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Dinuba Sentinel Serving the communities of Dinuba, Cutler-Orosi and Monson-Sultana
Wall Dedication
Ceremony serves as celebration for recently paid off monument
Back Page, Page A8
Dinuba Invitational
Emps track and eld takes second out of 22 Sports, Page B1
Council approves vision for east side
50 Cents
Established 1909, Dinuba, California
Thursday, May 3, 2018
By Jackson Moore News@thedinubasentinel.com
The vision for revitalization of Dinuba’s east side received approval from the city council at the April 24 meeting.
QK Inc. Principal Planner Steve Brandt explained to the council, “You aren’t changing anything by accepting it, but it does spell out recommendations that you can use or direct staff to bring to you.
“What it explains is, what can we do to revitalize what is there now and how can we plan for the land that hasn’t been developed yet to help revitalize the area.”
The accepted plan will provide a vision for amendments to the city’s general plan and zoning ordinance. Any changes would later be approved by the city planning commission and council.
The plan was approved 4-0 by the council, with Vice Mayor Kuldip Thusu absent.
“It’s a good plan,” city of Dinuba Mayor Scott Harness said. “I understand it’s just a plan. Every city manager I’ve worked with so far in eight years, three different ones, has said we need rooftops over there before it happens.”
QK Inc. presented its plan to the public at two outreach events - once last summer and again earlier this year. The plan was updated based on
the public’s response, but remains largely intact. The biggest update to the land strategy is the selected land use plan. QK Inc. presented three options on how to utilize undeveloped land south of the Mercantile Row shopping center and north
of East El Monte Way.
QK Inc. presented three plans: stay with
the existing general plan, a second plan that emphasizes medium density residential and a third plan that emphasized more overall housing units with less commercial space.
The “consensus,” Brandt said, was the plan revolving on medium density residential. The land use recommendations include 430 new residences in the area, 300 of which would
be single family homes and 125 would be apartments, townhomes or senior living, in addition to 240,000 square feet of land north of El Monte Way for commercial use.
Of the new businesses, Brandt said, “That’s probably not going to happen right away because there’s still some vacant buildings that need to be refilled, but there is a lot of potential in this area for development.”
The recommendations also include improvements to East El Monte Way including a landscaped median and bigger sidewalks, as well as a gateway monument in the area.
See DUSD, Page A2
Crowning moment
Melissa Valdez crowned as 2018 Cinco de Mayo Queen
Sidhu is Cinco
de Mayo
Grand Marshal
By Rick Curiel Sports@thedinubasentinel.com
This year’s theme for the 40th Annual Cinco de Mayo Festival is “Embracing Community,” so it’s only fitting that this year’s Leadership Northern Tulare County class selected Sukwinder Sidhu Singh as Saturday’s parade grand marshal.
Sidhu, as most people know him by, is the owner of Circle K in Otis’ Plaza on El Monte Way. In 2004 Sidhu purchased the old El Monte Market, or Otis’, as many people referred to it as, named after then property owner Otis Denny.
Before purchasing the building Sidhu worked several years for the Riverside School District as a school custodian. When he decided he wanted to buy a business, a real estate agency referred him to the location in Dinuba.
“I’m from a small town and Dinuba is a small town so I felt good about it,” said Sidhu of his decision to move his family to the San Joaquin Valley.
After the road-widening project began in 2012, Sidhu negotiated with the city of Dinuba, and at the time was already researching ways to improve the store to better serve the community.
“I went to different locations to see what they were doing,” said Sidhu. “I wanted make a store for the community, keep families here.”
His vision proved to be a vast improvement on the previous building, and to the delight of locals, became a draw for many by serving a plethora of food (providing both popular Mexican and American food) and beverage, frozen yogurt to boot. By embracing
the community, Sidhu was able to create something that brings people of all ages into his store.
