Page 1 - Dinuba Sentinel 10-4-18 E-edition
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Dinuba Sentinel Serving the communities of Dinuba, Cutler-Orosi and Monson-Sultana
Kindness through rocks
Lincoln students learn to share through rock painting
Community, A7
Dinuba prepares for Clovis
Cross County team gets ready for largest meet of the year Sports, Page B1
Established 1909, Dinuba, California Thursday, October 4, 2018 50 Cents
And the beat goes on. . .
City to lower impact fees
Council also approves amendments to city's Animal Control Code
neighboring cities with a new total impact fee of $17,566.
“This is great,” said Vice-Mayor Kuldip Thusu. “We are sending a message to the world that we are open for business.”
For multi-family housing fees the total fees will go from $18,570 to $12,029. The fees for mobile home development will go from $12,884 to $8,271.
The city has seven different public facility categories, each with their own fees, that factor into the total impact fees. Those categories are police, fire, parks, transportation, wastewater, water and storm drain. Of those, Yamabe said the only fees that will not be reduced are the ones
for Police and Fire. The resolution to adjust the fees was approved unanimously by the council, 4-0. Dinuba City Mayor Scott Harness was
absent.
Development impact fees are used
to fund the construction of public facilities necessary to provide services to new population.
In other city council news, the council also approved an amendment to the city’s municipal code relating to the Animal Control Code. The amendment will provide greater clarity in dealing with animals which
See Council, Page A8
Rick Curiel | The Sentinel
TOP: Sweepstakes winner Wilson Elementary School's float capture this year's theme "And the beat goes on."
LEFT: 2018 Miss Dinuba makes her first public appearance.
ABOVE: This year's Raisin Harvest Festival Grand Marshal Mae Ewert.
In an effort to encourage more new housing, the Dinuba City Council approved an adjustment to the city’s Development Impact Fees last Tuesday that will translate to a 40 percent reduction for single-family, multi- family and mobile home developments.
This marks the first time in over two years that the city has adjusted the Development Impact
Fees. According to
Dinuba’s Assistant City Manager Ronald Yamabe, the move is needed in order to stay competitive in the housing market. “If you were to look at the impact fees of other surrounding communities,” said Yamabe. “Dinuba has the highest.”
A report provided to
the council members
listed the impact fees
for single-family home developments from cities such as Lemoore, Reedley, Selma, Sanger and Visalia. Of those cities, Lemoore had the lowest impact fees with a total of $12,450. Visalia was the closest to Dinuba’s fees, with a total of $23,165.
That number was still over $4,000 less than the city of Dinuba, whose impact fees totaled $27,433.
Reedley had total impact fees of $16,385.
With the adjusted impact fees, Dinuba will stay competitive with the
By Rick Curiel
Editor@thedinubasentinel.com
George M. Villagrana
“This is great. We are sending a message to the world that we are open for business.”
— Kuldip Thusu Dinuba Vice- Mayor
Political forum will feature city council candidates
Sentinel staff report
A political forum featuring this year’s candidates for Dinuba City Council will be held on Wednesday, Oct. 10, in the patio of the Alta District Historical Society Museum.
The event, put on by the Government Affairs Committee in partnership with the Dinuba Chamber of Commerce, will be held at 6 p.m. and will feature six candidates running for three wards in the Dinuba City Council race.
Of the three ward seats available, only two have an incumbent running, as Dinuba City Mayor Scott Harness elected earlier this year not to run for another term.
Running to fill his seat in Ward 3 are Sal Medina, a local business owner, and Armando Longoria, a local businessman.
The incumbent for Ward 2, Maribel Reynosa, will be up against challenger Victor G. Rojas. On candidate registration forms, Rojas lists himself as a retired social worker. He is also a previous
long-time trustee of the Dinuba Unified School District.
In Ward 4, incumbent Kuldip Thusu will be running against Tish Perez, a local businesswoman.
All six candidates will be attending the event and will be taking questions from a panel committee. After which, questions will be opened to the general public. In an effort to stay focused on political issues, those asking questions from the audience will first be asked to write their
questions down so that they can reviewed before being asked of the candidate.
“We want to make sure it’s all about the real issues,” said GAC
Chair Reda Bennani. “We are a non- partisan group. We don’t take one side or the other.”
Light refreshments will be available.
Election
2018
Democratic candidates visit Dinuba for kick-o meeting
Block party to be held Sunday at Rose Ann Vuich Park
Sigala is city council member from Tulare and narrowly beat out Visalia Mayor Warren Gubler in the June primaries for a chance to challenge incumbent Devon Mathis for the assembly seat.
Hurtado, a city council member from the city of Sanger, is running against incumbent Andy Vidak.
But the biggest name in attendance was that of Andrew Janz, who is running against incumbent Devin Nunes for congress.
“We need a member of congress who's going to come back home and work for us,” said Janz. “We need to make sure that we get water projects, transportation. We need to invest in education. We need to protect social security, Medicare and Medicaid.”
Janz added, "We need to fight for our seniors and our veterans."
Recent polls had Nunes leading Janz by 14 points, with the incumbent currently expected to receive 55 percent of the votes.
Janz, as well as Gomez and Hurtado will be returning to Dinuba when they attend the Dinuba Democratic Block Party on Sunday at Rose Ann Vuich Park. The block party will be held from 2 to 4 p.m. and will offer bounce houses for the kids, local vendors and music. The event is sponsored by Andrew Janz for Congress.
By Rick Curiel
Editor@thedinubasentinel.com
Last Wednesday local Democrats had the opportunity to meet and hear their local candidates, as four people running in this November’s election spoke to a small crowd at the Dinuba Memorial Building.
The event was put on by the Dinuba Democratic Club. Organizer Sherry Chavarria said it’s been about 15 years since the group last gathered, and felt compelled to revive the club because of the current political atmosphere.
“It starts here,” said Chavarria at Wednesday’s meeting. "If you think that your vote doesn't matter, it does."
To kick off the club, Chavarria invited the party’s lead candidates in the area. Attending the kick-off meeting were Magdalena Gomez, candidate for State Center Community College Trustee, Jose Sigala, candidate for District 26 of the California State Assembly, Melissa Hurtado, candidate for District 14 of the California State Senate, and Andrew Janz, who is running for congress in California’s 22nd District.
Gomez is the daughter of parents who were politically involved themselves. Her father was a right-hand man to Cesar Chavez in the United Farm Workers Union. Her mother, she claimed, was a chef to Chavez. Though, she joked that the title didn’t mean a whole lot because Chavez was often fasting.
Rick Curiel | The Sentinel
United States Congressional Candidate for California's 22nd District Andrew Janz speaks to the crowd at last Thursday's event.
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