Visalia votes for sprawl

The Fresno Bee reports that the Visalia City Council voted to move forward with an update to their growth plan. The update will divert focus from their downtown to new commercial strips on what is currently agricultural land.

I thought this quote was particularly amusing

“Take
a cue from some of the mistakes Fresno made related to Blackstone,” he
said. “Once you open the barn door, all of the cattle leave and you can’t
get them in the barn again.” 

Developers want the city to approve growth in the area because it puts them near 99.  The problem is, it’s not near anything else, except prime farmland of course

One of the council members who voted yes, was offended that another on the board called out the move that was blatantly crafted to help developers claim even more land

Shuklian and Council Member Bob Link
said Collins sent council members a blunt letter Tuesday that they were letting
development interests win the day. “It was a little
offensive,” Shuklian said.

The vote was just to begin the EIR, although we all know it will find no fault with the plan to build strip malls along the highway. So while construction is not slated to begin this, nor next year, it likely will in 2015. In the meantime, feel free to take the advice on visiting Blackstone to get a preview of what’s in store. 

Just make sure you take that visit with a lump of irony. The person who made that statement and said “said
the city is abandoning guidelines that made Visalia a desirable community with
its thriving downtown and commercial strip on Mooney Boulevard” is actually a developer, who built this:

He’s not concerned about sprawl, or downtown, hes concerned about competition. I would trust he’s quite the expert on Blackstone, as his recent big box development looks to be almost identical to what you’d find north of Herndon.

If this story sounds familiar, it’s because the same battle is playing out in Fresno. Someone wants to build a large strip mall on Herndon and 99 (El Paseo). Meanwhile, the developers of River Park are suing. They claims they’re concerned about congestion and sprawl – rubbish,  they just want to delay their competition.