General Plan Annual Progress Report
2025
City of Visalia
Prepared by the City of Visalia, Planning and Preservation Department, Planning Division
Table of Contents
Page
I. Adopted Amendments to the Plan, Projects, and Accomplishments ................................ 3 II. General Plan Elements ...................................................................................................... 7 Land Use Element ................................................................................................. 7 Historic Preservation Element .............................................................................. 8 Circulation Element .............................................................................................. 8 Parks, Schools, Community Facilities, and Utilities............................................. 8 Open Space and Conservation Element ................................................................ 9 Air Quality and Greenhouse Gases Element ........................................................ 9 Safety and Noise Element ..................................................................................... 9 III. General Plan and Zoning Code Updates ......................................................................... 10 IV. Conclusion ...................................................................................................................... 10 Appendix A ................................................................................................................................. 11
Appendix A Government Code Section 65400
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Introduction
This report has been prepared pursuant to the requirements of Government Code Section 65400.
Guidance for preparation of the report is provided by the Governor’s Office of Planning and Research (OPR).
The purpose of the document is to report on the City of Visalia ’s progress in implementing its General Plan. The document will be provided to the Planning Commission and City Council for their review and submitted to the Governor's Office of Land Use and Climate Innovation (LCI) and the Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD).
General Plan Background
The State of California requires that every city and county adopt a long -term General Plan . A jurisdiction’s General Plan addresses state General Plan requirements. Pursuant to Government Code Section 65302, a General Plan shall consist of a statement of development policies and shall include diagrams and text setting forth objectives, principles, standards, and plan proposals.
General Plans shall also address eight specific topics or “elements,” listed in Section 65302. The General Plan may also address other topics the community feels are relevant. Regardless of the format or issues addressed, the Plan must be internally consistent.
The City of Visalia’s 2030 General Plan was adopted as a comprehensive update to the General Plan on October 14, 2014. The Plan includes six of the eight elements required by State law: Land Use, Circulation, Open Space, Conservation, Safety, and Noise. Open Space and Conservation are combined, as are Safety and Noise. It also includes two optional elements that address local concerns: Historic Preservation and Parks, Schools, Community Facilities, and Utilities. The General Plan clearly communicates the City’s vision of its future and establishes a policy framework to govern decision-making concerning the physical development of th e community.
It also provides assurances that the community at large will be supported by an adequate range of public services and infrastructure systems.
Purpose of the General Plan Annual Progress Report
California Government Code Section 65400 mandates that cities and counties submit an annual progress report (APR) each year on the General Plan and progress on its implementation to the legislative body, (in this case the City Council), followed by the Governor's Office of Land Use and Climate Innovation (LCI) and the Housing and Community Development Department (HCD). The four basic purposes of the annual report are as follows:
• To provide information to assess progress on implementation of the General Plan in accordance with the stated goals, policies, and implementation measures. • To provide information to identify necessary course adjustments or modifications to the General Plan as a means to improve implementation.
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• To provide a clear correlation between land use decisions made during the reporting period, and the goals, policies, and implementation measures in the General Plan. • To provide information regarding local agency progress in meeting its share of regional housing needs and local efforts to remove governmental constraints to the development of housing.
This year, will be the City of Visalia’s third APR regarding the 2030 General Plan. The APR covers the period of the previous calendar year, 2025. The APR for the General Plan and for the Housing Element of the General Plan have separate reporting requirements and forms, and as such have been prepared as two separate documents.
The rest of this report will present the chronology of adopted amendments to the General Plan through 2025, present major milestones and projects that occurred in the reporting period, a status update of the implementation measures for the General Plan, and finally a summary of any grants received to assist in implementing the General Plan, along with the next areas of focus in the plan’s continued implementation.
Informational Document
This document is a reporting document. The material and information provided within does not create or alter policy. Content provided within this document is provided for informational purposes only and is exempt from the requirements of the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) per Guidelines Section 15306, which exempts data collection, research, experimental management, and resource evaluation activities which do not result in a serious or major disturbance to an environmental resource.
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I. Adopted Amendments to the Plan, Projects, and Accomplishments
Adopted Amendments
The General Plan remains a current document, responsive to the community’s needs. Requests for amendments may be submitted by individuals or initiated by the City. Amendments to the Visalia General Plan through December 2025 are listed below.