“I love seeing grandparents come in with their grandchildren,” he
Jackson Moore | The Sentinel
Melissa Valdez, daughter of Cutler-Orosi Joint Unified School District Superintendent Yolanda Valdez, was crowned as the 2018 Cinco de Mayo Queen at the pageant on April 28 at DHS Hellbaum Auditorium. Melissa performed a monologue in the talent portion of the pageant contest. Celeste Plascencia was also crowned as the 2018 Cinco de Mayo Princess. First runner-up queen was Brenda Mendoza, second runner-up queen was Joanne Rubalcaba and first princess runner-up was Yaretzi Corpus-Solis. In all, there were six contestants for queen and two for princess. For the full story on the 2018 pageant and the Cinco de Mayo festival schedule from May 3 to May 6, view the tab insert included in this week’s Sentinel.
district, local group fundraisers, or simple donations to youth sporting activities, Sidhu never misses out on the opportunity to give back to a community that has supported him throughout the years.
“The community really helped me,” said Sidhu. “Even during the road widening, they still came to my place, no matter where they needed to park... And they still help me.”
At a recent school district kindergarten signup event, Sidhu offered free frozen yogurt for every signup. In all, over 400 students signed up.
“He’s always so generous,” said Dinuba Chamber of Commerce President Sandy Sills. “He’s just an overall good guy. He’s a good father and he’s so modest.”
As to how he felt about being selected as this year’s Cinco de Mayo grand marshal, Sidhu said, “I felt very proud... and nervous.” This is the first time Sidhu will serve as a parade grand marshal.
Sukwinder Sidhu Singh
said.
On top of
having one of the most popular destinations in town, Sidhu is also known for his vast contributions to the community at large. Whether it be the school
Students gain experience by building house
By Rick Curiel Sports@thedinubasentinel.com
Before this year, the only experience the Dinuba High School Construction Management Class had with construction was a storage shed they built last year. This year you can add a house to their resume.
The class, part of the school’s Academy for Engineering and Construction Management, is now in its fourth year with this year’s senior classmates also representing the first graduating class of the program.
Teaching the class at Dinuba High is second year teacher Ramon Sanchez, who prior spent four years in the architecture field before being moved to become a teacher.
His role with the project began at the onset of the program, when Sanchez would volunteer after hours as a student mentor while the class was in the design phase.
“My experience with them changed my view,” said Sanchez of his decision to go from the private to the educational sector.
Sanchez now directs close to 90 students who share in the program’s design and construction projects. Currently there are 45 students who have a hand in constructing this year’s house. There are
another 42 students who have spent the last year working on the design for next year’s house.
As for those constructing the house, which is now in its final stages, the students have done 95 percent of it. From the floor up, students have done everything from framing, drywall, roofing, installing windows and doors, and even plumbing and electrical. The only two things the students did not do were install the AC/ducting and the fire sprinklers, both of which needed to be done by certified professionals.
Everything else was done by the students.
One of the biggest differences between this house and ones done in the past is that his house was built completely on school property, making the design and construction a bit tricky.
Seeing that the house would need to be moved upon completion, the students researched their options and after talking to Dinuba House Movers, it was discovered the widest they could go was 32 feet.
This made for limited options as to the size and configuration of the house. The end result is a rectangular unit that is just over 1,100 square feet. Surprisingly though, the students were able to squeeze out a 3-bedroom/2-bath house out of the space.
The unit currently stands on the east end of the Dinuba High School track, were students are
currently adding the finishing touches.
For the floors, which were installed last week, the students went with a grayish-brown vinyl planking, which is a durable waterproof material superior to laminate flooring. The vinyl planking will run throughout the entire house for easy maintenance. But perhaps the house's greatest quality is its insulation. The exterior walls are made of two-by- six studs, allowing for extra insulation. The attic is double insulated as there is a layer of insulation over the ceiling as well as up the trusses. And, because the unit was made on a movable wooden subfloor, the floors are also insulated, meaning that the house
is completely insulated from top to bottom.
When asked what the most difficult thing was about constructing the house, Dinuba High senior
Alex Sandoval joked, “Working with each other.” As far as what they enjoyed the most about the project, they all agreed it was in watching the progress. Many of the seniors in the graduating class will be entering some form of construction schooling or industry after graduating. Some have even used their experience to do internships, such as the Sun Power Solar Academy, the city of Dinuba, Alta Irrigation and even the Dinuba Unified School District. And of course, some have even helped
See House, Page A8
Rick Curiel | The Sentinel
Project Manager Mike Emmersen teaches students while working on the house project.
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