What’s at stake?

The Fresno City Council approved an 82-unit market rate apartment project in northwest Fresno. Although the city rejected the project last year, a ruling from a judge over the summer forced them to reconsider.

The Fresno City Council on Thursday voted 4-2 to approve a market-rate housing project in northwest Fresno – a year after they rejected the same proposal, prompting a legal battle the city lost quickly.

The proposed apartment complex consists of three three-story buildings and one four-story building of 82-unit market-rate apartments. It will be on the northeast corner of West Herndon and North Prospect Avenues, neighboring Orchard Park and H. Roger Tatarian Elementary School. 

The project is from local developer James Huelskamp’s group LandValue Management. 

Fresno City Councilmembers Annalisa Perea, Brandon Vang, Nelson Esparza and Nick Richardson voted to approve the project. Fresno Council President Mike Karbassi and Councilmember Tyler Maxwell opposed the proposal. Miguel Arias was absent.

Although both Fresno’s planning commission and city council controversially rejected the project last year, the matter made its way back to Fresno City Hall after a judge’s  ruling earlier this summer.

“We are being ordered by a state judge to essentially approve this project,” said Fresno City Attorney Andrew Janz at the council meeting on Thursday, adding context for the audience and councilmembers. 

Janz added that a rejection could subject the city to “hundreds of thousands of dollars” in sanctions by the court and open them up to federal lawsuits by the developer.

“It would be very unwise to ignore a court order,” Janz said. 

The project began development in 2021 when the city approved the project on a by-right basis. Since then, the project has seen multiple appeals and rejections leading up to Thursday’s approval.

Karbassi, who represents the northwest part of town, said he took issue with how the developer handled the process in the years leading up to Thursday. Karbassi specifically said that the developer doing the bare minimum to get the project approved rubbed some of his constituents the wrong way. 

“I get it, it’s by right. You can do whatever you want. You don’t have to give a damn about what happens in the neighborhood,” Karbassi said. “But it’s my responsibility, and it’s the people that live there that have to deal with the impact of it.” 

Karbassi and other northwest Fresno residents said that they’re not opposed to more housing being built, but that the city needs to “build responsibly.” 

The land where the apartments will stand used to be zoned for a neighborhood shopping district before it was rezoned to multi-family use in 2015. 

Though the process to rezone the land was followed correctly, many northwest Fresno residents say the city didn’t do enough to engage with them about the ramifications of such a decision — a sentiment Karbassi agreed with.

“I mentioned 2015 with a lot of anger because all of us inherited this problem when the councilmember and the former administration allowed this parcel to be rezoned,” Karbassi said. 

He later added, “It’s their responsibility, and they failed you, and I’m pretty pissed because I’m stuck with this.”

As in all meetings related to this housing project, the majority of public commenters spoke in opposition to the development — including one resident calling it a “high-density monstrosity.” 

However, there were only five public commenters on Thursday for the item. 

“We are here to witness something that no one wants,” said Dennis Nard, one of Thursday’s public commenters. “The fix seems like it’s been in for the last four years.”

Huelskamp told Frensoland after the meeting that the approval was “the right decision all along.” He promised the residents that his development will not only address the state’s housing shortage, but that it would also be beautiful. 

He also criticized city leadership for having the approval process take as long as it did — specifically targeting the northwest councilmember. 

“I’m disappointed in how long Mr. Karbassi dragged this on,” Huelskamp said. “He’s somewhat incompetent, I would say, for the needs of California.”

“My job is to represent my residents,” Karbassi told Fresnoland Thursday over text. “I did that today, and I will continue to do so.”

Fresnoland reporter Julianna Morano contributed to this story. 

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