Amendments to the Visalia General Plan (January 2025 – December 2025) General Plan
Amendment
(GPA) Number
Action Applicant Description
GPA 2024-05 Approved by
Council on
04/28/2025
City of Visalia A request by the City of
Visalia to expand the Urban
Growth Boundary by
annexing two parcels into
the City limits, and to change
approximately one acre on
the site from Residential
Very Low Density land use
designation to
Parks/Recreation land use
designation.
GPA 2025-01 Approved by
Council on
02/10/2025
Seefried Industrial
Properties, Inc.
A request by Seefried
Industrial Properties, Inc. to
decrease the Light Industrial
land use designation and to
increase the Industrial land
use designation on the
project site consisting of 284
acres.
GPA 2025-02 Continued to Date
Uncertain
City of Visalia A request by the City of
Visalia to change the land
use designation on a 16-acre
portion of a 21-acre parcel
from Parks/Recreation to
Commercial Mixed Use.
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GPA 2025-03 Yet to be
scheduled for
public hearing.
D.R. Horton A request by D.R. Horton to
move residential land use
designations within a project
site with no reduction to the
acreage assigned to each
residential land use.
GPA 2024-04 Yet to be
scheduled for
public hearing.
Tulare County
Office of Education
(TCOE) – 4Creeks
A request by the Tulare
County Office of Education
to amend the Urban
Development Boundary to
include the project site and
redesignate the General Plan
Land Use Designation on the
project site from Agriculture
to Mixed-Use Commercial.
Building Permits
The Engineering and Building Division received a grand total of 5,925 building permits in 2025.
This figure includes new construction and renovations; however, staff will focus primarily on new construction for this section. New single -family residential units accounted for 612 of those permits, while 51 were for residential second units and 28 were for new commercial buildings.
In the 2025 calendar year, building staff processed and finaled a total of 4,013 permits. Of that total, there were 335 single-family home production permits, 34 multi-family production permits, and 24 single-family second unit permits.
In the 2025 calendar year, City staff received a total of six residential development proposals to review. The proposals totaled 898 proposed housing units. The housing applications were submitted to the Planning Division for either entitlement or deemed a “by -right” use and reviewed for zoning consistency and development standards or state allowances.
Planning Entitlements and Site Plan Review
The Planning Department also processed a variety of land use permits during 2025, including but not limited to conditional use permits (CUP), variances, subdivisions, and associated environmental reviews. During the past year, the Planning Commission agendas included the following application types:
• 37 Conditional Use Permits
• 19 Tentative Parcel Maps
• 1 Conditional Zoning Agreements
• 6 Tentative Subdivision Maps
• 9 Variance
Of the projects reviewed by the Planning Commission, seven (7) projects were also presented to
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the City Council.
Other Plans and Projects
The following discussion summarizes other projects which the C ity expended substantial efforts in 2025.
Environmental Justice Element
The City began preliminary work on the proposed Environment Justice Element of the General Plan in 2022 to meet the requirements set out by the Department of Housing and Community Development when certifying the City’s sixth cycle of the Housing Element Update. The creation of the Environment Justice Element required a considerable amount of time and effort as it involved incorporating goals, policies and implementations found in other areas of the General Plan, and creating goals, policies and implementat ions relevant to the objectives and goals mandated for the Environmental Justice Element . The Environmental Justice Element was presented to Planning Commission on January 27, 2025, and was recommended for approval by the Planning Commission . The Environmental Justice Element w as then presented to the City Council and approved/adopted on February 17, 2025.
Zoning Ordinance/General Plan Update
The City adopted a comprehensive General Plan update in 201 4. One of the follow -up actions directed in the 20 14 General Plan was to update the Zoning Ordinance. Staff worked with QK, Inc., in 2015 through 2017 to prepare updated Zoning and Subdivision sections and incorporated the Planning Commission’s and City Council’s input into a comprehensive Zoning and Subdivision Ordinance update. In the 2024 calendar year, staff begun collecting inconsistency or portions of the zoning ordinance which were either conflicting or could benefit from textual “clean -up” for an eventual zoning ordinance update or intermittent correction. Several code update s were presented to the City Coun cil and those zone text amendments to the zoning ordinance were adopted by the City Council in 2025.
