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OPENPUBLICA · PUBLIC MEETING RECORD

Record of Proceedings

Visalia City Council Work Session: Airport Overview and Hillsdale Basin Direction – August 18, 2025

City Council — Monday, August 18, 2025

BodyVisalia, California

SessionCity Council

DateMonday, August 18, 2025

StatusFILED

Video Record

0:00 / 1:06:32

Transcript — VerbatimClick a timed line to jump · ⧉ to share it

0:01

Alright, good afternoon, everybody.

0:02

Welcome to the Visayas City Council work session.

0:04

We're gonna go ahead and get started.

0:06

Uh it's Monday, August 18th.

0:08

And we will like to go ahead and open this up to public comments.

0:12

So anybody from the public wishing to speak on this uh on the uh public comment section, uh please come forward.

0:19

The council asks that you keep your comments concise and positive.

0:22

Creative criticism presented with appropriate courtesy is welcome.

0:25

Each speaker will be allowed three minutes, and a timer will notify you when your time is expired.

0:30

Please begin your comments by stating and spelling your name and providing your city of residence.

0:34

Anyone wishing to speak at this time?

0:37

Come on up, ma'am, if you'd like to speak, and you can go right up there to the lectern.

0:40

I go to this.

0:49

Sorry.

0:51

I'm um I'm the speaker of this because I was explaining to this gentleman here.

1:00

We're kind of the same on opposite the same body on opposite ends.

1:05

I am Jennifer, the root of Aaron.

1:09

So I'm nervous.

1:11

And you're a strange culture to me, and I'm probably a strange culture to you, but I'm bright.

1:16

Um, so that said, I this is a language that's strange to my ears.

1:23

And you're speaking in a language I I cannot gather very well.

1:28

I have to read it.

1:30

And I can speak it fluently if we're talking about other things.

1:33

But when I'm handed something that looks like this, then I have to comment if I could collect my breath for being so nervous at this tool world.

1:44

I'm of an artist's world, I can't do this, and that's probably why I had to come here.

1:50

Item number two, that's a that's a little like a symbol of an ear.

1:54

That number two looks like an ear.

1:55

It actually looks like an ear.

1:57

And so that's why Heron, which is a Huron, which is me had to come here.

2:02

Um I'm gonna have to read this to you, and I have to try to calm down to do it.

2:09

It's very, very cody, it's really cody.

2:13

Um heels the ale.

2:16

Le Parc.

2:18

Can storm Durain Bassin.

2:24

In other words, storm her ass in here.

2:27

Pardon my French.

2:28

That is a bull uh or a uh kind of like a donkey.

2:32

And I I don't see a donkey outside.

2:34

That's a real donkey.

2:36

That's like a mule.

2:38

I didn't see one.

2:39

So I use the word ass as a donkey.

2:43

Um bass in proposed chan jess.

2:48

And it in another way of reading it, that would be Hillsdale Park and Storm Drain Basin proposed changes.

2:55

And that's how I learned to read here in VUSD.

2:58

So I was born here in 1971.

3:01

I was raised by VUSD system, and I learned to speak through it, but I cannot understand this, because when I read this over, it's in privacy.

3:13

So because this is in privacy, when I step out of my family's home of 40 years at 30760 Dollar Hyde Road, I couldn't see a sign there that had anything that could point in my language, which is more like symbols, like this is it's artwork here that's over your head to show me who is handling my life from behind.

3:36

So when I wake up in the morning and I'm standing at Dollar Hyde Road, to me, a new dawn is Visalia's got me on the back, and I've been called a hunchback for a long time.

3:49

For that, we we just leave.

3:52

It hurts our feelings.

3:54

Now we're the whales.

3:56

So I'm finding parts of our family's past in our future intertwined with your private lives when you're off work.

4:05

And this is a language your time's expired, ma'am.

4:08

Okay, that's all I had to say is I'm not sure.

4:10

Thank you very much.

4:12

Thank you so much.

4:13

We appreciate it.

4:14

Thank you.

4:15

Anybody else wishing to speak at this time?

