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Buffalo Wild Wings Looking to Land in Visalia

Visalia - Buffalo Wild Wings restaurant is seriously looking at building in the Packwood Creek Shopping Center, but has not yet signed any contracts.

Architect Jim Powell, representing the company, met with the city of Visalia's Site Plan Review committee last week to discuss plans for the restaurant that could sit between Pandola Bread and Starbucks on the Target side of Packwood Creek Shopping Center.

Powell said the company has not yet signed a lease and his goal last week was to gather information he could share with the Minnesota-based restaurant chain. He said he did not have a timetable on when a decision might be made.

“This is really preliminary. We are doing site investigation,” he said.

Buffalo Wild Wings was founded in 1982 in Ohio and today has more than 600 restaurants in more than 40 states. The closest restaurant in the Valley is in Modesto.

Powell said preliminary drawings show seating for 355 people in the restaurant, with a small lounge/bar area. There will also be a couple of arcade games in the restaurant and every table offers a trivia game. Several televisions are scattered throughout the restaurant.

According to the company's web site, the restaurants serves wings, tenders, flatbreads, wraps and buffalitos, sandwiches, ribs, burgers and desserts.

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Progress Made In Property Deals For Road Projects

By Miles Shuper

Tulare County - Although about three dozen parcels of land face eminent domain court decisions, county officials are hopeful that major road projects will remain on schedule.

It is likely both projects, which are seen as major steps in the county's road and highway improvement plan, will begin this summer or soon after, officials say.

Of the 105 parcels included in the overall Road 80 project which will create a four-lane link between Visalia and Dinuba, 29 parcels with 10 ownerships, currently are awaiting Superior Court rulings, said Britt Fussel, assistant director of the county's Resource Management Agency.

The widening of Road 108 connecting Visalia to Tulare involves 66 parcels with 59 owners. As of last week, 53 parcel sales have closed or are in the process of closing, according Fussel. Negotiations on the others are continuing, Fussel said, including several which appear to be headed for eminent domain proceedings. “We remain willing to negotiate and reach settlements to avoid going to court if at all possible,” Two or three settlements could be reached by the end of this week, he said.

In mid 2009, Tulare County Supervisors officials authorized the eminent domain proceeding, a process allowing government entities to take possession of properties to be used in the best public interest. Owners are compensated on what is determined to be the best fair market value.

The county's action was needed, officials pointed out, to meet property possession deadlines tied to allocation of funding for the projects.

Fussel said both the Road 108 and Road 80 projects could start this summer. The Road 108 (Demaree) widening is expected to cost more than $22 million, with an estimated $18 million-plus designated for the northern section and a bit over $4 million for the Tulare area segment.

Although allocation still is not final, county officials anticipate federal stimulus monies will go toward the Road 108 project, allowing several million dollars in Measure R sales tax already earmarked for a portion of the work, to be returned to the roads and highways fund.

Phase 1A and Phase 2 of the Road 80 widening to four lanes is expected to get underway close to the start of the Rod 108 work, officials say. Phase 1A involves work north of the intersection of 328 to the alignment of Road 342. Phase 2 runs from Avenue 416 south to Avenue 376

Dairy owners balked at county buyout offers contending the prices would not cover costs of moving fences, irrigation systems, wells and other equipment. Several of the parcels needed for the Road 80 project are 40- to 60-feet wide strips, including one which is nearly a mile in length.

Several dairy owners contended that the loss of land would force them to reduce their operations in order to comply with stringent water and other environmental standards, some of which are based on the overall size of their dairies.

Some property owners also complained that they were not provided adequate information or were treated poorly by purchasing agents or representatives of firms hired by the county. Some changes were made and in a couple of instances county staff members and high ranking officials stepped in to ease negotiations.

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Rawhide Gathers 140 Years Of Local Baseball History

By Steve Pastis

Visalia - The Visalia Rawhide is collecting photos, articles, artifacts and other materials about the 64 years of professional baseball history at Recreation Park, as well as other local baseball history that dates back to the 1870s.

“It's an effort to find as much of the history of baseball in Visalia and Tulare County as possible,” said Donny Baarns the team's director of broadcasting. “Visalia has a lot to be proud of with its baseball history and we're trying to restore a lot of the history and bring it to light.”

“More than 200 former Visalia ballplayers have reached the Major Leagues, and one – Kirby Puckett – is in the Hall of Fame,” noted Rawhide owner Tom Seidler. “Ten other Hall of Famers and more than 1,000 Major Leaguers have played here in Visalia as members of the visiting team.

“We're going to do something over the next year to recognize the best of Visalia ballplayers and retire their numbers,” he added. “We plan to do fan balloting sometime this year to identify our best players over 60 years.”

Visalia's first professional team lasted for two years, 1910-11, according to Baarns. “It was Class D in the San Joaquin Valley League, but we haven't been able to find out who they were affiliated with.”

“Otherwise we would make a big thing out of the 100th anniversary of professional baseball in Visalia,” Seidler added.
Visalia has had “a ton of amateur baseball teams,” Baarns said, adding that many of them were sponsored by civic organizations such as the Elks and the Lions. “It was even before the professional club came to town.”

Baarns is coordinating the effort to gather materials on local baseball history. The plan is to compile “The History of Professional Baseball in Visalia” into a CD, DVD or book.

“I'm really passionate about history in general,” he said, adding that he was a history major in college. “I did my historical thesis on the longest soccer rivalry in England that started before soccer was even an organized sport.”

Baarns has collected materials from the Tulare County Library's file on local baseball, as the one maintained by the city of Visalia. Local historian Terry Ommen also contributed material from his file of baseball articles and pictures.

Baarns has been meeting with former players and their families to gather materials, as well as old baseball stories. He learned about infielder Don Alfano who was making $150 a month in his second year with the team. “He asked for a $50-a-month raise, the team said no, but the team offered him $50 a month if he would drive the team bus,” Baarns said.

“Alfano would tell us that the first year, 1946, the team couldn't find housing for most of the players,” Baarns said.

“They commandeered the visitors' dressing room and the visiting teams had to get changed at their hotel.” The dressing rooms had a tar-paper roof with no air-conditioning. “A lot of times, they ended up sleeping in the grandstands or in the outfield – anywhere they could go to get away from the heat at night.”

Bob Moniz, outfielder for the Visalia Cubs in 1947-52, shared a story with Baarns from 1947. “The Cubs had hired some new hotshot player who played the same position as Moniz did,” Baarns said. “Moniz was called in to the manager's office to say he was being released. He came to the game that night and was eating a hot dog in the stands, watching the kid make a couple of errors. Sure enough, they made an announcement, 'Will Bob Moniz please report to the Cubs administration office?' They gave him his uniform back. He was called in to pinch hit and he hit the game-winning home run.”

People have loaned the team photos and donated artifacts, and Baarns and an intern have started the process of digitizing photos and yearbooks. They have also gathered team card sets, newspaper clippings, hats, autographed items and a few Kirby Puckett items, including a game-worn glove and an autographed ticket.

“I'm convinced that there are things sitting around in boxes and attics that would really help the effort to collect this great history,” Seidler said.

Baarns includes some of the photos and information he has gathered on his Visalia baseball blog, “Goshen & Giddings,” which is at http://visaliabaseball.blogspot.com/.

For more information, contact Baarns at 732-4433 ext. 18 or donny@rawhidebaseball.com.

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