Senate Bill 1425 – Open Space
In 2025, Planning staff began preparing for the implementation requirement of the Senate Bill 1425. Senate Bill (SB) 1425 was approved by the state legislature and signed into law by the Governor in 2022. The law requires each local jurisdiction to update the open space element of its General Plan to address the following:
• Access to open space for all residents in a manner that considers social, economic, and racial equity, correlated with the environmental justice element or environmental justice policies in the general plan;
• Climate resilience and other co -benefits of open space, correlated with the safety element; and
• Rewilding opportunities, correlated with the land use element.
Following draft guidelines provided by the Governor's Office of Land Use and Climate Innovation (LCI), Planning Department staff is undertaking a comprehensive review of existing General Plan
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documents to determine if the requirements of SB 1425 have been satisfied through existing General Plan policies and related implementation measures. In addition, the City is undertaking a comprehensive parks master facility plan update to guide future investments, policies, and day- to-day operations. The parks master plan will provide a comprehensive framework for parks, recreation facilities, programs, and operations. It will be grounded in measurable service levels, realistic capital and maintenance funding approaches, and broad community engagement.
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II. General Plan Elements
The General Plan details the City’s guiding principles for a variety of planning topics and is the roadmap for future development. California Government Code Section 65300 et seq. provides direction and specifications for the content of the General Plan. The following eight elements are required:
• Land Use
• Circulation
• Conservation
• Open Space
• Noise
• Safety
• Environmental Justice
The elements may be combined or renamed, but basic requirements must be included. An agency may adopt any type of optional element, such as an Economic Element, at its discretion.
Only the Housing Element must be certified by another agency (i.e., HCD), although the State Geologist and CalFire provide some oversight of other aspects.
The City of Visalia General Plan consists of the following Elements:
• Land Use
• Historic Preservation
• Circulation
• Parks, Schools, Community Facilities, and Utilities
• Open Space and Conservation
• Air Quality and Greenhouse Gases
• Safety and Noise
Subtopics are included in the elements to meet California’s requirements. The following sections address implementation for each of the County’s General Plan Elements.
Land Use Element
The purpose of the Land Use Element is to present a framework to guide future land use decisions and development in Visalia, while also enhancing community character and improving the city’s look and feel. The element forms the core of the General Plan, an d its policies articulate the community’s land use and growth management priorities through 2030.
The element includes the Land Use Diagram, land use classifications, standards for density and intensity, and growth boundaries and phasing. The objectives and policies focus on several distinct areas: economic development; urban boundaries and growth management; rural buffer and edge conditions; community design; infill development incentives; residential neighborhoods; commercial and mixed uses; Downtown and East Downtown; industrial land uses; institutional and civic land uses; and the airport. Together, these policies help define Visalia’s physical development and reinforce its commitment to balancing land use requirements with community needs and economic growth, while also allowing for flexibility in implementation to respond to the real estate market.
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Historic Preservation Element
As the oldest Central Valley city south of Stockton, Visalia hosts an impressive collection of historic sites and structures, including four that are listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Numerous distinctive architectural styles are present in Visalia, concentrated in the city’s historic core; particularly notable examples are recorded in the city’s local registry.
The Historic Preservation Element features a summary of Visalia’s historic resources and its existing historic district. It presents the City’s Historic Preservation Ordinance, and identifies other complementary programs, as well as factors that may have t he effect of discouraging historic preservation. The Element presents a set of objectives and policies that reflect recommendations of the Historic Preservation Advisory Committee, as confirmed by the General Plan Update Review Committee (GPURC).
Circulation Element
The Circulation Element of the 2030 General Plan is intended to provide guidance and specific actions to ensure the continued safe and efficient operation of Visalia’s circulation system. The Element is based on a fundamental philosophy that traffic conditions in the City can be managed through a comprehensive program of transportation planning, land use planning, and growth management strategies. This Element includes provisions for roadways, transit, aviation, pedestrian, and bicycle transportation modes, as well as parking conditions.
