And while the numbers presented by the city look \u201cgreat,\u201d in the words of Council President Nelson Esparza, critics of the plan remain unconvinced.<\/p>\n
The Southeast Development Area is Fresno Mayor Jerry Dyer\u2019s plan to expand the city to the south and east by annexing 9,000 acres of primarily farmland. The project could add up to 45,000 new homes to the city, according to city estimates. In response to pushback, Dyer has since shifted focus to a smaller chunk of the overall proposal that would allocate 467 acres for housing and 1,547 acres opening up south of Jensen Avenue<\/a> (between Jensen and North avenues and between Minnewawa and Temperance avenues) for advanced manufacturing.<\/p>\n In August, the City Planning Commission voted for the second time in less than a year to recommend the controversial development<\/a> to the Fresno City Council for approval.<\/p>\n A consultant hired by the city presented options such as land-secured bonds or bonds against enterprise funds or a public-private partnership to fund the upfront development costs for South SEDA. The report concludes that South SEDA would eventually pay for itself and would generate revenue for the city\u2019s general fund.<\/p>\n Under the proposed financing plan, the sewer trunk main for South SEDA is estimated to cost the city a total of $86 million, which is the cost to build the estimated $72 million sewer line plus the financing cost. City officials say this is the only up front cost for which the city is responsible. A previous city study put the total infrastructure cost of the first phase of SEDA at $672.3 million.<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cThe only infrastructure that is pre-built by the city is the sewer trunk main,\u201d Jennifer Clark, the director of planning and development, said during Thursday\u2019s presentation.<\/p>\n Clark said that other infrastructure \u2013 such as streets, sidewalks, lighting, intersections \u2013 are constructed by development as development happens and will be included in an impact fee program. \u201cIt is required as development occurs; it does not need to be built prior to development,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Fresno Mayor Jerry Dyer has long-argued that the SEDA will provide good-paying manufacturing jobs and ensure Fresno doesn\u2019t lose out on people moving to Madera or other neighboring Fresno County cities.<\/a> Dyer said Thursday he was \u201canti-SEDA\u201d when he was elected as mayor. But he\u2019s open to it now that the development will start with a smaller chunk focused on advanced manufacturing and some housing, a new tax-sharing agreement with the county, a special tax for police and fire on new homes, known as CFD 18,<\/a> and a proposed community benefit fund.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen I look at all of this together, for me as a mayor of the city, I think it is a fiscally prudent to do thing to do in the future. It\u2019s smart growth. It\u2019s not allowing for leapfrog development,\u201d Dyer said.<\/p>\n Not everyone was convinced by the financial presentation last week. Several commenters, including the proposal\u2019s harshest critics, remain skeptical of the plan, and raised questions about the underlying assumptions in the financial analysis such as projected population growth and housing density in the planned community.<\/p>\n One of the project\u2019s fiercest critics, Dillon Savory, who heads the Fresno-Madera-Tulare-Kings Central Labor Council, asked the Council Thursday to weigh the net benefit versus the harm to Fresno students and existing communities. He thinks prominent developers are those that most stand to benefit.<\/p>\n \u201cEvery time there\u2019s a new restaurant or a new thing in Fresno, we all rush towards that, and then we abandon it later,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Patience Milrod, an attorney representing the CLC, is calling on the city council to send it back to the planning commission for further review.<\/a><\/p>\n During Thursday\u2019s meeting, she cautioned the council not to vote to approve the entire 9,000-acre SEDA project based on financial projections for only South SEDA.<\/p>\n \u201cMy concern is that Southwest Fresno is still getting left out and put aside and overlooked because we\u2019re not developing in that area like we should be,\u201d Fresno resident Hester Hensley said.<\/p>\n Amy Lapin, a principal with the urban economics consulting firm Economics & Planning Systems, presented a handful of public financing options for the \u201cupfront backbone infrastructure\u201d for South SEDA. The firm did not independently evaluate the feasibility of the proposed land uses as part of this study, the report states.