theme there, Vice Mayor. If you really start looking at what's going on

miles traveled, right?

With housing elements, especially with the sixth cycle. The state kind of placed a pause on some of our housing funds until the housing element was adopted. And then if you keep reading into those documents, yes, they all start tying together. Does that address your

had basically the same question for five. Was like AB310 requires that we have defibrillators and it's only going to be in a few parks. I mean are these coaches even going be trained to even know how to use them and is there any funding from the state or do we just have to put in for it?

Hi Larissa Rubincamp, Recreation Manager. So yes Assembly Bill three ten does require that the youth sports programs that their recreation division has, we offer the AEDs on sites. So other sports leagues in our community are required to have those for their coaches as well. Unfortunately, there is no funding that I've been able to identify, nothing through AB three ten, and I haven't seen any other grants or anything for that.

And is there any training for the coaches? Because I

have

coaches We are also going

to be

required to have training for CPR and stuff. That's coming up. We are required to be in compliance starting January 2028.

For it's a defibrillator, right? Yeah.

AED is an automated defibrillator, yes.

Are they going to be trained to use that or just to do Correct. Interesting.

So CPR with AED.

It's going make getting volunteer coaches that much more difficult.

One more question along that same line since you're up there. Are these handed out to the coaches? Are they on-site? How is it going to be secured? How are going keep it from being vandalized?

So vandalism definitely is a potential. We are evaluating the locations that we are going to be able to secure them. We also have budgeted for units that have siren alarm systems on it, so when the door is open. But unfortunately, that is definitely a potentiality because these are in public spaces. We are required to have them accessible during our games. So during our games, obviously, our staff can bring those out. We're also required to have them during practices, we which don't have staff present during practice times. Those are when generally the fields are just open for use.

Council staff asks these same questions just sometimes it's

We're just just trying to be diligent No. Protect our tax dollars. No. We're as frustrated as you are,

things that just don't seem to make logical sense.

Yeah. Thank you.

Okay. Thank you.

On item nine a, battery replacement for the radio repeater, is that planned replacement or are we rolling the dice? I mean, that something that should have been in year one versus year two?

Those are based on the IT schedule of replacement. So right now they're still covered. And so they're planning on replacing it ahead of time and being in line. So you could replace it earlier, but there's no need to. So according to IT, that's the year that they recommend replacing it.

Okay, thank you.

Want us to ask as we go along? Is that just as easy? Yes. Okay, so number 11, the traffic signal preempt. I had heard, and of course this is just urban rumors, But are these susceptible to aftermarket overriding? I heard that that was people were buying those so that they could change the signals. And that kind of made me a little nervous.

If so, I think we all want one up here.

I wasn't gonna say that.

Was waiting to place my order.

Vice mayor, we we actually have been discussing this a little bit amongst department head groups, and we couldn't find anybody that had actually had that experience. We'd have found online that occasionally it seems to be potential, but we have not been alerted to anything happening within our

It's not common.

My question for you. If you were going

buy that equipment, you don't know it would be?

I'm sure Amazon sells it.

Okay, counsel, are you ready for us to move to the next set then? Okay.

All right. So this slide summarizes the projects ranked 2A and 2B categories. Projects ranked 2A are considered useful projects that also address health, safety, operational, or urgent service needs, while projects 2B are considered highly desirable and beneficial, but over a lower overall priority. For fiscal year twenty six-twenty seven, approximately 628,000 in general fund appropriations are proposed for both those two categories and an additional 240,000 in fiscal year twenty seven-twenty eight.

Okay, since I'm on a roll. Number 15, training mannequin. Why wouldn't that be considered for fire, a good tool for training our folks?

Good afternoon, mayor, members of council. Dan Griswold, fire chief. Absolutely a good tool for training. We do have a mannequin currently in use in an effort to balance the capital programs. We can hold off till year two. It will be a good tool, but it's not an urgent need where we need it right now.

But those things wear out, is my understanding.

They do, yes. Yeah, absolutely.

