Business owners are demanding Fresno City Councilman Miguel Arias be disqualified from weighing in on the Elm Ave. rezoning proposal.
The owners of the Elm Avenue Business Park sent a letter to Fresno City Attorney Andrew Janz on Monday urging him to counsel Arias to recuse himself on the matter during Thursday’s council meeting.
The backstory: Business park owners Buzz Oates and SPAN Development are requesting the city to rezone the land from mixed use to industrial.
The land was originally zoned for industrial use, but the city switched it to mixed use in 2018 as part of the Southwest Fresno Specific Plan. Those businesses are currently considered legally non-conforming by the city. They are allowed to continue their industrial use, but any future industrial tenants would not be in compliance.
State law requires housing to be made up in another part of the city if land is rezoned to industrial use. The businesses previously paid for an amendment to the Central Southeast plan to rezone around seven acres at Maple and Butler avenues for housing, effectively tying those two issues together.
Driving the news: Arias has been vocally opposed to the rezone and held a town hall event last week with the community.
During the town hall, Arias incorrectly told the public that the rezone would eliminate 3,500 housing units, replacing them with heavy industrial zoning. But the rezoning would actually be for a limited industrial classification, not heavy industrial zoning.
The business owners are pointing to Arias’ actions last week as to why he should be disqualified from voting on the rezone on Thursday, since state law requires councilmembers to act in a quasi-judicial matter on such issues. That means councilmembers are barred from advocating for one side over another.
What we’re watching: Along with the request for Arias to recuse himself, the businesses are also asking for an extension on the rezoning plan and the Central Southeast plan for 90 to 120 days.
What they’re saying: Attorney Andrew Skanchy penned the letter to Janz on behalf of Buzz Oates and SPAN Development.
“In a recent townhall that was plainly designed to foment opposition to the application, Arias made numerous inaccurate statements to the public, clearly signaled he has already determined the outcome of a vote on the rezone, and suggested that he likely has communicated with others in the administration to orchestrate denial,” Skanchy wrote. “Councilmember Arias has demonstrated an impermissible probability of actual bias against the rezone, and therefore he must recuse himself from any vote related to the project.”
Skanchy said Arias engaged in fear-mongering by saying the rezone would result in the life expectancy of southwest Fresno residents to be 20 years less than those who live in north Fresno.
“This is not a neutral recitation of the facts by an unbiased decisionmaker,” Skanchy wrote. “This is advocacy and the fomenting of public opposition.”
Skanchy added, “The City Council must remain neutral on the Elm Properties rezone and hear that item, and all related items, in an open and transparent manner, without advocacy or bias. If the City allows Councilmember Arias to vote on the rezone, or the related CSASP (Central Southeast Area Specific Plan), it will be another piece of evidence that the City has deprived the landowners of their right to a fair hearing on the merits, and the Landowners will be forced to take legal action.”