But are their tactics working?<\/p>\n
Some say it\u2019s too soon to tell.<\/p>\n
Last June, Councilmembers Annalisa Perea and Miguel Arias brought forth a new one-year pilot program<\/a> that slapped the owners of vacant commercial buildings in Tower with stricter deadlines for rehabilitating their empty storefronts.<\/p>\n If that was the proverbial stick, six months later, Perea returned with the carrot: In December, she passed a new one-year incentive program<\/a> for the Tower District that promised small local businesses rebates of up to 50% of what they pay the city in sales tax for two years if they become tenants of a vacant property.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re doing more to hold negligent property owners accountable,\u201d Perea said of the new programs in a recent interview with Fresnoland. \u201cOn the other hand, I want to do whatever I can to help them get their buildings occupied again.\u201d<\/p>\n In the first six months of the older of the two laws, many of these empty properties have stayed empty. But some see other signs of progress in its wake.<\/p>\n \u201cI think it has helped the communication with some of the building owners,\u201d said Cami Cipolla, interim executive director of the Tower District Business Association.\u00a0<\/p>\n That\u2019s a notable step forward, she added, in tackling the issue of absentee property owners in Tower who don\u2019t live in the area and are difficult to pin down.<\/p>\n Still, no one is claiming victory yet, and that includes Perea.<\/p>\n She said that more time is needed to see what works and what doesn\u2019t with the new vacant building pilot. As for the incentive program that passed last month, Perea\u2019s office has yet to receive any applications \u2014 and is working on getting the word out to more businesses.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re going to be, this week, filming a couple promo videos at different spots in the Tower District, so we can better get the word out,\u201d she said. \u201cSimply passing an agenda item doesn\u2019t necessarily tell folks what\u2019s going on.\u201d<\/p>\n Others think the city may not have found the right combination of strategies for eliminating vacancies yet.<\/p>\n Arias, who co-sponsored the vacant building pilot program with Perea, said a goal for the remaining year of his term at City Hall is to introduce a vacancy tax for some property owners. That would add onto the existing property tax bill of building owners whose properties stay vacant for a certain period.<\/p>\n \u201cThe fact is, a vacant property costs the public a lot more resources than (an) occupied property, both in police and fire time and code enforcement,\u201d Arias said. \u201cIf somebody is going to intentionally keep their property vacant, the rest of the public should not have to pay or subsidize the amount of public resources required to maintain that property.\u201d<\/p>\n But not everyone feels confident the stick \u2014 or even two sticks \u2014 will move the needle on commercial vacancies.<\/p>\n That includes Scott Miller, head of the Fresno Chamber of Commerce.<\/p>\n Miller co-owns multiple Tower businesses, and is also the owner of a vacant commercial property in the program\u2019s pilot zone off of Olive and Vagedes. He said he\u2019s been \u201ctreated very fairly\u201d under the new program, but is still concerned it \u201cpresupposes\u201d owners can rent or sell their properties more quickly \u201cif they try harder,\u201d when that\u2019s not always the case.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s been vacant for a little while,\u201d he said of his property, which started as a nursery and was most recently home to an ice cream shop before it became vacant last March. \u201cBut that\u2019s how it works. I want to get somebody in there, but it\u2019s not outrageous with a property like this that\u2019s so unique and different.\u201d<\/p>\n Veronica Stumpf, a commercial real estate broker with clients in the Tower, said she hasn\u2019t seen the new pilot programs inspire a change in behavior from the property owners she works with \u201cjust yet.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWhat I\u2019m seeing is owners often become more willing to sell only after a fire or major incident happens,\u201d she said, \u201cwhich is exactly what this ordinance is trying to prevent.\u201d<\/p>\n What do the new vacant building programs in Tower require?<\/p>\n The vacant commercial building pilot comes with new requirements for owners in Tower. For one, the owner of any boarded-up building must make their property ready for occupancy within four months of when it\u2019s first boarded up.<\/p>\n There are some exceptions for owners to blow past those 120 days: For example, if the building has an active permit and the owner is \u201cprogressing diligently\u201d toward permitted construction.\u00a0<\/p>\n There\u2019s also an exception for properties the City Attorney\u2019s Office declares aren\u2019t a \u201cnuisance\u201d \u2014 a requirement Perea said was intended to give the code enforcement team flexibility.<\/p>\n \u201cI have not seen our City Attorney\u2019s Office abuse that definition,\u201d she said. \u201cIf it gets to a point where somebody from the community feels like we are not adequately using that definition the way they see fit. You know, I\u2019m happy to look at that.\u201d<\/p>\n Vacant property owners must also, under the pilot program, add information about their space to a registry if it\u2019s vacant longer than 30 days. That information includes contact information for the owners, any agent or representative they may have and anyone with \u201clegal interest in the property,\u201d as well as the date on which the property became vacant. This information builds on existing requirements already under the city\u2019s Blighted Vacant Building Ordinance that\u2019s been on the books since 2003, according to Fresno Municipal Code<\/a>.<\/p>\n Since the pilot took effect last summer, Perea told Fresnoland that 55 notices have been issued to vacant property owners.<\/p>\n Of those, 23 of those cases were subsequently closed because code enforcement determined the property wasn\u2019t actually vacant.<\/p>\n Another 20 of those cases have since closed because the property owners came into compliance.<\/p>\n \u201cWhether it was broken windows that they went and fixed,\u201d Perea said, \u201cwhatever the issue was, they addressed them.\u201d<\/p>\n Nine of the 55 cases remain open. Perea said a majority of those cases remain active since property owners have yet to remedy violations, while a handful are because the city hasn\u2019t been able to get in touch with the owners.<\/p>\n As for the tax incentive program, Perea said the eligibility criteria were written with mom-and-pop shops in mind. For instance, applicants are required to have a minimum of three employees, and chains aren\u2019t eligible.\u00a0<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/IMG_9305.jpg\")
Some properties along Fern Avenue in Fresno\u2019s Tower District have sat vacant for decades. Julianna Morano | Fresnoland<\/p>\n