That's good. And

then the irrigation repair, I was reading that, and they talked about there's some sort of new method because they keep getting vandalized. Is is there anybody here that can address that one? Sorry. We just keep replacing things, and lights keep getting wire stripped and irrigation. Yeah.

Good evening, mayor, vice mayor, member of council. I'm Ivan Nacar, Parks and Facilities Manager. So to address the irrigation repair project, we're seeking to replace the obsolete irrigation controllers that we have out there. So they're outdated. The replacement parts are hard to obtain now.

At the same time, we're seeking to install electrical conduit to protect those wires. So the old way that we install those irrigation wires for each valve is direct buried. It's susceptible to rodents chewing the wires. And then it's also challenging for our technicians to pull a new one because now we have to trench the whole way. So installing an electric conduit, putting those wires in an electrical conduit makes it easier. It doesn't necessarily make it vandal proof, but it makes it easier for us to eliminate the downtime to repair it.

Good. Thank you. Thanks for thinking of that too.

I have a question item 14. Is that just funds that we set aside for an annual cleanup on the St. John's or is that also coming out of our sweep program? Is that like a specific project designated directly for that, which is once a year? Or is that just what it costs to go out there and clean it up throughout the year through our sweep program or other programs that we're doing?

Yes, Mayor. So no, that's just annual amount we've identified to help in an effort so that I think several years ago we've had some massive cleanups.

The $150,000

clean up? Yes. So not to keep repeating that, in the event we've had a lot more active eyes in cleanup opportunities, sweep, eco, when hope sees things occurring out there. So in the event that we need to maybe get out there and things have get a little out of control, there's a fund now to draw against.

So just establishing a fund.

It's just establishing it, yeah.

Okay, that makes more sense. Because it just didn't make sense to do I know it says do monthly reviews, but just to have funds to go up there and

clean it when it needs to be cleaned. Item

number 21, all terrain vehicle for waterway enforcement. With the advent of e bikes and motorized cycles and everything else around the waterway and trails, why wouldn't we put that in year '1, 2627?

Well, currently, right now, we have a dedicated enforcement officer assigned to waterways and trails. We're actually doing some cross trainings. We have another one that's familiar with what that looks like. Just looking at the budget, we identified it in year two. Gives us ample time to start, if successful in obtaining that type of vehicle, making sure that we're properly trained, ready to go.

Because right now you're using regular vehicles.

Right now the way it works is the officer so for code enforcement, the officer that's driving the waterway area on the top of the bank, especially on Saint John's, will stop in certain areas, walk down, and then walk the riverway or waterway to pull up trash that's in those areas that are hard to see from on top of the bank and or get homeless individuals that have started encampments out of those areas.

The reason I'm bringing it up, because the increase of the electric scooters and small motorized motorcycles, there's a lot of activity up on the St. John's. And I know the PD has done enforcement and so forth and so on. Just the other day there was three of them riding up there. It happened to be driving by. And then you have homeless that go down the embankment. For $17,000 take that out of the $150,000 for the consultant for the pollution deal, and you got it covered.

Also, clarification, council member, is this will not be for enforcing that type of actions on the trails. This is for cleanup so that it has a trailer where they can haul more out and be more aggressive. They'll be able to go down into the the riverbank. So maybe the same thing, but I that you would want to But see

you could see that activity, you might nullify the e bikes and everything else up there. I'm not saying to enforce it. Yeah, for $17,000

Any other questions related to that? Are

you ready to move on? Yeah. All right. So this slide summarizes the categories that were ranked 3A. And again, 3A are projects that would provide operational service level aesthetic or infrastructure improvements, but they can be deferred necessary due to funding constraints or higher priority needs. For fiscal year twenty twenty six-twenty seven, approximately 1,700,000 in general fund appropriations are proposed within this category and an additional 656,000 in fiscal year twenty seven-twenty eight.

For number '23, fourth of July celebration, I see it that we're putting $100,000 away every year. Are we still gonna attempt to try to get the air district's grants or is that a one time thing that

we can get or we can't come back? I'm on that board. They're not offering them this year.

