Central Southeast Area Specific Plan<\/a>, would prime southeast Fresno for redevelopment and designate more housing in the area.<\/p>\nThe other, a request to rezone 55 acres of land at Elm and Annadale Avenues back to industrial from commercial and residential use, has developers Buzz Oates and Span Development pitted against community members who say they want industrial businesses gone from the area.<\/p>\n
The two companies had earlier wanted to use the increased housing designation to justify reverting land use back to industrial \u2014 a condition California law places on any land-use changes that reduce potential housing.<\/p>\n
Additionally, the two companies say they paid the city more than $64,000 for environmental work to add more housing potential. With the city unwilling to add the accommodation at the same time, business owners want the discussions to happen all at once.<\/p>\n
Arias, however, said applicants for one item don\u2019t get a say in other city matters.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese neighbors in southeast have waited nearly a decade for the southeast specific plan to be approved. This today isn\u2019t about politics,\u201d Arias said. \u201cThis is about a long- overdue opportunity for the working families of southeast Fresno that have been left behind to finally have a thorough plan for economic development in their area.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Aerial Map city zoning map change
\nSouthwest Needs a Specific Plan: Darden<\/p>\n
On Tuesday, attorney Andrew Skanchy, representing developers Buzz Oates and Span Development said the city\u2019s decision to zone away from industrial use devalued their property and made doing business difficult.<\/p>\n
While the changes in the 2018 Southwest Fresno Specific Plan allow continued industrial use, selling the building or waiting too long between tenants can make their businesses noncompliant.<\/p>\n
Neighbors, however, say the changes are essential to revitalizing southwest Fresno, which is one of the most heavily polluted areas in the country. In addition, residents say they lack necessary retail and adequate housing, forcing people in the area to travel long distances for amenities.<\/p>\n
Industrial presence in southwest Fresno has discouraged those businesses from coming to the area, said Lewis.<\/p>\n
Darden, who with Lewis was instrumental in creating the specific plan, said the plan has laid the groundwork to turn that around.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor a long time, we had to listen to developers to include retail and stores that say you don\u2019t have enough rooftops or you don\u2019t have enough businesses,\u201d Darden said. \u201cNow, we started to understand why we didn\u2019t have that. It was because we didn\u2019t have a specific plan.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mitchell, also with the planning committee, said reverting the zoning would be a push backwards.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re hopeful that other members of the council will do what is right, do what is just, and do what\u2019s fair and deny this Elm Street rezone,\u201d Mitchell said.<\/p>\n
Skanchy said the two companies paid the city more than $64,000 to do environmental work on a piece of land within the southeast specific plan that would make up for lost housing if his client\u2019s land was zoned back to industrial.<\/p>\n
They say an agreement with the city came with the understanding both items would be heard at the same time. The city\u2019s interpretation of state law requires that any loss of potential housing \u2014 such as with the Elm Avenue rezone \u2014 must be made up for at that same meeting.<\/p>\n
Arias said the city followed the law in executing the land-use change, saying property owners had 90 days after the 2018 decision to appeal the choice. Property owners have long maintained they were left out of those conversations.<\/p>\n
Elm Avenue Discussion Quickly Becomes Political<\/p>\n
The Elm Avenue discussion has spurred much political infighting at the dais.<\/p>\n
In anticipation of the Elm Avenue rezone hearing, Arias held a community listening session and posted several comments letting people know about the hearing.<\/p>\n
In response to those actions, political consultant Alex Tavlian, who represents Elm Avenue business owners, sent out a news release earlier this week saying Arias needs to recuse himself in the discussion because the matter is quasi-judicial.<\/p>\n
\u201cCouncil members are required to sit in a judge-like manner and act impartially, only rendering decisions based on evidence and information present during the hearing,\u201d Tavlian\u2019s new release stated. \u201cThey cannot advocate for one side or the other, or organize opposition or support.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tavlian is also a political consultant for Councilmember Mike Karbassi.<\/p>\n
Arias pushed back, saying that gathering input from community meetings is what his job calls for.<\/p>\n
City Attorney Andrew Janz confirmed to GV Wire that the community meeting would not interfere with Arias\u2019 ability to participate in decision-making.<\/p>\n
He went so far as to play a voicemail reportedly from Kevin Ramos, chief investment officer for Buzz Oates, requesting a meeting with Arias. A call to Ramos by GV Wire to confirm the call was not returned.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe idea that listening to residents creates a bias is not just wrong, it\u2019s backwards,\u201d Arias said. \u201cThe same applicant who claims that I should be recused because I had an informational town hall meeting, left me voice messages asking to meet with me to lobby me.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Despite a $100 million claim against the city that a 2018 rezone devalued two property owners\u2019 investments in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":226133,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[112,114,113],"class_list":["post-226132","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-fresno","tag-fresno","tag-fresno-headlines","tag-fresno-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/226132","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=226132"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/226132\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/226133"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=226132"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=226132"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=226132"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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