Page 5 - Reedley Exponent 3-21-19 E-edition

A look at a tract map for the Rancho Vista subdivision located just east of Buttonwillow Avenue and north of Duff Avenue. On March 12, the Reedley City Council voted to approve four action items including the annexation of 41 acres of residentially designated land into the city. The annexation also detaches the territory from Fresno County, Fresno County Fire Protection District and Kings River Conservation District.
ANNEXATION
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ange Avenue.”
Residents John Carrillo
and Juan Ybarra echoed Baldwin’s sentiments. Car- rillo said the move east of the exiting street would not be a significant change and would be safer while Ybarra also was concerned with safety.
However, Rob Terry, community development director, said the exit onto Duff toward the middle southern portion of the sub- division would break up a long stretch of street on Duff and slow traffic down.
Council Member Mary Fast didn’t think the move of the street two lots over would make any difference to drivers.
“If people want to go south, they’ll go to Orange or they’ll go south,” she said. “If they want to go east or west, they’re still going to go east or west which way they’re planning to go.”
Baldwin also voiced his concern about the northern edge of the Rancho Vista project, particularly with the eventual development of Springfield Avenue east from Buttonwillow to Zumwalt Av- enue. Currently, Springfield ends at Buttonwillow start- ing from East Avenue.
“I’m concerned about the intersection with Springfield and Buttonwillow,” he said “Springfield is the midway point between Manning and Dinuba [avenues]. A lot of crossing streets have been eliminated through this proj- ect.”
Baldwin called for the planning and development or a roundabout at Springfield and Buttonwillow, similar to the roundabout at Buttonwil- low and Dinuba. “Now is the time to make an accommo- dation or a cutout, instead of us having another stop sign in the city,” he said.
City Manager Nicole Zie- ba agreed with the idea of a roundabout, saying “that’s a great location to calm traffic on Buttonwillow.” She said that idea can’t be engineered just yet because there’s no engineering money in the budget, but is a definite pos- sibility for the future.
Zieba and Terry also told
DOPKINS
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entrance directly across the street from the Dopkins fa- cility.
“When I found it out, I thought it would really be special to get an old-fash- ioned horse-drawn carriage where families could walk right across to the cemetery in a procession,” he said. “We are happy to be here.”
Nicole Zieba, city manag- er, praised the Franzens for the patience and diligence in going forward with the proj- ect. She feels the site will be a shining attraction for the city.
“The plans for this show that it is going to be absolute- ly beautiful,” she said. “Dop- kins is approaching this with such grace and dignity. This is probably going to be the premier building in Reedley
Council Member Bob Beck that extension of Springfield east toward Zumwalt isn’t likely for quite some time, as property to the north of the street also would have to be annexed into the city.
During council comment, Soleno expressed his frustra- tion with not having copies of public comment that was given to the Reedley Planning Commission.
“It would be nice if coun- cil got what the Planning Commission dealt with. It didn’t hit me until me until you made the presentation,” Soleno told Terry.
Zieba explained that this was a fast-tracked item be- cause the commission ap- proved it at its most recent meeting. She called it a bit of a timing crunch with time of the essence because of some of the items developers were working out with the property owners.
When the time came to vote, Soleno said “I’m not too happy on certain things to- night. Looking at what’s hap- pening on the south portion of the development and traf- fic congestion on Orange Av- enue.” As a result, he decided to abstain from a vote on each item.
The remaining council members unanimously ap- proved the items. The an- nexation action also means the subject territory will be detached from Fresno County, the county’s Fire Protection District and the Kings River Conservation District.
The council votes ap- proved:
• Adopting an environ- mental assessment, a miti- gated negative declaration, the annexation application, a pre-zone application and vest- ing tentative subdivision map
• Introducing an ordi- nance approving the pre-zone application and authorizing an amendment of the Official Zoning Map for the city
• Adopting a resolution ap- proving a certificate of land conservation contact termi- nation
• Adopting a resolution of application by the city re- questing the Local Agency Formation Commission (LAF- CO) take proceedings for the Buttonwillow-Duff reorgani- zation.
for years to come. Just see- ing the amount of effort and detail that has gone into plan- ning this facility. It’s going to be gorgeous and useful.”
Tim Thiesen, former chairman of the Greater Reedley Chamber of Com- merce board, said the four- and-a-half years of work between the Franzens and the city brought a sense of relief, as well as excitement for additional businesses in Reedley.
The Franzens’ pastor, Chuck Wilsey of Wellness Christian Center in Dinuba, blessed the groundbreaking ceremony before a 12-per- son contingent consisting of city leaders, officials and the Franzens flipped shovelfuls of dirt. Gamez Construction of Reedley will build the fa- cility, with the goal of occu- pancy by the end of the year.
Jon Earnest / The Exponent
Reedley resident Chuck Baldwin addressed the City Council at the March 12 meeting. Baldwin, a resident of Duff Avenue, asked the council to return the resolutions to the Reedley Planning Commis- sion to redesign a subdivision exit onto Duff Avenue to be moved two lots over. The council still approved the resolutions.
The Reedley Exponent A5 Thursday, March 21, 2019
Ped access path- ways to be added (17’ width, per standard ST-76)
Dedication should be to the City of Reedley
Contributed
After emotional testi- mony from the wife of a fatal hit-and-run victim, the Assembly Public Safe- ty Committee on March 19 voiced their support for closing the loophole in state law that actually benefits DUI drivers who leave the scene of a deadly crash.
Gavin’s Law (AB 582) was a bipartisan bill, in- troduced by Assemblyman Jim Patterson (R-Fresno).
Five members of the committee abstained from voting on the bill, instead of voting ‘no’ as recom- mended by the Chair of the committee. Several members who admittedly were previously opposed to the bill spoke in support of closing the loophole and pledged to work with As- semblyman Patterson on making amendments to the bill.
“In all my time in this building, I have never seen the testimony of a witness change the hearts and minds of a committee in an instant,” Patterson said. “Susan Gladding’s testimo- ny was powerful and it’s the reason why this bill is moving forward today.”
In a statement, the Gladding family said, “We are thankful the Assembly Public Safety Committee committed to closing the loophole that Gavin’s Law seeks to change. We are grateful for the leadership of Assembly member Pat- terson and the co-sponsors of A.B.582.”
Gavin Gladding was the inspiration for Gavin’s Law. A beloved husband, father and educator, the vice principal at Fort Washing- ton Elementary School in the Clovis Unified School District was killed by a
Susan Gladding’s testimony was power- ful and it’s the reason why this bill is moving forward today.
— Assemblyman Jim Patterson (R-Fresno)
hit-and-run driver just six months ago.
The driver was caught five days later. He was be- lieved to have been drink- ing prior to the crash and worked to cover up the evidence. Because of Cali- fornia’s weak hit-and-run laws, the driver was given a three year sentence. He will only serve 18 months behind bars.
Law enforcement ex- perts say hit-and-run driv- ers often leave the scene of an accident to avoid DUI charges. Under California law, the maximum punish- ment for a hit-and-run ac- cident causing permanent, serious injuries or death is only four years behind bars. DUI drivers who flee and sober up before being caught can avoid the addi- tional felony DUI charges if they’re ever caught.
As written AB 582 would have increased penalties for hit-and-run crashes resulting in great bodily injury or death to bring them in line with pen- alties for vehicular man- slaughter. However, com- mitments from the com- mittee to support the bill with changes will mean an amended bill will be heard by the Public Safety Com- mittee in the near future for another vote.
City of Reedley / Graphic Contributed
Assembly committee
flips, backs closing
DUI loophole in law