Please ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes of website accessibility
Industry vs. Pollution: What's the Right Balance in South Fresno?
Edward Smith updated website photo 2024
By Edward Smith
Published 4 months ago on
July 30, 2024

Fresno's South Central Specific Plan will outline the new rules for industrial land in an area heavily burdened by pollution. (GV Wire Composite/Paul Marshall)

Share

Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

Business advocates fear the city’s plan to outline land use for south Fresno could lead to a repeat of what happened only a few years ago in a nearby part of town.

The public comment period on the South Central Specific Plan ends Wednesday, said Jennifer Clark, planning and development director for Fresno, during a recent Fresno Chamber of Commerce’s Government Affairs Council meeting.

The plan outlines what uses are permitted and where in the 5,600-acre region south of downtown, straddling both highways 99 and 41. The city has to balance the needs of residents in the pollution-burdened area and those of business.

However, many businesses worry that when the city finishes the plan, the designated uses will significantly change.

Similarly, the city needs to keep truck and industrial pollution in check.

To minimize environmental impacts, the city wants to implement 1,000-yard buffers from sensitive receptors such as homes. The plan also reduces heavy industry allowed in the area, rezoning much of it to light industrial and some to commercial.

Attorney John Kinsey, who represents many industrial businesses, said during the meeting that the region has been designated for industrial use for nearly a century. And, Kinsey said, a small number of homes are impacting the ability of industrial companies to do business. Some of the restrictions go beyond what California requires.

“When did the city of Fresno become a government mandating things that aren’t mandated anywhere else?” Kinsey said.

City Wants to Avoid Past Problems With Current Plan

The 5,600 acres in the plan area make up 30% of industrial building space in Fresno, according to city documents. And, the average newly built 206,000-square-foot facility delivers 72% of the city’s industrial growth in any given year.

About 1,130 people live in the area, on mostly rural plots. Directly adjacent to the plan area are the communities of Calwa and Malaga, with about 2,660 combined residents.

City planners have long designated the area for industry, Clark said, with documents dating a century back setting that land aside for manufacturers and distributors. That designation was reaffirmed in the 1970s, 1990s, and the 2014 General Plan under former Mayor Ashley Swearengin.

Avoiding what’s called legal non-compliance was a priority for the city, Clark said. When the Southwest Fresno Specific Plan for the area adjacent to this plan was approved in 2017, it changed allowed usages for many industrial users, especially on Elm Avenue.

The Southwest Plan claimed that businesses could retain their existing use. However, property owners and business advocates said the zoning change created difficulties in securing loans and recruiting new tenants.

The city wants to avoid those hurdles this time.

“We know that’s caused a challenge in other locations,” Clark said during the meeting.

As Few as One or Two Properties Can Trigger Buffer Requirements

Kinsey agreed that the plan for the most part avoids the rezoning complications that arose from the Southwest Plan. But businesses have concerns about downzoning and a 1,000-yard buffer zone.

To minimize the damage of emissions caused by businesses or the trucks going back and forth in the area, the city wants to maintain a distance between emitters and sensitive receptors such as homes and the one school in the area, Orange Center Elementary School.

Some of the buffer areas are triggered by as few as one or two properties, Kinsey said. Questions about which sensitive receptors require buffers have yet to be answered. If the city includes receptors outside of the plan area, more than half of the plan area could become a buffer zone.

“The 1,000-foot rule is so onerous, it becomes the rule rather than the exception,” Kinsey said.

The city also called for companies to meet clean fleet standards beyond what the California Air Resources Board requires, Kinsey said.

Changes from heavy industrial to light industrial in some areas could impact some animal food manufacturers.

Kinsey said the added restrictions area among the reasons manufacturers are choosing Madera, Visalia, and Reno over Fresno.

After the public comment period, the city will publish the final plan and EIR, which Clark said would be by early fall. She said Fresno Planning Commission and Fresno City Council hearings should be held before the end of the year.