The Circulation Element responds directly to the Government Code [Section 65302(b)], which requires “a circulation element consisting of the general location and extent of existing and proposed major thoroughfares, transportation routes, terminals, any military airports and ports, and other local public utilities and facilities, all correlated with the land use element of the plan.”
State Law recognizes that circulation and land use are closely related and requires that policies in this Element and the Land Use Element be linked. Careful integration of the City’s traffic and circulation policies with its land use policies will ensure that there is sufficient roadway capacity to accommodate traffic generated by planned future development. The City is committed to designing a system of regional routes, local roads, public transit and bicycle and pedestrian pathways that will enhance the community and protect the environment.
The Land Use Element contains policies related to the physical framework for development that the circulation system is designed to serve all transportation users including vehicles, trucks, bicyclists and pedestrians. This Element also addresses landscapi ng along major streets and planning for street connectivity in new neighborhoods. It discusses how to create pedestrian - friendly environments and design for alternate modes of transportation. The Noise Element of the General Plan includes policies to alleviate noise generated by traffic conditions.
Parks, Schools, Community Facilities, and Utilities
This element presents Visalia’s policies and programs for the development and maintenance of parks, schools, and other fundamental building blocks for new neighborhoods to be built over the next two decades. As presented in the Land Use Element, new neighb orhoods are designed
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to protect and enhance community assets, including small town character and a strong sense of community. Policies in this chapter also reinforce the linkages between schools and parks envisioned in the Transportation Element, with roadways, bikeways, trails, safe routes to schools and pedestrian facilities. Finally, this chapter presents objectives and policies for the fire and police services, water supply and conservation, wastewater and solid waste collection, treatment and disposal, and utilities that are essential to support urban development.
Open Space and Conservation Element
The Open Space and Conservation Element establishes policies for the conservation of natural resources in Visalia. The Element addresses open space resources; land resources including farmland and minerals; water resources including groundwater and waterwa ys; biological resources; and cultural and historic resources. Air quality and greenhouse gases are also important environmental issues for the Planning Area and are addressed in Chapter 7.
The City of Visalia defines open space as any parcel of land or body of water that is essentially unimproved and undeveloped or is used for recreation. This includes agricultural land, recreation areas, areas with hazardous conditions, and conservation are as as well as open space to shape and limit urban form. Currently there are approximately 39,760 acres in agricultural use, accounting for 65 percent of all land in the Planning Area. In addition, there are about 400 acres of land in and along waterways or canals, and 1,167 acres of park land.
Air Quality and Greenhouse Gases Element
Visalia is located in the San Joaquin Valley Air Basin (SJVAB). The Air Quality monitoring has been conducted in the SJVAB for many years. While new and innovative pollution controls have made the San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District (SJVAPCD) a leader in the rate of improvement, the region is not in attainment for numerous criteria air pollutants and the air basin still has poor air quality. Much of this pollution is attributed to the Valley’s topography, meteorology, two major highways, and intensive agricultural uses. In 2011, the major sources of air pollution in the San Joaquin Valley were heavy duty trucks, other mobile sources, autos and light trucks, and fuel combustion from stationary sources. Ozone and particulate matter are the two largest contributors to the Valley’s poor air quality. The causes and effects of these and other air pollutants are discussed in the next section. The California Air Resources Board (CARB) operates a regional network of air pollution monitoring stations that provide information on ambient concentrations of criteria air pollutants and toxic air contaminants. In Tulare County, CARB measures certain air pollutants, such as carbon monoxide (CO), ozone (O3), nitrogen dioxide (NO2), and particulate matter less than 2.5 microns in diameter (PM -2.5). Data is collected at five active air quality stations located in Tulare County. The station in Visalia is on North Church Street
Safety and Noise Element
The purpose of the Safety and Noise Element is to identify the natural and man -made public health and safety hazards that exist within the City, and to establish preventative and responsive policies and programs to mitigate their potential impacts. This El ement addresses geologic hazards, flood hazards, hazardous materials, wildfire hazards, and safety services. It also includes policies on natural hazards mitigation planning, which respond to the Federal Disaster Mitigation
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Act of 2000 and the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s implementing regulations and support the County’s Multi -Jurisdictional Local Hazard Mitigation Plan. Airport safety is addressed in the Land Use and Circulation Elements, as well as in the Noise sec tion of this chapter. The purpose of the Noise section is to identify the noise sources that exist within the City, and to establish policies and programs to mitigate their potential impacts through both preventative and responsive measures. The regulation of some noise sources such as railroad operations and aircraft operations is overseen by state and federal agencies. This element has a direct correlation with the land use, circulation, and housing elements. It guides the location of industrial land uses and transportation facilities, since they are common sources of excessive noise levels. This element also guides the location of particularly noise – sensitive uses, such as residences, schools, churches, and hospitals, so that they may be less affected by noise.