Discussion Breakdown — Share of Meeting

Transportation Safety██████████████████████22%

Engineering And Infrastructure████████████████████20%

Airport Management██████████████████18%

Public Engagement███████████████15%

Procedural██████6%

Public Transportation█████5%

Parks and Recreation███3%

Homelessness███3%

Youth Programs██2%

Summary of Proceedings

Visalia City Council Work Session – August 18, 2025

The Visalia City Council held a work session on Monday, August 18, 2025. Staff presented an overview of the Airport Division and proposed changes to the Hillsdale Park/Storm Drain Basin. Council members asked questions and voiced direction; because it was a work session, no formal votes were recorded in the transcript. The regular 7:00 PM session and the listed Fourth of July Post Report were not included in the provided raw transcript. Meeting minutes were not available.

Public Comments & Testimony

In opening public comment, a speaker who later identified as Jennifer Marie Heron expressed concerns about inaccessible agenda material and communication, saying residents near Dollar Hyde Road and elsewhere needed visual notices and advance warning before projects displaced them; she also raised housing, financial, disability, and shelter concerns.
After the Airport presentation, Ms. Heron returned and repeated concerns that public engagement was not reaching hard-of-hearing or housebound residents and asked for signs and shelters before project changes are made.
During the Hillsdale item, Jim Reeves of Visalia supported Alternative 1 but asked for a barrier or trees along the south side to keep cars from entering an 18-foot-deep basin. Jennifer Marie Heron also spoke, urging the city to prepare shelters and notify residents before proceeding with projects like the Shirk/198 work.

Discussion Item: Airport Division Overview

Jody Miller, Airport Manager, presented the history and current operations of Visalia Airport: the first airport in Tulare County, opened in 1929; used by the Army during World War II; transferred back to the city in 1946; United Airlines service ended in 1979; Essential Air Service ended in 2016.
The airport encompasses 821 acres with one 6,500-foot runway (12-30), about a 1,000-foot displaced threshold, and two designated helipads. It now has 198 based aircraft — the highest on record — including 147 single-engine aircraft, 45 multi-engine aircraft, 3 jets, and 3 helicopters; the mix is shifting toward larger multi-engine aircraft.
Recent work includes a terminal refresh, an FAA communications infrastructure upgrade, a new airfield sweeper, community outreach, a Woodlake High School aviation internship, and the EAA Young Eagles program with a second event planned in September.
John Wallace, Assistant City Manager, noted Senator Schiff's office had requested airport input on the $12.5 billion FAA technology appropriation.
Estimated flight activity (no control tower) was 33,000 departures in 2023, 34,500 in 2024, and a 2025 pace of just under 42,000, driven partly by corporate/private jet traffic tied to the industrial park.
Fuel sales were 306,386 gallons in FY 2020-21, rose to 322,000 gallons in 2024 (a 5% increase), and July 2025 was 18% above July 2024, with almost 6,000 gallons of jet fuel sold on one day — a record — and the airport ran out of fuel.
Upcoming projects include the FAA Airport Layout Plan approval (promised by October 2025), a new general aviation terminal, taxiway Alpha and Bravo reconstruction (design August/September 2025, construction 2026), new tie-down aprons, hangar taxi lane reconstruction, helicopter parking relocation, and west ramp expansion.
On Essential Air Service, staff reported Seaport Airlines ended service in January 2016 and Visalia received $3.7 million over 10 years through the Community Flexibility Pilot Program. The President's FY26 budget proposes eliminating the EAS program; Visalia is one of only four EAS airports in California and the only one in the pilot program. Staff plan to bring a future approach item in September-October.
Council members discussed the hangar waiting list (about mid-20s for single-engine and 9 for twin-engine), month-to-month T-hangar leases, 25-plus-year land leases for private hangars, possible cargo/FedEx/UPS growth, a future restaurant on airport property, and the trade-offs of private jet-center/fuel operators taking over fuel sales. Council asked staff to bring back further financial and liability analysis.

