Central Valley farmers protest high-speed rail HIGH-SPEED RAIL Kings County is loudest of foes who say they have been ignored by project leaders

A motorist drives past a sign on the side of Highway 43 near Hanford (Kings County) in 2012 that puts the knock on the planned high-speed train that is projected to slice through the Central Valley as it streaks up and down the state. less A motorist drives past a sign on the side of Highway 43 near Hanford (Kings County) in 2012 that puts the knock on the planned high-speed train that is projected to slice through the Central Valley as it ... more Photo: Silvia Flores / Special To The Chronicle Photo: Silvia Flores / Special To The Chronicle Image 1 of / 10 Caption Close Central Valley farmers protest high-speed rail 1 / 10 Back to Gallery

Hanford, Kings County --

- California is poised to begin building the nation's first high-speed rail system early next year, eventually sending trains zipping from San Francisco to Los Angeles as fast as 220 mph.

But first the High-Speed Rail Authority must get the Legislature, and then the Central Valley, on board.

Should high-speed rail officials persuade lawmakers to fund construction of the first 130-mile stretch, they'll need to quickly rebuild support in the San Joaquin Valley, where poor community relations have soured already skeptical farmers and local leaders, overshadowed hopes of economic development, and fueled opposition that could slow or stop arrival of the fast trains.

This week, state legislators are expected to vote on whether to release state bond money that voters approved in 2008 to start building the high-speed railroad from Madera to the outskirts of Bakersfield. The federal government has promised $3.3 billion, but California needs to chip in $2.7 billion.

Gov. Jerry Brown is pushing for the funding, but with deep budget cuts and a struggling economy, opposition to the $68 billion high-speed rail project has swelled statewide, according to polls, and passage is uncertain. "We've given them the best plan, one that's responsive to criticism, and we hope they approve" the funding, said Dan Richard, chairman of the High-Speed Rail Authority.

Nearly as critical as the funding is the support of the project in the San Joaquin Valley. Home to some of the nation's richest farmland, concerns rooted in protecting the rural lifestyle have blossomed into a campaign to stop the train.

Farmers and landowners in different parts of the valley have filed four lawsuits, but the fiercest opposition is in Kings County, which produced more than $2.2 billion in crops in 2011 - everything from almonds and apricots to cherries and cotton.

Driving south on Highway 43 from Fresno to Hanford, the county seat, signs in the some of the orchards read: "Here comes high-speed rail; there goes my farm." At the county line, a large sign declares, "Kings County says NO to high-speed rail."

'Hot spot' in the state

"Up and down the valley, wherever you go, people are opposed to this," said John Tos, who runs Tos Farms near Hanford. "But Kings County is the hot spot in the whole state of California."

Kings County, and Tos, are plaintiffs in a suit challenging plans to start high-speed rail in the valley on the grounds that those plans violate the high-speed rail bond measure. A judge in June ruled the suit premature but allowed its return if the High-Speed Rail Authority proceeds with its plans.

It wasn't supposed to be this way. While farmers were always wary of the impact on farmland, there also was a feeling that high-speed rail would help the Central Valley, the fastest-growing part of the state, by making it less isolated, more appealing to employers and more connected to the rest of the state. But those feelings faded. Residents, particularly farmers, complain that high-speed rail officials have been arrogant and unhelpful, providing little information or dismissing their concerns.

Tos, a fourth-generation family farmer who stands to lose dozens of acres to high-speed rail, said the tracks will limit access to his land, force workers to drive miles around the tracks, spew more pollution into the air and create dangerous conditions, especially in the valley's thick winter fog. Dividing orchards also will also destroy complex irrigation systems and rip out mature nut trees in the peak years of their productivity.

"We paid big dollars for land like this," said Tos, standing in a walnut orchard. "God's not making any more farmland. We have to use what we have."

Richard, appointed by Gov. Brown last August to help reform the authority and revive support for high-speed rail, says Kings County is one of the biggest challenges. The area has a history of top-quality farmland and preserving its agricultural territory and heritage. But avoiding the county is difficult because of the need to follow existing rail lines and highways as much as possible to build an alignment straight enough for trains to travel more than 200 mph.