Okay. So it's like we'll know every year if they

offer it. Is that how it works? Got it.

Okay. But when it is available, we will apply, right?

Wait, wait, wait.

Sorry. When it is available, when we find out, will

we Definitely.

Decide to apply? Okay. Yeah.

As soon as we hear about any grant, whether it's the Air District Board specifically or anything else that could help support this event, we will definitely be pursuing it.

And you seek sponsors. You've been pretty successful.

Exactly. So this year the past two years, we've been able to partner with Momentum Broadcasting. I was just sharing with department head. United Rentals is also going to be providing a number of generators and porta potties and stuff like that. So we continue to try to not have to spend that entire amount. But that is in case we're not successful in securing those kind of partnerships and sponsors.

Thank you. I have a question. It's number 39. My sale is one hundred seventy fifth Civic Center opening celebration. Dollars 50,000?

Should we add fireworks to that too?

Think that's topic. It seems pretty excessive to me.

So we were looking at combining the two things, the fact that it will be the city's one hundred and seventy fifth anniversary since it was formed, not chartered. Chartered came different. That was when the city was first formed. So combining that with the civic center, so there was one large community endeavor. And by the time you get porta potties and close off streets and do some of those things, the money goes pretty quickly. But this is a luxury, not a necessity. I'll be honest about that.

We always cut if we need to on that?

Absolutely. Okay. Yeah. Anything on this list could be cut back and would be the first things we propose.

We will also be doing the same thing, trying to seek sponsors and partnerships for that as well. So potentially not needing to spend that much money if we're able to get businesses to help with porta potties and stuff like that as well.

Am I Okay? I've got a list. Yeah. I'm always in favor of drones, you know, especially for like the 175th Civic Center opening because I think that'd be a cool thing to be able to drone some stuff up in the sky and save our animals and vets and things. On item 28, I'm just gonna express this concern, Amit, is that you maintain city property, lease the tenants.

That amount seemed really low to me, and I hate to see it as not a priority because I think that's when we get into trouble is when we defer maintenance for so many years. And then my other thing was like, are there other maintenance costs within other departments that just don't show here? Because I see it's yellow.

Yeah, so that item is for leased buildings. So our city buildings that we have that are not leased out, we have 1,500,000 in the measure in. And so that's where the majority of the city buildings. And then we don't have very many buildings that are leased. And so if we do, some of them are budgeted already in there. I'm going give you an example. It's not really a lease, but it's an agreement that we have with some of our other facilities, such as the baseball facility. So that's its own funds. That's not going to come out of here. That would come out of its fund. So this is just general fund type buildings that might be leased out.

Okay. And then on '22, the update of the monument signs, which I agree we desperately need to do. There was some talk at one point I was told through the marketing, and I'm not sure, the hotel group, that they would be willing to invest in that as well. So I would just encourage staff to seek sponsors for that as well. I also let's see 30 3, the Christmas tree. I talked about, oh no, that's not, is that, where is that at? That's changed from the report I had?

Yeah, so the report didn't match.

Oh yeah, they don't match. Yeah. So number 27, the community holiday tree. I understand that the and we're talking about the tree at the oval, right? Okay, and I understand that that thing is in poor health and will probably need to come down.

My concern about buying a temporary or an artificial tree is that it's put in a spot that is high enough that it won't be vandalized by some of our neighbors that hang out in the oval. And if we would be planting a replacement tree that could grow potentially into the future. Because that would be my I could see that. Is it going to come up and come down every month or every year? And I just have some concerns about that replacement project being vandalized as much as anything else.

Sure. So the current tree that's being utilized right now for ceremonial Christmas lives is in decline.

Right.

It's not in very good health. It still has years of life to it. But it's recommended to do some maintenance like weight Yeah. Reduction pruning. And perhaps it doesn't really recommend to to install those lights on that tree anymore.

Mhmm.