Discussion Item: Hillsdale Park and Storm Drain Basin Proposed Changes

Catherine Woodhull Fugit, Associate Engineer, presented with Jason Huckleberry and Chris Crawford. The project is the Northside Scenic Corridor / Hillsdale Basin, part of the West State Route 198 Scenic Corridor. A Shirk storm drain trunk segment is under construction; the connecting segment is delayed by Army Corps of Engineers permitting because it crosses Mill Creek.
History: the West Visalia Specific Plan (1988), city acquisition of 17 acres (2006), the 200-foot scenic corridor setback (2014), sale of 11.2 acres to San Joaquin Valley Homes (2019), and 2020 council direction to use a shallow 7-foot-deep basin with 8:1 side slopes.
The original regional basin concept would have required acquiring 8.6 acres, demolishing two houses, and possibly relocating residents; it also faced uncertainty because the future Shirk/198 interchange footprint may change.
Alternative 1 (engineering-preferred): deepen the existing linear basin from 7 feet to 18 feet total depth, avoid land acquisition, use 2:1 side slopes inside a fenced maintenance area, add perimeter landscaping, and provide a roughly half-mile public walking path around the outside.
Alternative 2: acquire and expand the developer-owned temporary basin (the Oakwest Basin parcel) to serve the full tributary area and make it permanent.
Staff said Alternative 1 was the least expensive, and both alternatives were a fraction of the predicted cost of the current approach. Engineering recommended Alternative 1.
Council members voiced support for Alternative 1, citing interchange uncertainty, the value of the walking path, and park funds being better used for active recreation. One member suggested considering how the site will appear across SR 198 and possibly mirroring treatments on the south side.

Key Outcomes

Council gave direction to proceed with Alternative 1 for the Hillsdale Park/Storm Basin, subject to formal action at a future meeting; staff will design the basin regrading and then either bid construction or coordinate with nearby development needing dirt.
Airport staff will return with further analysis on FBO/fuel operations, private jet-center proposals, hangar expansion, and restaurant development. Staff also plan to return on Essential Air Service direction in September-October 2025.
No formal votes were taken during the work session. The provided transcript does not include the regular session, consent calendar, or the Fourth of July Post Report.

Meeting Transcript

Alright, good afternoon, everybody. Welcome to the Visayas City Council work session. We're gonna go ahead and get started. Uh it's Monday, August 18th. And we will like to go ahead and open this up to public comments. So anybody from the public wishing to speak on this uh on the uh public comment section, uh please come forward. The council asks that you keep your comments concise and positive. Creative criticism presented with appropriate courtesy is welcome. Each speaker will be allowed three minutes, and a timer will notify you when your time is expired. Please begin your comments by stating and spelling your name and providing your city of residence. Anyone wishing to speak at this time? Come on up, ma'am, if you'd like to speak, and you can go right up there to the lectern. I go to this. Sorry. I'm um I'm the speaker of this because I was explaining to this gentleman here. We're kind of the same on opposite the same body on opposite ends. I am Jennifer, the root of Aaron. So I'm nervous. And you're a strange culture to me, and I'm probably a strange culture to you, but I'm bright. Um, so that said, I this is a language that's strange to my ears. And you're speaking in a language I I cannot gather very well. I have to read it. And I can speak it fluently if we're talking about other things. But when I'm handed something that looks like this, then I have to comment if I could collect my breath for being so nervous at this tool world. I'm of an artist's world, I can't do this, and that's probably why I had to come here. Item number two, that's a that's a little like a symbol of an ear. That number two looks like an ear. It actually looks like an ear. And so that's why Heron, which is a Huron, which is me had to come here. Um I'm gonna have to read this to you, and I have to try to calm down to do it. It's very, very cody, it's really cody. Um heels the ale. Le Parc. Can storm Durain Bassin. In other words, storm her ass in here. Pardon my French. That is a bull uh or a uh kind of like a donkey. And I I don't see a donkey outside. That's a real donkey. That's like a mule. I didn't see one. So I use the word ass as a donkey. Um bass in proposed chan jess. And it in another way of reading it, that would be Hillsdale Park and Storm Drain Basin proposed changes. And that's how I learned to read here in VUSD. So I was born here in 1971. I was raised by VUSD system, and I learned to speak through it, but I cannot understand this, because when I read this over, it's in privacy. So because this is in privacy, when I step out of my family's home of 40 years at 30760 Dollar Hyde Road, I couldn't see a sign there that had anything that could point in my language, which is more like symbols, like this is it's artwork here that's over your head to show me who is handling my life from behind. So when I wake up in the morning and I'm standing at Dollar Hyde Road, to me, a new dawn is Visalia's got me on the back, and I've been called a hunchback for a long time. For that, we we just leave.

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