RELATED TOPICS:

DON'T MISS

Tulare County Man Arrested After Allegedly Threatening to Kill Middle School Girls, Staff

DON'T MISS

Two Fresno, Clovis Trustee Races Remain Tight. Bond Measures Passing with Growing Margins

DON'T MISS

Richardson Close to Cementing Northeast Fresno Council Race

DON'T MISS

Visalia Motorcyclist Killed in Collision on Walnut Avenue

DON'T MISS

DOGE Is a Promising Step Toward Federal Efficiency: Fareed Zakaria

DON'T MISS

Listeria Outbreak Tied to Yu Shang Food Leaves California Infant Dead and 10 People Sick

DON'T MISS

UN Expert: Myanmar’s Desperate Military Ramps Up Attacks Including Beheadings, Rapes and Torture

DON'T MISS

Christine Pelosi Leads Charge to Ensure Every Vote Counts in Tight Duarte-Gray Race

DON'T MISS

Dolly Parton’s Wish? For Fresno County Children to Read

DON'T MISS

Man Found Dead in Fresno’s Roeding Park Identified as Bay Area Resident

UP NEXT

Two Fresno, Clovis Trustee Races Remain Tight. Bond Measures Passing with Growing Margins

UP NEXT

Richardson Close to Cementing Northeast Fresno Council Race

UP NEXT

Visalia Motorcyclist Killed in Collision on Walnut Avenue

UP NEXT

DOGE Is a Promising Step Toward Federal Efficiency: Fareed Zakaria

UP NEXT

Listeria Outbreak Tied to Yu Shang Food Leaves California Infant Dead and 10 People Sick

UP NEXT

UN Expert: Myanmar’s Desperate Military Ramps Up Attacks Including Beheadings, Rapes and Torture

UP NEXT

Christine Pelosi Leads Charge to Ensure Every Vote Counts in Tight Duarte-Gray Race

UP NEXT

Dolly Parton’s Wish? For Fresno County Children to Read

UP NEXT

Man Found Dead in Fresno’s Roeding Park Identified as Bay Area Resident

UP NEXT

Fresno Authorities Search for Domestic Violence Suspect Considered Armed and Dangerous

Edward Smith,
Multimedia Journalist
Edward Smith began reporting for GV Wire in May 2023. His reporting career began at Fresno City College, graduating with an associate degree in journalism. After leaving school he spent the next six years with The Business Journal, doing research for the publication as well as covering the restaurant industry. Soon after, he took on real estate and agriculture beats, winning multiple awards at the local, state and national level. You can contact Edward at 559-440-8372 or at Edward.Smith@gvwire.com.

Visalia Motorcyclist Killed in Collision on Walnut Avenue

1 hour ago

DOGE Is a Promising Step Toward Federal Efficiency: Fareed Zakaria

3 hours ago

Listeria Outbreak Tied to Yu Shang Food Leaves California Infant Dead and 10 People Sick

3 hours ago

UN Expert: Myanmar’s Desperate Military Ramps Up Attacks Including Beheadings, Rapes and Torture

3 hours ago

Christine Pelosi Leads Charge to Ensure Every Vote Counts in Tight Duarte-Gray Race

3 hours ago

Dolly Parton’s Wish? For Fresno County Children to Read

3 hours ago

Man Found Dead in Fresno’s Roeding Park Identified as Bay Area Resident

5 hours ago

Fresno Authorities Search for Domestic Violence Suspect Considered Armed and Dangerous

5 hours ago

NBA Memo to Players Warns About Organized Home Break-Ins

5 hours ago

Fresno School Employees Say District’s Job Shifts Endanger Kids and Staff

5 hours ago

Tulare County Man Arrested After Allegedly Threatening to Kill Middle School Girls, Staff

A Strathmore man was arrested Thursday after authorities say he threatened to kill students and staff at Strathmore Middle School, the Tular...

1 hour ago

Jason Mitchell, 43, of Strathmore, was arrested for allegedly threatening to kill students and staff at Strathmore Middle School. (Tulare County SO)
1 hour ago

Tulare County Man Arrested After Allegedly Threatening to Kill Middle School Girls, Staff

1 hour ago

Two Fresno, Clovis Trustee Races Remain Tight. Bond Measures Passing with Growing Margins

1 hour ago

Richardson Close to Cementing Northeast Fresno Council Race

1 hour ago

Visalia Motorcyclist Killed in Collision on Walnut Avenue

3 hours ago

DOGE Is a Promising Step Toward Federal Efficiency: Fareed Zakaria

3 hours ago

Listeria Outbreak Tied to Yu Shang Food Leaves California Infant Dead and 10 People Sick

3 hours ago

UN Expert: Myanmar’s Desperate Military Ramps Up Attacks Including Beheadings, Rapes and Torture

3 hours ago

Christine Pelosi Leads Charge to Ensure Every Vote Counts in Tight Duarte-Gray Race

Help continue the work that gets you the news that matters most.

Search

Send this to a friend