Sanger Herald 7-26-18 E-edition

Candidate talks issues in Sanger
Looking for a home
Mammoth task for Apache runners
page 8A
Lifestyles 2B
Sports 1B
Weekly Newspaper Sanger (Fresno County) CA 93657 50¢ (tax included)
Councilmembers seem
to avoid being specific
about any of the grand
jury's Measure S findings
Few changes in staff recommended responses
Staying COOL at the spray park
Dick Sheppard/Sanger Herald
Jessejames Ceja was staying cool in the spray feature at JFK Park on the southeast corner of North and Faller avenues. The spray feature is available six days a week from approximately 11:30 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. It's closed on Mondays for maintenance.
State mandated rezoning project tops planning commission agenda
Sanger is trying to catch up on zoning for 'affordable' housing
Mayor pro tem Eli Ontiveros
By Dick Sheppard
Sanger Herald
There were not many council suggestions.
The only substantive change that will ap- parently be made to the city staff's proposed responses to the recent grand jury's "Find- ings" and "Recommendations" will be to add a timeline to the city's response to the grand jury's Finding 3: "The Citizen's Oversight Committee has been bypassed in its review of proposed Measure S spending including 2017's across-the-board pay increase for pub- lic safety employees."
Mayor pro tem Eli Ontiveros asked for the added timeline to show that the across- the-board pay increases for public safety personnel were in a mid-year budget amend- ment presented to the city council in January before the oversight committee was made aware of the proposed raises in February.
That timeline seems to contradict the first paragraph of the proposed response which says, "The City disagrees wholly with Finding 3. This finding suggests that the CoC [Citizens Oversight Committee] was not given an opportunity to review and/or provide a recom- mendation prior to the City Council's action on the public safety raises - this is not correct. In fact, the CoC did review the proposed "across-the-board" pay increase for public safety employees prior to the City Council's decisions on the matter."
On June 15 the grand jury issued a report critical of the way the city has handled Mea- sure S money which is supposed to be used only for public safety purposes and the way the city has dealt with a committee charged with the responsibility of overseeing the Measure S fund.
The report came with seven specific find- ings and eight specific recommendations which were published in last week's Sanger Herald.
The city has 90 days from the date the re-
port was issued to respond to those findings and recommendations.
The public part of the process of putting the official response together began last Thursday at the July 19 city council meeting. The public and councilmembers were given an opportunity to comment and suggest changes in the proposed responses.
Nearly all council comments, except for the timeline suggestion by Ontiveros, seemed to avoid specifically responding directly to either the grand jury's findings and recommendations or the staff's proposed responses. So much so, that at the conclusion of the comment portion of the meeting, city manager Tim Chapa making notes on what changes the councilmembers had suggested, had to ask several times for clarification.
The list of proposed responses will be brought back for final review by the council before being submitted to the presiding judge of the Fresno County Superior Court, Alan M. Simpson.
A report to the council by public works di- rector John Mulligan pointed out significant problems associated with trying to convert
a portion of "Lincoln Ponds" into a sports com- plex.
Lincoln Ponds is a 159 acre site at Lincoln and Newmark avenues, three miles south of Sanger and two miles north of Parlier, owned by the city's sewer enterprise fund. It has been mentioned several times by proponents of building a new sports complex as the most likely location for the complex.
By Dick Sheppard
Sanger Herald
Don't be surprised if you receive a notice soon that a parcel of land near you is going to be rezoned.
It likely will be part of Sanger's effort to comply with California's housing element law which is requiring that Sanger find a total of 63 acres spread somewhere within the city limits that can be rezoned to accommodate "affordable" housing.
The zoning change has to take place, because California says so, even though there likely are no plans to build anything on the property in the near or maybe even in the distant future.
If the city doesn't comply with the law it could pay a costly penalty in the form of lost grants with money that flows through the state on its way to cities that do comply.
The planning commission was told by Sanger's senior planner, David Brletic, that there just aren't very many empty parcels of land within the city limits that can be rezoned to meet the standards of the state mandated "housing element" and the commission has been looking at and analyzing the potential of every parcel for the past several meetings.
There's a place to cool off in Sanger when you need a place to escape from the heat.
"Thanks to a grant from PG&E the City of Sanger annex building at 1789 Jensen Avenue will be opened from noon to 6 p.m. as a cooling center every time the temperature reaches or tops 105 degrees," said parks and recreation supervisor Joaquin Zamora.
But, the moment of truth has arrived and the commission will be trying to make a final decision at this evening's meeting that starts at 6 p.m. at city hall, 1700 7th St.
It's not the only thing on the agenda, just the one that will probably take the most time to resolve.
The commission will also consider a staff recommendation to approve an environmen- tal related resolution that would allow plans to move forward for pastor Gary Duran and the Family Worship Center's new church
at the corner of Bethel and North avenues, across the street from St. Mary's Catholic Church.
Mandated rezoning will begin as soon as the commission reaches a decision and by the time this round of rezoning has been com- pleted it's likely the next five year housing element phase will begin and the process will start all over again.
The city has no plans to build anything on any of the vacant parcels, Brletic pointed out. That would be up to private developers.
The effort right now is just to comply with a state law.
A lengthy explanation of the law on the
See PLANNING, page 7A
You can visit the cooling center by enter- ing through the annex building's west doors on Hoag Avenue.
"The cooling center needs volunteers and will accept donations of bottled water and oth- er items to help beat the heat," said Zamora.
If you're interested in volunteering or donat- ing, call 876-6300 option 2.
Mulligan ticked off numerous costly issues related to infrastructure, population growth, access, security, maintenance, de- sign and develop- ment that would make it difficult for the site to be used for anything but what it's presently being used for, disposal of treated sewage.
Juan Estrada
"If this [Lincoln Ponds] isn't it, what is
the solution? We need a solution," said Juan Estrada, one of the most outspoken advocates of a new sports complex.
The solution proposed to the council by Vincent Wall is outlined in great detail in Wall's guest commentary on page 3A of to- day's Sanger Herald.
The reporter can be contacted by email at sangerherald@gmail.com or by phone at the Herald during business hours at (559) 875- 2511.
THURSDAY
JULY 26, 2018
VOL 129 NO. 30
2 sections, 14 pages
CLASSIFIED 3B LEGALS 4,5B BUSINESS DIRECTORY 6B LIFE STYLES 2B OBITUARIES 2A OPINION 3A SPORTS 1B POLICE LOG 2A WEATHER 8A
• July 26 - Planning commission, 6 p.m., city hall, 1700 7th Street.
• Aug. 3, 4 and 5 - St. Mary's Community Festival on church grounds at Bethel and North • Aug. 7 - Measure S Citizens Oversight Committee, 6 p.m., city hall, 1700 7th Street.
• Aug. 11 and 12 - Sanger Womans Club rummage sale at the clubhouse at 7th and P. • Aug. 16 - First day of school in the Sanger Unified School District.
Sanger
Will be open every day this week
SANGER HERALD: A MID VALLEY PUBLISHING NEWSPAPER • (559) 875-2511 • www.thesangerherald.com