"That swings us into farmland or through downtown Hanford, where we would affect over 1,200 buildings," he said.

The authority hasn't helped itself. A little more than a year ago, before Richard was appointed, the Kings County Board of Supervisors sent the authority a list of 61 questions. Nobody ever responded, Richard said.

"They were understandably unhappy with that," said Richard, who agreed to a series of meetings between authority representatives, including himself, and county supervisors to try to work out some of the issues before a final alignment is selected this summer.

But at a June 12 meeting in Hanford, supervisors and high-speed rail critics accused Richard of being a smooth-talking bureaucrat trying to soothe the restless locals without providing information or making changes.

Plenty of questions

"It seems like your staff is not prepared when they come down here. We should not meet just to meet," said Supervisor Doug Verboon. "We hear you on TV and on the radio talking about how great this project is, and how you're working with the community. Well, you're not working with Kings County."

The county's concerns include preserving the popular Amtrak San Joaquin rail service, keeping construction trucks from clogging roads and easing the process of relocating displaced farms. Everyone from the public works director to the sheriff to the planning director had questions.

Richard acknowledged their frustration, blaming some of the authority's nonresponsiveness on state and federal laws concerning environmental reviews, but said he would push the agency to provide answers.

Critics, however, remain skeptical.

"Are they building this in the Central Valley because they think we're poorer, not as smart and won't hire lawyers to sue?" said Frank Oliveira, a farmer and leader of Californians for High-Speed Rail Accountability, a Kings County group fighting high-speed rail.

This isn't the first time Kings County has fought a railroad. In 1880, a dispute over land titles between settlers and Southern Pacific Railroad officials turned into a shootout memorialized in the 1901 Frank Norris novel, "The Octopus." Seven people died.

"The settlers took it into their own hands," Tos said. "We have to go through the court system. And it could take years. That's what we hope."

Support in Merced, Fresno

Farm bureaus throughout the Central Valley and boards of supervisors in four of the six Central Valley counties through which high-speed rail would pass have opposed the project, most in the past year. But Merced and Fresno counties remain strongholds of support, as do the cities that share their names.

Fresno Mayor Ashley Swearengin has been one of the most active supporters of the project, along with San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee. Fresno, which would have a station and possibly a maintenance facility, believes high-speed rail will spur economic growth. The cities also have sparked a movement of college students and young professionals who have mounted pro-high-speed-rail campaigns.

Underground landmark

But even in Fresno, far from the verdant orchards of Kings County, the authority's lack of communication has caused concern. The owners of Forestiere Underground Gardens, a century-old state and national historic landmark that drew 15,000 visitors last year, fear vibrations from construction of high-speed rail and a highway overpass could damage the 50-room subterranean home and garden.

Sicilian immigrant Baldassare Forestiere dug the maze-like complex by hand, starting in 1906 and continuing for nearly 40 years, after discovering that hardpan, a concrete-like rock layer beneath the soil, made his land unfit for a citrus farm. Instead, he turned it into an ever-expanding home, complete with citrus trees and other plants, on three-levels below the surface.

Valery Forestiere and Lynn Forestiere Kosewski, the creator's great nieces, are not opposed to high-speed rail, but say the authority has offered them little information and few assurances that construction won't damage the 10 acres of gardens. Until Forestiere complained at a May authority meeting, the only contact they'd had was a mailed notice, addressed to "Occupant," informing them of the project and a community meeting. High-speed rail officials are now talking with the family.

They also worry that the construction will eliminate their parking area and create too much noise and dust.

"If that happens, we'll just have to close down for those two years," Forestiere said, "and hope there's not too much damage."

Richard acknowledged that repairing strained community relations will be difficult. And if the Legislature funds the project, improving those relationships could be critical to preventing litigation from slowing construction of the first stretch, which must be completed by 2017 to receive the federal funding.

"Frankly, we have a lot of past history to overcome, a big hole to dig ourselves out of," Richard said. "There are a lot of questions that should have been answered a long time ago. ... We should have done things much differently. The question now is: Can we catch up?"