Image courtesy of 4Creeks, Inc.

Over 500 homes are planned for construction in the City of Tulare following approval of the city council for a land annexation.

San Joaquin Valley Homes (SJV Homes), a Visalia-based homebuilder, had their request approved for Tulare to annex rural land into the city limits for a 556-single-family home subdivision.

The development project, called the Farmers National Company (FNC) Farming Residential Subdivision, will move forward after the annexation was approved by all five Tulare City Council members.

Farmers National Company is a farm and ranch management and real estate company headquartered in Nebraska.

The project site, located on the southeast corner of Morrison Street and Prosperity Avenue, covers approximately 140 acres.

The land, located to the west of the city, currently consists of agricultural land.

Approximately 5.4 acres of the subdivision will be zoned into rural residential land.

“Staff has reviewed the annexation and believes that it could be found that the proposed annexation represents an orderly expansion of the city limits,” said Steven Sopp, principal planner for the City of Tulare, during the Tulare City Council meeting April 1.

Groundbreaking for the subdivision is expected to take place in June, Sopp said.

He added there will be 3 to 7 units per acre.

A portion of the development will be suitable to use as park space and will have a Class 1 bike path, which is a shared-use or multiuse trail with separated bike facilities exclusively for the use of bikes and pedestrians.

Sopp said that home sales in the city are a little higher than average, with 408 units permitted this year so far.

The city will submit an application to the Tulare County Local Agency Formation Commission in order to initiate annexation proceedings.

Founded in 2013, SJV Homes has expanded its operations across the Central Valley and celebrated the closing of its 4,500 the home in February.