![\"Clovis](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/FRS_Clovisrezone_2.JPG\" "\\"Clovis")
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Clovis plans to rezone more than seven acres of this parcel of land on the southeast corner of Shaw and Locan Avenues for higher housing density to meet a state Housing Element requirement.<\/p>\n
CRAIG KOHLRUSS<\/p>\n
ckohlruss@fresnobee.com<\/p>\n
A proposal to rezone a parcel of land for higher-density housing in the Loma Vista area is under review by the Clovis City Council, despite the plan being voted down by the city\u2019s Planning Commission.<\/p>\n
The 7.39-acre parcel, located at the southeast corner of Shaw and Locan Avenues, is planned to be rezoned for the possibility of constructing up to 30 units per acre, according to the city\u2019s document.<\/p>\n
Through the rezone, the city hopes the site could accommodate 111 to 229 residential units to offset a housing capacity deficit of 177 low-income units created by some previous development projects.<\/p>\n
No actual development proposal has been submitted, according to the city\u2019s planning department.<\/p>\n
The latest rezone plan is part of Clovis\u2019s sixth-cycle housing element. Under state law, every county and city in California must adopt a housing element as part of its general plan to outline how the city will meet the community\u2019s housing needs across all income levels. In the current cycle covering the time period from July 2023 to December 2031, Clovis is required to maintain a housing inventory of 8,977 units, including 4,475 low-income units, according to the city\u2019s housing needs projection.<\/p>\n
The 7.39-acre parcel in discussion is not associated with the city\u2019s infill rezone program. Previously, Clovis was caught in a lawsuit<\/a> for failing to comply with the state housing element mandate in 2019. The city is making progress<\/a> on meeting a series of requirements in the 2024 settlement agreement, such as adopting an ordinance to set aside at least 5% of units for lower-income residents in any new residential developments with 11 or more units, and implementing an infill rezone program<\/a> to redesignate 20 parcels for higher-density housing within established neighborhoods.<\/p>\n Clovis is significantly behind in the rollout of lower-income units, as developers tend to favor providing market-rate housing. As a result, the city has to continually seek alternative sites to meet the potential future demand for lower-income residential projects.<\/p>\n As of the end of 2025, Clovis issued permits for 1,442 units, including 21 very low-income, 16 low-income, 49 moderate-income, and 1,356 above moderate-income units, according to the staff report.<\/p>\n Marisa Parker, the city\u2019s associate planner, told the planning commission that developers have their own ability to decide the rate of the housing units and ultimately, it\u2019s the city\u2019s obligation to find a replacement site and to meet the state requirements.<\/p>\n The city started the cycle with a 215-unit surplus in lower-income unit capacity, but two development projects resulted in a 177-unit deficit, staff told the planning commission at a meeting earlier this month.<\/p>\n Said Matthew Lear, deputy city attorney: \u201cI just wanted to mention that, under the Government Code, it wouldn\u2019t be grounds to deny a project if it was going to create a deficit in our housing inventory. You couldn\u2019t deny it on that ground.\u201d<\/p>\n Per state law, the city has 180 days to identify and make available a replacement site, or Clovis will be out of compliance and potentially leading to a loss of local control over land use, according to the report.<\/p>\n \u201cI think this is going to be the categories that we\u2019re probably going to wrestle with the most. I think we really need to try to get ahead of this. We either need to identify them, and then they\u2019re in the surplus, or we need to have some kind of high level of confidence that they\u2019re sitting in the parking lot, so to speak, and could be brought in,\u201d said Commissioner Brandon Bedsted.<\/p>\n Bedsted said he understands the city is in a \u201cbehind the eight ball\u201d situation, but he also recognized there\u2019s not much the city can do.<\/p>\n \u201cIdeally, we want to have property owners that want to pursue that, or developers that would want to pursue that, versus canvassing the city and starting to pick sites that folks may contest if those properties get selected for something like this,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n Staff told the commissioners that in this case, the parcel owner, Nikdokht Karimkhanzand, reached out to the city and his parcel meets the criteria for selection.<\/p>\n Opposition from the commissioners and residents<\/p>\n The planning commission declined to recommend the proposal to the council by a vote of four against and one in favor.<\/p>\n The proposal will still move forward to the city council for discussion with the record of objection from the Planning Commission, according to Lear.<\/p>\n Besides typical concerns<\/a> such as traffic, parking spaces, and school capacity, the commissioners also worried that the lot adjacent to the east of this parcel has already been approved for the construction of a multifamily apartment building, which is expected to bring in approximately 200 units.<\/p>\n \u201cAs a citizen, if I lived across the street from this area, it would be of concern to me that there\u2019s a possible project in the works, and now we\u2019re going to have another project of the same size there,\u201d said Alma Antuna, chair of the commission. \u201cIf I were sitting in that chair talking to someone up here on the dais, I would want them to hear that I\u2019m not against housing, and I understand why we\u2019re doing what we need to do, but two big projects going in my neighborhood, that\u2019s hard.\u201d<\/p>\n The city received a dozen written comments in opposition to the rezone. A handful of homeowners and residents spoke to the commissioners at the September meeting.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Clovis community works hard to keep our property values up. By building cheaper housing options, our property values will drop,\u201d wrote Sara Mitchell, an adjacent property owner. \u201cWhile lower-income families will bring diversity to the community, these homes may not attract the type of neighbor we all want to have.\u201d<\/p>\n Pat Heisler, a resident who lives across the street from the parcel, said the introduction of apartment buildings will make the neighborhood a mess, which will \u201cput the value of my house down to nothing,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m from a city, I didn\u2019t want to live in a city and being near any kind of high-rise or very dense housing, right back to that kind of an issue of people and traffic and all of that,\u201d said Michelle Resendes, another homeowner. \u201cSo, just the quality of life, and that\u2019s why everyone lives in this area.\u201d<\/p>\n Related Stories from Fresno Bee<\/p>\n![\"Clovis](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/FRS_Clovisrezone_1.JPG\" "\\"FRS_Clovisrezone_1.JPG\\"")
Clovis plans to rezone more than seven acres of this parcel of land on the southeast corner of Shaw and Locan Avenues for higher housing density to meet a state Housing Element requirement. CRAIG KOHLRUSS ckohlruss@fresnobee.com Low-income unit deficit<\/p>\n