KINGSBURG – For the first time since 1992, the city of Kingsburg has completed a comprehensive update to its general plan.
The Kingsburg City Council unanimously voted on Feb. 4 to adopt the Kingsburg General Plan Update, bringing into use a document that will guide the direction of the city for at least the next decade. At the meeting, Community Development Director Holly Owen provided an overview of the purpose of the general plan and Sara Allinder with consultant Provost & Pritchard explained changes made to the plan.
“The general plan is the highest-ranking document for planning in the city and counties, and every city and every county has a general plan,” Owen said.
Owen said the lifespan of a general plan is typically about 10 years, meaning Kingsburg’s was overdue for an update. The reason cities like to update the plan more frequently is so they can stay on top of changing policies, priorities and best practices.
Although the general plan as a whole is not subject to review by the California Department of Housing and Community Development, it is required by state law to have specific elements. One of those is the Housing Element, which is subject to state review, Owen said.
Notably, the Kingsburg General Plan Update did not involve any land use or boundary changes.
“So if a property is planned for residential now, it is continuing to be planned for residential; we did not touch any of those designations,” Allinder said.
The sphere of influence, which is the outlying area beyond the city limits that has been identified for eventual annexation into the city as it grows, also did not change, Allinder said.
Most changes to the plan had to do with the organization and functionality of the document, Allinder said. The updated plan is more streamlined, with an emphasis on goals and policies as opposed to technical information.
The plan kicks off with a vision statement and set of guiding principles that were developed at a workshop with the council and planning commission using input from community feedback gathered by the consultants.
Allinder said other updates to chapters included new policies that align with industry best practices for planning and development, new elements required by state legislation addressing things like community health and an implementation chapter geared toward city staff.
Council members had minimal comments to provide on the general plan and no members of the public spoke during the public hearing.
Solar project, health care grants
In other city business, Public Works Director Daniel Galvez provided an update to the council on the status of the city’s solar panel project. Kingsburg began working with solar energy management company SitelogIQ more than three years ago to identify locations where the city could install solar panels to help mitigate rising energy costs.
Galvez said that of the four sites the city is installing solar panels at, three are online and operating. Just one, at the public works yard, is still under construction.
“This one is the site that required the most work, so there is work that’s still pending there,” Galvez said.
The city and SitelogIQ have been working with Pacific Gas & Electric Company to get approval for the design of the solar array and see what other infrastructure works need to be done. Galvez said infrastructure upgrades and improvements to the transformer, as well as other underground work, are necessary.
“As part of that, we did receive some pretty shocking news — the bids that SitelogIQ did receive were substantially over what we anticipated the costs were going to be,” Galvez said.
To make up for that, Galvez said SitelogIQ is providing the city with a credit in the form of a five-year operation and maintenance agreement. SitelogIQ will conduct needed maintenance, monitor the operation of the solar panels and provide the city with an annual report, all at no cost to the city. Galvez said the agreement has a value of approximately $76,000.
Galvez said the three sites that are up and running — at Well 13, Well 16 and the police station — have been producing energy at a “substantially lower” rate than what the city anticipated. However, no site has been operating for a full year, and the sites have periodically been taken offline for adjustments, so the data the city has gathered is not complete.
The council also signed off on city staff’s proposal to submit three projects to the Kingsburg Healthcare District for its 2026 grant cycle. Community Services Director Adam Castaneda said that while the district usually accepts grant applications until May, it shortened its grant cycle this year and moved the deadline up to March 1.
Grant requests approved by the council included $55,000 for the continuation of the city’s hot meal program at the senior center through the community services department, $67,000 for a Stryker gurney and power load system through the fire department and $13,000 for mental health check-ins and wellness-related training for Kingsburg Police Department personnel.
Regarding the mental health check-ins for KPD personnel, Pursell questioned why the project proposal specifically stated that Dr. Jana Price-Sharps would be providing the support. He said he supported the project but didn’t like that the city was looking to automatically select one provider without going through a competitive process.
City Manager Alex Henderson said this was done at the request of the health care district. He said this is the second year the police department has applied for the grant, and the health care district asked them to identify a provider when they first applied. As the department has already gone through that process and started working with Price-Sharpes, it is hoping to continue.
