The Tulare County Planning Commission on Wednesday conditionally approved Special Use Permit PSP25-066, allowing an agricultural service establishment for storage of equipment and vehicles on a 5.4-acre parcel at 16734 Avenue 188 in Strathmore. The approval included a categorical exemption under the California Environmental Quality Act and direction that staff add fees to address potential road impacts.

Navey Yo Menker, project planner in the county project-processing division, presented the application. The proposal would remove two pole barns and construct an 8,000-square-foot metal building (4,000 sq ft enclosed and 4,000 sq ft open bay) to store agricultural equipment, tractors and trucks. Menker said the applicant proposed six-day-a-week operations (Monday–Saturday, 7 a.m.–6 p.m.), with five employees on-site and an estimated 20 vehicle trips per day tied to deliveries and equipment movement.

Commissioners raised a public comment that suggested trucking activity in the area had contributed to pavement damage on Road 232 near Avenue 184. The message to the commission from Leonard Hanson recommended some kind of fee to help pay for immediate roadway impacts. County staff noted that a traffic study threshold in the county’s general plan typically triggers at 50 trips per day (or 50 trips when a state route is affected), while this project’s estimate is about 20 trips per day and therefore below the automatic traffic study threshold.

Commissioner Wayne Millies moved to approve a categorical exemption consistent with CEQA (Title 14, California Code of Regulations §15301) and to conditionally approve Special Use Permit PSP25-066, with fees to be added by staff to address road impacts; the motion passed 6-0. The commission asked staff to evaluate possible road-impact fees or other measures to mitigate localized pavement wear in coordination with public works and to return wording of any fee to the commission if needed.

Menker noted consultation with Tulare County Environmental Health, public works/engineering, the fire department and code enforcement, and noted the parcel is in the AE-20 zoning district with a Valley Agricultural land-use designation. The commission’s approval is conditional on department-recommended conditions of approval, and staff indicated that any road-impact fee would be structured through existing county mechanisms and would be reviewed by public works.