On Wednesday, Feb. 9, the Clovis Chamber of Commerce held their February Wake Up Clovis event hosted by Clovis Chamber CEO Greg Newman.
Special guests for this event were John Holt and Andy Haussler to discuss current and upcoming projects in the City of Clovis.
John Holt and Andy Haussler are no strangers to Clovis; they are both entering new roles within the community. Holt is our new City Manager and Haussler is our new Assistant City Manager.
One of the major topics discussed during the zoom revolved around the pandemic and how it affected Clovis.
Holt said due to the pandemic, Clovis was on pause for the last two years. However, he is looking forward to getting back on track.
“What I’d like to see happen over the next five years, would be to upbeat the general plan,” Holt said.
A few of the concerns Holt had was being able to continue the level of service pertaining to police, fire, sanitation, and so forth – potentially, having the ability to enhance those services.
Holt also added that on a daily basis, they are constantly evaluating their services and finding ways to improve them with a dedicated workforce behind it.
Some of the major projects that are currently taking place are the construction of Fire Station 6 in the Loma Vista area and the rebuild of Fire Station 2 in south Clovis. Another, the new Landmark Commons in Old Town Clovis is also under construction – which includes a new senior center, new transit center, and new county library.
A new park, Village Green Park, is also in the works as well as the Shaw Widening Project in the Loma Vista area.
Despite these new amazing add-ons and rebuilding projects, there are other concerns that the city is tackling, such as affordable housing.
“Some of the challenges as I walk into this office is going to be the lack of affordable housing,” Holt said. “It’s incredible how prices have risen.”
When it comes to the aspect of jobs, retention and recruitment will be the challenge Holt said.
Haussler said with encouragement that during the pandemic, the city had a lot of success, economically.
A lot of investments were made. New restaurants, engineering and architectural firms, from coffee to even breweries opening up during the pandemic. The Clovis Veterans Memorial District also opened up their museum, the Community Heritage Center.
“It’s pretty exciting to see what’s going on despite all the unknowns,” Haussler said. “That to me has put a huge confidence in the city, our economy, and really our people…the market is demanding – there’s services and opportunity to make money.”
Looking in the near future, when it comes to vacant land, Haussler said hotels have been proposed as well as offices, restaurants, medical-related, retail, and apartments.
“We’ll see where it goes – it’s a few years out, but it’s coming. And if you want to be a part of it, give me a call,” Haussler said.
On the topic of Shaw Ave, as far as commercial properties and development, Haussler said it is a huge priority for the city.
“We’ve had a ton of success between the Costco, filling the old Kmart, getting Hobby Lobby, Toys”R”Us, getting the hotels, adding restaurants, repurposing buildings,” Haussler said. “But we’re here and ready and pushing to take it to the next level.”