The Visalia City Council held a combined work session (4:00–6:09 PM) and regular session (7:00–7:37 PM) on Monday, March 16, 2026, in City Council Chambers. Council Member Steve Nelsen was absent; all other members were present. The work session covered the Capital Improvement Program, Measure N 10‑year plan, Prohousing Designation, a Cannabis Ordinance framework, and a new city website. The regular session included a public hearing on a drive‑thru hours appeal and modifications to Fire Department fees. Key outcomes included approval of the Measure N budget, direction to apply for Prohousing designation (30‑point system), authorization of a cannabis fee study, and overturning a Planning Commission condition to allow extended drive‑thru hours.
Good afternoon, everybody. Welcome to the Visaya City Council work session today. We're gonna go ahead and get started. Uh by starting off with public comments. Citizens are now invited to comment on issues within the jurisdiction of the Visaya City Council and items listed on the closed session agenda. 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's expired. Please begin your comments by stating and spelling your name and providing your city of residence. Anyone wishing to speak at this time? Uh please come forward to the podium over here on my left. And seeing all city stuff, but I think one person. Gabe, you want to say anything? He's like, No. You're the only public we have here, so I'm gonna give you a hard time. All right. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah, there she is. All right. Um, so uh seeing nobody we'll go ahead and close public comments, and we'll go ahead and uh start off with our work session with item number one capital improvement program staff report, please. Good evening, Mayor and members of council, and I would like to introduce myself. Nicole Ritchie, finance manager. This is Renee Nagel, Finance Man uh Director, and this is our third opportunity that we have to bring the capital projects forward for your review. Some of the items discussed this evening again may seem repetitive, however, this is intentional to ensure that we have clarity for any members of the public that's listening who may be hearing it for the first time. Um the capital improvement program is a six-year capital plan. The first fiscal year, fiscal year 26-27 and 27-28 are proposed for adoption and appropriation. The remaining four years are included for planning purposes, which shows infrastructure needs and financial impacts. This slide outlines how the capital improvement process moves from project development to final adoption. The process begins with departments identifying infrastructure needs, reviewing regulatory requirements, estimating costs, and aligning projects with appropriate funding sources. The projects are then presented to council and organizing and organized fund groups. So council can review priorities and provide direction based on that feedback. Staff will refine project timing, fund allocations while considering available revenues and grant opportunities. And then the last step would be final CIP is then brought back to council for adoption in June alongside the city's annual operating budget. Before reviewing the individual funds this evening, I wanted to briefly highlight the overall objectives guiding the CIP. The first objective this evening is protecting public health and meeting regulatory compliance. Second, preserving and monetizing our existing infrastructure. Third, supporting strategic growth and service improvements across the city of Isolia. The proposed six-year CIP reflects a balanced investment in street maintenance and transportation infrastructure throughout the city. This slide summarizes the transportation-related capital funds included in tonight's review. The funds included tonight is first gas tax, SB1 road maintenance and rehabilitation measure R, local and regional, the transportation impact fee, landscape and lighting district, state transportation, and the Northeast Capital Improvement Impact Fee. The proposed appropriations total approximately 22 million in fiscal year 26-27. And 27-28 is approximately 30 or 29 million. The outer four years is 134 million. As discussed in the last two council work sessions, anything highlighted in the screens coming up are considered to be multi-funds, which is just that portion of the cost for that fund only, and it's not to be considered the total cost. The next few slides will show each fund's cash balance and a list of the proposed projects and the two-year appropriated period, and the entire six-year capital being reviewed this evening has been provided to council council in attachment A of your agenda for your convenience. So the first fund to discuss is the gas tax fund. So the gas tax revenues are derived from state exercise taxes on transportation fuels and just that which is distributed to cities based primarily on population and registered vehicles. This fund's revenues are projected to continue to grow. However, as you know, the state is pilot piloting a program that could change this. So at this time, we're going to continue to project it as if we're going to continue to see growth.