<\/p>\n One option the firm analyzed was a bond secured by land value, such as a Mello-Roos Bond. A bond is a type of loan to a government, agency or company that is repaid with interest, according to financial services company Fidelity. Mellow-Roos bonds are typically used as a way to fund infrastructure and are payable through a special tax imposed on real property<\/a>. This option isn\u2019t feasible for South SEDA, the firm found, because it requires a three-to-one value-to-lien ratio.<\/p>\n \u201cBefore development occurs, South SEDA consists largely of undeveloped land with limited value, so this threshold cannot be met,\u201d the report found.<\/p>\n The city could finance the upfront development for South SEDA through a revenue-secured bond, such as an enterprise revenue bond repaid from utility user rates and surcharges, Lapin said. An enterprise fund is a type of revenue source that is funded by ratepayers and is separate from the discretionary, general fund portion of the city\u2019s budget. For example Fresno\u2019s water and sewer systems are enterprise funds, funded by water and sewer fees from ratepayers.<\/p>\n Some councilmembers, such as Miguel Arias from District 3, and public commenters, including District 1 candidate Naindeep Singh, raised concerns about \u201cskyrocketing utility bills in the middle of an affordability crisis.\u201d<\/p>\n But Lapin, Clark and City Manager Georgeanne White said the city could use the utility\u2019s $32.8 million reserve fund to make the first debt-service payments.<\/p>\n \u201cThe fiscal study described by Amy initially contemplates bonding and repayment from the reserves until the project is cost neutral and repays the utility reserves. It is not from rate payers,\u201d Clark said.<\/p>\n The annual debt-service cost would be about $6.5 million annually, city staff said.<\/p>\n \u201cThat, in essence, loan would be for approximately three to six years (until the project is cost neutral),\u201d White said.<\/p>\n Still, Dyer previously said the city of Fresno is planning to bring forth a plan to increase water and sewer rates sometime later this year<\/a>.<\/p>\n The city could also explore a public-private partnership, where the private partner would fund the predevelopment costs upfront, and the city could issue a special infrastructure tax to reimburse the private partner or for other infrastructure costs depending on the specific terms of the agreement, the report said.<\/p>\n District 5 Councilmember Brandon Vang, whose district encompasses a large portion of southeast Fresno, including neighborhoods around Sunnyside, Roosevelt and Fancher Creek, raised concerns about the density proposed in the south SEDA financing proposal.<\/p>\n The South SEDA financial analysis assumes 20 single family residential units per acre across approximately 400 acres. By contrast, in 2016, the median net residential density of a typical American subdivision was 4.0 housing units per acre, according to the National Association of Home Builders.<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cThese numbers are mind-boggling to me,\u201d said District 5 councilmember Brandon Vang. He said the proposal was \u201ctoo big\u201d and the impacts \u201ctoo unknown for him\u201d to support SEDA.<\/p>\n \u201cThe bottom line is I represent those people who live in District Five, and in this case, I\u2019ve heard loud and clear from them, and they do not want SEDA,\u201d he said, adding that he\u2019s open to other ideas and financial means to move forward.<\/p>\n District 3 Councilmember Miguel Arias said he would continue to study the SEDA proposal, but he didn\u2019t think it passed the \u201csmell test.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cUltimately, I\u2019m still unclear about who\u2019s requesting that we go down this path,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n![\"Mostly](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/FRS_SEDA-AREA_05.JPG\" "\\"FRS_SEDA-AREA_05.JPG\\"")
Mostly agricultural land is visible looking south from Temperance and Jensen avenues in rural Fresno County on Thursday, Feb. 12, 2026. The land is part of the Southeast Development Area, or SEDA, a 9,000-acre swath of unincorporated Fresno County land where Fresno Mayor Jerry Dyer and his administration are proposing the development of 45,000 homes. CRAIG KOHLRUSS ckohlruss@fresnobee.com <\/p>\n Modified consolidated business park alternative map for SEDA. City of Fresno How could Fresno finance South SEDA?<\/p>\n
![\"An](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/FRS_SEDA-AREA_01.JPG\" "\\"FRS_SEDA-AREA_01.JPG\\"")
An orange orchard lines Temperance Avenue just south of Jensen southeast of Fresno on Thursday, Feb. 12, 2026. This is the northwest corner of land known as the Southeast Development Area, or SEDA, a 9,000-acre swath of unincorporated Fresno County land where Mayor Jerry Dyer and his administration are proposing the development of 45,000 homes. CRAIG KOHLRUSS ckohlruss@fresnobee.com Brandon Vang: my constituents have spoken<\/p>\n
![\"Profile](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/1789148423_729_Melissa_Montalvo_Headshot.jpeg\")