Once that tree is removed, then we can look into replacing it. We can replace it in the same location or somewhere nearby. As far as the artificial tree that's being proposed, unfortunately, vandalism is gonna happen whether we we can put it we can look into putting it in a platform. Staff can also suggest that we enclose it with a short fence around it. But regardless, unfortunately, vandalism can occur And we did regardless

of where

start talking about perhaps looking at other locations. Where do we want the city Christmas tree? Is it perhaps at the Civic Center? Is it somewhere where there might be more population around?

Or better parking even too. So we

may be looking at further of those.

The open space where we're talking about putting a bell at the Civic Center maybe? Just an idea. Okay.

And then also to add into that, this can be seasonal. So the tree doesn't have to stay where we decide to install it. Right.

So we

can put it up the week of Thanksgiving and then take it down after New Year's.

If it's down on the ground, suggest that it probably won't last that long.

Who just the you think the Oval Gallery would allow us to put it on the roof maybe?

It may not be.

Well, is our building. That would be one of those we're using that 50 thousand to. Yeah. So, you know, we can look at those kind of options. I don't think we discussed that one. If you have other ideas, we've got time. We could probably maybe use the current tree one more year, but we will look at some other options. But we think there's probably time to look at a different approach to a community Christmas tree.

They aren't matching up. Is the bocce ball one on here, or is that the next? That must be the next page.

Corporation plus.

It's number 44.

Okay.

Thank you.

Well,

coming up, the other questions I had were there's a basketball court that's going be put in Mayors Park. Is that Mayors Park? Is that the next page? Yeah. Yeah, the Memorial Park. I think that's awesome, but I am in and near the offices near that park all the time. And I just didn't know if there's an agreement, like if we are going be in charge of maintenance because there's constantly unhoused people hanging out there. And then I would be worried a little bit about vandalism on that as well. Especially if somebody's going to donate that, we want to make sure that we're doing everything we can to keep that clean.

Sure. So reviewing the MOU between the Putuniano Sister City group and the city. The funding is going to be donated by them to install this bocce ball court, but the maintenance falls under city's responsibility.

And it won't be fenced or anything. It will just be open.

Have we gone back and talked to them at all? I'm close friends with a few of them and it's in the group. And they're looking. They'd like to have two ball carts. So I'm trying to figure out why we're at one when a number of them are saying they want two.

We actually proposed to, and I'm jumping in because Ivan was not here. We proposed to them so there could be more of a competition. And they wanted to start with one at least, So if they are interested

in Yeah, I think there's some infighting within the group. I'm just saying. Yeah.

And I do think Vice Mayor Miobacci Bell Court is a fairly low maintenance. I think it's gravel and distance. I'm not saying it can't be, but I at least it's not like a bowling alley type

Yeah.

Court. Yeah. But this was their preferred location. Well, it's a beautiful park.

I I agree. It's a beautiful park. It should and it'd be a great place for it, but I just worry worry about maintenance. And then somewhere in there there's a master plan for corporation master plan and I was just asking when that'd be started and completed and also how the usage at Plaza Park is. Is.

Question I have. There's a couple of fire stations listed for landscape and one fifty five is pushed out to twenty seven, twenty eight. Being And involved in the water that, area that I'm involved in, and we're trying to push, residents to low maintenance yards and planting and all this drought tolerant blah blah blah blah. Have we ever thought about using our fire stations as an example of that? And with that in mind, have you thought about going to Cal Water and say under your conservation fund, come in and plant two different types of drought tolerant examples of yards and then put that out to the public where they can go and look and see, hey, maybe I want this plant, maybe I want that plant, and utilize our fire stations as that focal point.

And with the water situation the way it is, to go out to 27, 28, I think is a mistake. I think we should go out and really hit hard on Cal Water and their conservation and utilize this opportunity to educate our public on what plants are available for trout tolerant yards.

We have approached Cal Water in the past. We will do so again.

Was it receptive?

Was no. No, it was not.

It's a demonstration garden for them.

It did not fit the program at the time. We will certainly go and ask again or ask for sponsorship through a different way. It may be a sponsorship. It's a portion of it.

