\u201cIf you approve the project today, we\u2019re going to be back in court,\u201d he told the council.<\/p>\n
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A large empty lot across from businesses in the Marketplace at El Paseo shopping center in northwest Fresno has been designated to be Fresno’s largest Costco. However, zoning and environmental analysis setbacks have delayed the project. CRAIG KOHLRUSS ckohlruss@fresnobee.com Karbassi blasts coalition<\/p>\n
Northwest Councilmember Mike Karbassi has long accused the Herndon-Riverside coalition of NIMBY behavior and of not truly being concerned with environmental issues.<\/p>\n
On Thursday, he vigorously defended the Costco project as economically necessary for Fresno.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt keeps jobs here,\u201d he said. \u201cCostco pays a living wage to folks, so they can have a job and raise their families in this community, not have to go somewhere else.\u201d<\/p>\n
Of the coalition, Karbassi said: \u201cAll they care about is raising the cost of living for working families. I admit I resent that.\u201d<\/p>\n
But Brannick said the legal trouble the city has faced over its Costco planning has been \u201cself-inflicted.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe don\u2019t oppose Costco, and we\u2019re not running a popularity contest,\u201d he said. \u201cWhat we oppose is not calling things what they are and not following the law.\u201d<\/p>\n
To him, the project\u2019s environmental review remains inadequate and ignores the true impacts of the 129,326 extra vehicle miles traveled daily that the new Costco is expected to cause in the region. He also says the 47,000-square-foot distribution space is an industrial use that the city\u2019s laws simply do not allow in a commercial space.<\/p>\n
Shimko, the Costco lawyer, said the city is the entity in \u201cthe best position to interpret its zoning rules.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are quite confident that nothing has been presented to you to undermine your zoning consistency findings,\u201d she told councilmembers.<\/p>\n
Did City of Fresno waive $40M in impact fees for northwest Costco?<\/p>\n
During the meeting, City Manager Georgeanne White also took aim at a recent news report that said the Fresno Planning Commission exempted the Costco project from paying $40 million worth of fees to mitigate the increase in vehicle trips it will cause.<\/p>\n
The nonprofit newsroom Fresnoland reported<\/a> that the city\u2019s mitigation program, approved last fall, charges $295 per unmitigated vehicle mile traveled. Since Costco is adding nearly 130,000 vehicle miles traveled, its mitigation costs under the program could have been almost $40 million. Costco was charged none of these mitigation fees.<\/p>\n But White and Costco representatives said Thursday that there was no exemption because the mitigation program does not apply to projects whose transportation analyses were completed before the program was approved. Costco\u2019s transportation analysis was completed prior to the council\u2019s first approval of the project in 2024.<\/p>\n White said the city is not \u201clegally able to apply VMT fees\u201d to the project and that the planning commission also \u201chas no authority to exempt fees.\u201d<\/p>\n City staff told the council that Costco has paid about $8.3 million in development fees for this project.<\/p>\n This story was originally published May 21, 2026 at 4:49 PM.<\/p>\n Related Stories from Fresno Bee<\/p>\n
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