A long-disputed development plan in Fresno County, California, has cleared a major hurdle after years of legal challenges.<\/p>\n
Here’s what to know<\/p>\n
According to Fox26<\/a>, the Friant Ranch project is a $1.1 billion planned community near Friant Road, the San Joaquin River, and Millerton Lake.<\/p>\n If it wins final approval, the development would bring thousands of homes, commercial space, parks, trails, and expanded wastewater infrastructure.<\/p>\n The Fresno County Planning Commission supported Friant Ranch and recommended certification of its updated environmental impact report.<\/p>\n Plans span about 900 acres and call for roughly 2,500 homes, most of which are intended for people 55 and older.<\/p>\n The proposal also includes shops, parks, trails, and other amenities, plus a new wastewater treatment plant intended to serve Friant Ranch and nearby areas.<\/p>\n Even so, that recommendation is not permission to begin construction.<\/p>\n The Fresno County Board of Supervisors will make the next decision, with a vote on the project tentatively planned for Oct. 20.<\/p>\n More background<\/p>\n The Friant Ranch proposal has been in review and litigation for more than a decade.<\/p>\n As Fox26 reported, Fresno County originally approved the project in 2011, but environmental groups later challenged the county’s review under the California Environmental Quality Act.<\/p>\n The dispute eventually reached the California Supreme Court, which ruled in 2018 that the county’s environmental review did not adequately explain how increased air pollution could affect human health.<\/p>\n That decision sent county officials back to redo parts of the analysis, and the project’s earlier approvals were later set aside.<\/p>\n Where can I learn more?<\/p>\n Environmental protections are increasingly a factor in development decisions, while some areas even choose to protect land from future construction work.<\/p>\n \u2022 In California, officials pushed to protect mountain lions<\/a> amid clashes with developers and residents.<\/p>\n \u2022 In Arizona, a first-of-its-kind conservation easement<\/a> shielded water, wildlife, and grasslands from development.<\/p>\n Get TCD’s free newsletters<\/a> for easy tips, smart advice, and a chance to earn $5,000 toward home upgrades. To see more stories like this one, change your Google preferences here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A long-disputed development plan in Fresno County, California, has cleared a major hurdle after years of legal challenges.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":480491,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[7,9,8,5962,622,188464,16833],"class_list":["post-480490","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-california","tag-california","tag-california-headlines","tag-california-news","tag-development-plan","tag-fresno-county","tag-friant-ranch","tag-wastewater-treatment-plant"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/480490","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=480490"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/480490\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/480491"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=480490"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=480490"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=480490"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}