Yeah, okay. Let's see. What else?

I think the vice mayor had a couple other questions. Larissa, I think you have some information regarding the the Plaza Park usage. I'm sorry, Vice Mayor, what was your other?

Oh, the other was about that. I'm just curious. You mentioned in our documents the Corporation Yard Master Plan. I'm wondering when that's starting. I was just wondering when the Corporation Yard Master Plan because I know that's a long time coming. It's well overdue.

So pertaining to the Plaza Park ball fields, we have five softball fields out there, ball fields out there. The fifth one is kind of hidden. It's over by the dog park. But I did include those rental numbers as well. For the calendar year of 2025, we had a total of six fifty hours for our rentals. And then through the end of this year's May, so January 1 to the May, we are already at four seventy five hours. So definitely seeing increase of hours of usage of rentals for those five ball fields.

Good. Yeah. I think that lighting improvements will help too.

Yes, definitely.

I believe you noted that didn't include the usage by our own programs. Those are just rentals alone.

Good afternoon, council. Nick Barch, public works director. In regards to the Courtyard Master Plan, we are finalizing the RFP as we speak. Should be going out within the next month or so, and then, we'll be working to select a consultant. Once we get that contract in place, we anticipate probably taking about a year to complete.

Just heard this kind of like the new city hall. I just didn't want to wait fifty years to get that facility up and running.

All right, so this final slide summarizes the projects that are proposed to be funded entirely through grant funding or donations. And because of this, the projects didn't require any ranking process or procedure since they are grant funded.

For 43, I noticed it doesn't include the amenities like the trails, are we gonna try to get grant funding to include that or are we just pulling that from a different fund or are we not doing that now and just waiting until we do get all that? Only because I know the current one that we have is very popular. I'm sure they would love

Chris Crawford, City Engineer, to answer that question. Right now, those are just to dig the holes in the ground. So we don't have any other grant funds to finish that. But these two grant funds are for the same hole. And it only probably gets it about a third of the way done. So it's not going to get it anywhere near close to being ready for any of the amenities. So that'll be something we'll work on in the future.

But you can hold water in that, can't you? Recharge water from those basins?

Yeah, you'll be able to put water in there. It's just that the grand plan for that basin is about twothree bigger than what this is going to get us to.

In addition, there's the complication of not knowing yet the footprint of the interchange. And so we probably are not able to complete that pond and include all those amenities until we know a

little more.

Thank you.

So this concludes the capital fund presentation. Again, no motion is required this evening as staff is simply syncing for council's feedback and on the proposed projects. All projects included in the, all six of the presentations will be brought forward when we bring the operational budget to council in June.

So, question. The rest of the items that were in here from like '47 on, they're under the future year's project, not in any particular order. Is that just as a kind of a future placeholder for us to note or

Right. It's just for planning purposes only and just to have transparency for projects.

So when the pickleball people ask about their lighting, can tell them it's in 2028 through 2030.

Well, and also just to help for our future planning of our finances, we're required to do a five year plan. But because we have a two year budget, we do a six year plan. And that's, again, to help with our future planning. It's to start having us think out there, what are we going to be faced with? What are some new challenges? Or if there are some big dollar amounts, the general plan was a great one. It had been out there in those future years, and now it's here. And so it's for help us plan what kind of expenses are we gonna have as we project out. And even with the operations, I always bring you a five year plan and these numbers go into that as

well. Perfect.

All right, any other questions from counsel? Okay, let's open up to the public real quick and see if there's any questions or comments from the public. And seeing no one up there, we'll close public comments. And thank you very much for your report. We appreciate it.

All right, so we're gonna go ahead and I guess adjourn for closed session and we will welcome everyone to come back. We don't come back after closed session. Alright? So we welcome everyone to come back at our next regularly scheduled city council meeting. Say there's nothing reported.

Yeah. We we don't anticipate having anything to report out.

Okay. Wonderful. Well, thank you guys for coming and we'll see you at the next council meeting.