{"id":440306,"date":"2026-08-22T08:44:19","date_gmt":"2026-08-22T08:44:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/440306\/"},"modified":"2026-08-22T08:44:19","modified_gmt":"2026-08-22T08:44:19","slug":"planning-commission-backs-fresno-southeastern-growth-plan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/440306\/","title":{"rendered":"Planning Commission backs Fresno southeastern growth plan"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Fresno Planning Commission gave the city\u2019s major southeastern growth plan its stamp of approval Wednesday evening amid another display of fierce public backlash.<\/p>\n

The commission voted 6-1 to recommend an updated version of the Southeast Development Area, or SEDA, to the City Council. The plan to rezone 9,000 acres of mostly farmland in unincorporated Fresno County into the city has been revised in response to council direction given to Mayor Jerry Dyer\u2019s administration in December.<\/p>\n

An estimated 160 people attended, filling the council chambers for a third time in the past year over SEDA. A vast majority of public commenters spoke in opposition to SEDA, including the area\u2019s current rural residents, local school board representatives and a current city councilmember. Many raised questions about the plan\u2019s new financial analysis, which has not yet been released to the public.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think anybody in this room would sign over the purchase of a home if a seller were to tell them, \u2018sign this contract; we\u2019ll tell you how much it is later,\u2019\u201d Fresno City Council candidate Ariana Martinez-Lott said. \u201cSo why do we expect residents to do that with our taxpaying dollars?\u201d<\/p>\n

\"The The Fresno Planning Commission voted 6-1 to recommend an updated version of the Southeast Development Area, or SEDA, to the City Council on Wednesday, August, 19. Liliana Fannin <\/p>\n

Jamie Holt, a new commissioner appointed by Dyer, said that commissioners should not weigh in on the finances of a plan. Jennifer Clark, the city\u2019s planning director, said it\u2019s their job to consider if a plan is consistent with the goals of the city\u2019s general plan and that council is ultimately responsible for whether a project can be financed.<\/p>\n

The council could approve SEDA as soon as the next scheduled meeting, but Clark said staff is planning to present a workshop on SEDA\u2019s finances to the council on Sept. 3.<\/p>\n

Holt and other commissioners argued that development will happen in the SEDA area regardless of if the plan is approved or not.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey would never put a school there if they didn\u2019t think that there were going to be students in that area,\u201d Commissioner chair Kathy Bray said of the new Terry P. Bradley Educational Center on Leonard. \u201cThere\u2019s going to be development there. I see this plan with it being phased down in the Jensen area first as the least awful iteration of this. At least it starts there.\u201d<\/p>\n

The main updates to the plan<\/a> are shifting land use for more housing east of Temperance and creating a \u201cconsolidated business park\u201d south of Jensen, phasing growth so only the southern section can develop first, and requiring further environmental and fiscal review before expansion. The update also adds financial support for existing rural residents\u2019 utility connections and clarifies service and buffer policies.<\/p>\n

\"Modified Modified consolidated business park alternative map for SEDA. City of Fresno Data center, local school district, infill concerns<\/p>\n

A few speakers, including Councilmember Miguel Arias, raised concerns regarding data center development in the \u201cconsolidated business park\u201d area.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe fact is, it\u2019s not about advanced research; it\u2019s about data centers,\u201d Arias said. \u201cWe know it, you know it; there is no other demand.\u201d<\/p>\n

Clark said that because the development of data centers is not currently allowed in Fresno, that also would apply to SEDA.<\/p>\n

Others worried about the impact on the local school districts, Fresno Unified and Central Unified. FUSD has projected that SEDA would force school closures and layoffs.<\/p>\n

\u201cSEDA poses detriment to our schools, our students, and our teachers, and I\u2019m concerned for them,\u201d FUSD school board president Veva Islas said to the commissioners. \u201cWe are currently already suffering from a decline in attendance and enrollment.\u201d<\/p>\n

Other\u2019s argued Fresno\u2019s current neighborhoods need investment before the city expands.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe encourage the city to first partner with our community to create a funded infrastructure investment plan for communities west of Highway 99,\u201d said Mark Marshall, CUSD Superintendent. \u201cNext, prioritize infill development and housing strategies that uplift existing neighborhoods first.\u201d<\/p>\n

Job creation, economic growth<\/p>\n

Five people in the audience of roughly 160 spoke in favor of SEDA, who mostly emphasized job creation, housing opportunities, and economic growth.<\/p>\n

Samantha Forgey spoke to the commission on behalf of the Fresno Chamber of Commerce.<\/p>\n

\u201cFresno is at an important crossroads in determining how our community will accommodate future growth, create good-paying jobs, and provide housing opportunities for the next generation,\u201d she said. \u201cWe at the chamber believe that South SEDA represents an important opportunity to address those needs.\u201d<\/p>\n

Peter Weber, the founder of a job training program, the Fresno Bridge Academy, said the city does not have enough middle-income jobs.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am proud to live in a city with a mayor who is pursuing this project with tenacity,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

But Dillon Savory, executive director of the Fresno-Madera-Kings Central Labor Council<\/a>, argued the opposite.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a job killer,\u201d he said. \u201cThis is going to negatively impact the workers that work for the city of Fresno, the transit workers, the folks that fix our roads, the folks that do all of the services in the city, the folks that teach our schools. This is not going to help anybody.\u201c<\/p>\n

This story was originally published August 20, 2026 at 1:43 PM.<\/p>\n

Related Stories from Fresno Bee<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Fresno Planning Commission gave the city\u2019s major southeastern growth plan its stamp of approval Wednesday evening amid…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":440307,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[112,114,113],"class_list":["post-440306","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\/440306","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=440306"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/440306\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/440307"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=440306"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=440306"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=440306"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}