A seemingly straightforward approval from city leaders on Thursday marks the end to years of arduous discussion and planning among Tower District stakeholders over the future of their community.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Fresno City Council approved the newly drafted Tower District Specific Plan, setting new rules for design and land use decisions in the city\u2019s historic neighborhood.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The current Tower District Specific Plan<\/a> was established in 1991. <\/p>\n The new plan<\/a> saw the community resoundingly ask for more green spaces, increased access to amenities like medical facilities and groceries, and a desire to keep the design and look of the Tower District preserved.<\/p>\n Among the handful of public commenters was architect Chris Johnson, chair of the city\u2019s Tower District Specific Plan Draft committee. The 35-year resident of the Tower District was momentarily emotional during his comments, as Thursday marked the end to a long drafting process<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI think our passion over the past three and a half years to sustain this effort and to do what we needed to do to get this to you today is evident,\u201d Johnson said.\u00a0<\/p>\n A brief moment of cheering and applause broke out in the council chambers from stakeholders of the Tower District following Thursday\u2019s vote, as residents could finally say they finished their end of the deal in helping create a new vision for their neighborhood.<\/p>\n The City Council passed the plan unanimously, albeit in a 4-0 vote due to conflicts of interest from the majority of the dais. Councilmembers Miguel Arias, Nelson Esparza, Mike Karbassi and Annalisa Perea either own property or live in the specific plan\u2019s boundaries. A drawing led to Esparza joining Councilmembers Tyler Maxwell, Nick Richardson and Brandon Vang in the vote Thursday. Arias, Karbassi and Perea were required to abstain from the vote.<\/p>\n Since 2022<\/a>, the city has hosted a slew of public engagement and input opportunities for Tower District residents in the form of community meetings and online surveys.\u00a0<\/p>\n Tensions arose<\/a> when issues like the potential expansion of industrial zoning became as a point of debate in the community meetings, among other concerns with how much the plan should emphasize the desire for more amenities like libraries and medical facilities, and the need for more parks.<\/p>\n The city has specific plans for neighborhoods which serve to codify recommended design guidelines, zoning, and land use preferences.\u00a0<\/p>\n The move comes a month after the city approved the West Area Neighborhoods Specific Plan,<\/a> which saw residents who live west of Highway 99 cheer moves that they hope will make their neighborhood more walkable and address a shortage of resources and amenities enjoyed by other areas of town.\u00a0<\/p>\n However, while specific plans are legally binding, councilmembers can choose to supersede them through a majority vote. Residents of southwest Fresno are currently clashing with city leaders, who are mulling over overturning the plan to rezone property to industrial land use on Elm Avenue<\/a>, which would override the guidelines in the Southwest Fresno Specific Plan.\u00a0<\/p>\n Council (finally) passes legislation making it easier to convert offices into homes\u00a0<\/p>\n The Fresno City Council also unanimously approved a policy that will significantly cut red tape<\/a> to build housing in specifically in office zoned districts.\u00a0<\/p>\n The vote was 6-0, with Councilmember Richardson absent from the vote.\u00a0<\/p>\n It also concludes a hearing that started earlier this <\/a>month, and bookends an item that has been the subject of heated discussion for months.\u00a0<\/p>\n At the heart of the debate was a difference in philosophy in how the city should address its housing shortage. The legislation, as originally drafted months ago, included a provision to allow city staff to approve development applications in office zoned districts and vacant office buildings ministerially, or without requiring council approval.<\/p>\n What some councilmembers saw as a way to streamline housing approvals, others saw as an abdication of their duty and relinquishing of their power.<\/p>\n Months of debate followed, leading to the current iteration of the legislation \u2014 which will ultimately keep the ministerial provision but require councilmembers be notified when city staff approves such applications.<\/p>\n In the spirit of the many debates that preceded Thursday\u2019s hearing, Esparza, still reluctant to approve the ministerial provision that he referred to as a \u201cpoison pill,\u201d asked if the dais would entertain a motion to split the legislation into two parts<\/a> and put them onto the agendas of both December council meetings \u201cas a small courtesy.\u201d The move would have allowed councilmembers to vote separately on the approving office-to-home conversion and ministerial approval.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m not asking for a split to try and kill it. This old dog knows he\u2019s lost,\u201d Esparza said. \u201cBut I am asking for the courtesy to split the items into two\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWhat if I just give you a hug and we call that a courtesy?<\/a>,\u201d asked Arias, before the council eventually all voted to approve the project.\u00a0<\/p>\n Tower District sidewalk food vendors can still sell on the weekends<\/p>\n In a split 4-3 vote, the Fresno City Council approved increased fines to street vendors operating illegally in the Tower District.<\/p>\n Councilmembers Arias and Perea \u2014 who introduced the amendments last month and represent the majority of the Tower District \u2014 managed to get the new fines passed after an initial failed vote last month. This time, Councilmembers Maxwell and Vang joined the majority to approve. Councilmembers Esparza, Karbassi and Richardson voted to reject the change.<\/p>\n Thursday\u2019s approved amendments<\/a> are a pivot from the original proposal to ban sidewalk vending on weekends in the Tower, citing a need to address public health and safety concerns.\u00a0<\/p>\n Criticisms of the ban from vendors and advocates, and a failed initial vote last month, led to a redrafting of the proposal. This version only increases fines for vendors who violate city code from $100 to up to $500 per violation.<\/p>\n \u201cWe don\u2019t need more rules, we need to enforce the ones we already have,\u201d said Perea while discussing the changes to the proposal leading up to Thursday\u2019s vote<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n The changes are expected to take effect late next month or early next year.\u00a0<\/p>\n Council OKs controversial trash contract extension<\/p>\n The Fresno City Council voted 6-1 Thursday to extend by one year a controversial trash contract through 2035, giving Orange Avenue Disposal something no other city vendor has: the right to come back for price increases whenever regulations change.<\/p>\n The extension was the cost of settling a two-year payment dispute with the Caglia family, said City Manager Georgeanne White.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was a term that was agreed as part of the settlement agreement,\u201d White said.<\/p>\n Orange Avenue Disposal hadn\u2019t signed the agreement as of Thursday evening, according to City Attorney Andrew Janz.<\/p>\n The deal settles $1.5 million in payments the city withheld from Caglia in the spring of 2023 after determining it had overpaid Caglia\u2019s company by $3.4 million.<\/p>\n It adds to a 20-year trash privatization experiment that promised savings but has produced cost increases that have enriched a politically connected contractor.<\/p>\n At the meeting, Councilmember Miguel Arias, the lone dissent vote, noted a pattern: Every time the Caglia family\u2019s trash hauling contract nears the time for competitive bidding, the city approves an extension.<\/p>\n \u201cThis vendor is uniquely positioned to increase rates for residents across the city,\u201d Councilmember Miguel Arias said.<\/p>\n White then pointed out, with a smirk, that Arias had led the motion to approve the last extension himself, in 2020. <\/p>\n City follows county\u2019s lead toward kratom regulation<\/p>\n The City of Fresno will move toward introducing regulations against the sale and distribution of kratom<\/a> in a vote that comes on the heels of the county\u2019s decision to pursue similar actions earlier this week.\u00a0<\/p>\n The decision was approved in a procedural 6-1 vote, with no discussion. Northeast Fresno Councilmember Nick Richardson was the lone dissenting vote.<\/p>\n Thursday\u2019s decision comes after the city and county held a joint news conference<\/a> with local health leaders to announce plans to regulate the use of kratom and commercial products and supplements that use the plant\u2019s stimulating chemical byproducts.\u00a0<\/p>\n