III. General Plan and Zoning Code Updates
The City comprehensively updated its General Pla n on October 14, 2014. One of the follow-up actions was to update the City’s Zoning Code per the direction provided in the Genera l Plan.
During the past several years staff has been working to update the Zoning Code based primarily on state changes to housing law.
IV. Conclusion
The General Plan is the City’s constitution and guiding vision. Due to the world’s ever -changing nature, upkeep and maintenance of the General Plan is a continuous process. The City implements the General Plan’s vision on a day -to-day basis in its many planning projects and strives to include the public in the decision-making process.
The City provided leadership and participated in many planning activities in 2023, as identified in this report. It continued its project review responsibilities to further the General Plan’s goals, policies, programs, and implementation measures.
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Appendix A
Government Code Section 65400
(a) After the legislative body has adopted all or part of a general plan, the planning agency shall do both of the following:
(1) Investigate and make recommendations to the legislative body regarding reasonable and practical means for implementing the general plan or element of the general plan, so that it will serve as an effective guide for orderly growth and development, preserva tion and conservation of open -space land and natural resources, and the efficient expenditure of public funds relating to the subjects addressed in the general plan.
(2) Provide by April 1 of each year an annual report to the legislative body, the Office of Planning and Research, and the Department of Housing and Community Development that includes all of the following:
(A) The status of the plan and progress in its implementation.
(B) The progress in meeting its share of regional housing needs determined pursuant to Section 65584 and local efforts to remove governmental constraints to the maintenance, improvement, and development of housing pursuant to paragraph (3) of subdivision (c) of Section 65583.
The housing element portion of the annual report, as required by this paragraph, shall be prepared through the use of forms and definitions adopted by the Department of Housing and Community Development pursuant to the rulemaking provisions of the Administrative Procedure Act (Chapter 3.5 (commencing with Section 11340) of Part 1 of Division 3 of Title 2). Prior to and after adoption of the forms, the housing element portion of the annual report shall include a section that describes the actions taken by the local government towards completion of the programs and status of the local government’s compliance with the deadlines in its housing element. That report shall be considered at an annual public meeting before the legislative body where members of the pu blic shall be allowed to provide oral testimony and written comments. The report may include the number of units that have been substantially rehabilitated, converted from non -affordable to affordable by acquisition, and preserved consistent with the stand ards set forth in paragraph (2) of subdivision (c) of Section 65583.1. The report shall document how the units meet the standards set forth in that subdivision.
(C) The degree to which its approved general plan complies with the guidelines developed and adopted pursuant to Section 65040.2 and the date of the last revision to the general plan.
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(b) If a court finds, upon a motion to that effect, that a city, county, or city and county failed to submit, within 60 days of the deadline established in this section, the housing element portion of the report required pursuant to subparagraph (B) of paragra ph (2) of subdivision (a) that substantially complies with the requirements of this section, the court shall issue an order or judgment compelling compliance with this section within 60 days. If the city, county, or city and county fails to comply with the court’s order within 60 days, the plaintiff or petitioner may move for sanctions, and the court may, upon that motion, grant appropriate sanctions. The court shall retain jurisdiction to ensure that its order or judgment is carried out. If the court deter mines that its order or judgment is not carried out within 60 days, the court may issue further orders as provided by law to ensure that the purposes and policies of this section are fulfilled. This subdivision applies to proceedings initiated on or after the first day of October following the adoption of forms and definitions by the Department of Housing and Community Development pursuant to paragraph (2) of subdivision (a) , but no sooner than six months following that adoption.