Planning Commission - Regular Meeting

good evening everyone it's Wednesday July 19th and this is the Planning Commission meeting and I good evening everyone we're ready to start the meeting okay First of all, I want to thank all of you for being here. All of us on the Planning Commission really appreciate it when we have the public show up. It's part of being American, I guess, and we get to speak our mind. So we really appreciate having you here, and we're going to have a good conversation tonight. So let's do the Pledge of Allegiance.

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. I also want to welcome Commissioner Holt back. Jamie Holt is back. So we have a full commission again. So it's great to have everyone here. Will you do the roll call? I was just going to say, if you can't hear me, because I do speak softly, so I apologize.

Here. Here. I'll read the procedures. This meeting is being conducted in person and electronically for each matter considered by the commission. There will first be a staff presentation followed by a presentation from the project applicant testimony from supporters of the project will then be taken, followed by testimony from those in opposition. the applicant will have a right to final rebuttal presentation prior to closing the public hearing. In accordance with section 13 of article two of the planning commission rules and regulations governing the length of public debate, all public testimo

Okay. Thank you. Okay. Do we have any reports by commissioners?

Yes, I have a quick say. First of all, we want to welcome our Fresno people. This is people's house, so welcome to the city hall. I just want to request everyone, you know, we have a wonderful app called Fresgo app. You know, I hear people, you know, we always kind of, we have concerns about potholes, landscaping not being, city landscaping not being worked on, water just keeps on running. So please, humble request to everyone, on your iPhones, Androids, please download Fresgo app and please be involved. I mean, if you see anything in your neighborhood that you're not happy about, please make

Okay. We have continued. And again, I'm sorry you may not have been here when I said this, but we can't have you standing in the aisles. So if there's not a seat here, there is seating up in the balcony. I'm assuming someone can show you how to get up to the balcony. So...

Okay, we'll move on to continued matters. First, 7A, ID 26-1092 is gonna be continued to September 2nd. 7B, ID 26-1093 will be continued to September 16th. So we are on now to new matters. ID 26-891 consideration of the SEDA plan. So can I have staff come and make the presentation?

Do any commissioners have questions for Adrian? Through the chair, though. Pardon?

I'm going to take care of that. So first of all, I still see some people standing in the back. And there's also empty seats out here. So if you're in a row with an empty seat, could you kind of move to the middle so that they'll make space for the people who are still standing? So I see a couple of places that are empty. So if you wouldn't mind making some room. And then those of you who are in the back, if you could please come down and use those seats or go up into the balcony. We really can't have you standing there. Oh, sorry. I keep forgetting. It's open. Yes, I know that. So due to the f

Please let me run the meeting. Mr. Batch, your time is up. Okay, is there anyone else in favor of the project?

Hey, Mr. Weber, your time's up. Thank you. Is anyone else here to speak in favor?

Thank you Is there anyone else here to speak in favor?

I'm sorry, your time's up. Is anyone else here in favor of the project?

I'm sorry, your time's up. Is there anyone else here that would speak in favor of the project? Okay, so now we'll move on to those in opposition, and I'll go back to Janelle Cabrera if she's here now.

So we all appreciate that you all really care about this as we do, but we do ask that you not applaud. And in order to move this along quickly, I'd appreciate it if we could just keep comments and applause and things from the audience down. The next person is Debbie Bigham and then Alan Cederquist, if you want to be ready.

Thank you. I'd appreciate it if you would not applaud. I would be better if you didn't. So, Mr. Seerquist? And then Kay Bertkin would be next.

So I can't kick everyone else out. I did hear that comment, but I can call a recess and ask everyone to think about... behaving in a polite manner, so I would appreciate it if you would not applause and call out. Kathy Capels? Yeah. Keith Harrison is next after Kathy Capels. Go ahead.

Mr. Harrison? And then after him would be Steve Sachs.

Thank you. Okay, Steve Sachs, and then Rhonda, forgive me, I think it's Duke? I apologize. Go ahead.

Thank you. After Rhonda, thank you. After Rhonda, we have Brett Thompson and Elizabeth Sandberg. Go ahead.

Thank you. Thank you. Brett Thompson. And after Elizabeth would be Helen Remming.

Thank you. So we have Elizabeth and then Helen Ramming next.

Thank you. Helen Ramming, and then after that would be David Ramming.

I'm sorry, Helen, your time's up. David Ramming and then after that Charles Rigby.

Thank you. Charles Rigby, and then Dr. Mark Marshall.

Thank you. Okay, Nandeep Singh and followed by Viva Islas.

Thank you. The next person was Viva, and then followed by Ben Granholm.

I'm sorry, your time's up. Ben Granholm, followed by Daniel Granik. Thank you. OK, Mr. Granholm's not here. OK, Daniel Brannock, followed by Pete Weber already went.

I'm sorry, your time's up. Samantha Fargai, I believe it's Fargai, and followed by Kellen Habib. Samantha? Kellen, and followed by Simon Biasel.

So Simon would be next, and after Simon is Victoria Young Condon.

Thank you. Victoria, and then followed by Alan, Sean, Dayan. I may have that wrong.

Thank you. Alan, followed by Aaron Hightower.

I said Alan and followed by Aaron Hightower.

Thank you. So now we'll do Erin Hightower followed by Ariana Martinez-Lutz.

Thank you. Okay, Ariana, followed by Okay, I'm gonna really do this badly. So.

Thank you. Okay, the next person was Sahashawati, followed by Will Upel. And I apologize for my pronunciation.

Thank you. Manuel, followed by Mariela Fernandez de Vallejo.

Thank you. Mariella, followed by Daniel O'Connell.

excuse me Commissioner Diaz could you Planning Commission I'm Daniel O'Connell hold on just a second Mr. O'Connell Commissioner Laide is gonna translate what the previous person was talking about

So just to translate, she was saying that she's upset because there is no Spanish translator at the moment, and something as important as this should have...

Okay, all right. So she's upset because there's no Spanish translator, that something this important should have a Spanish translator. She lives in an area that is contaminated. Her husband is affected by the contamination. The trucks that contaminate the area are also contaminating the children due to the infrastructure in her community. She's asking, why are we having another school or other schools open when things like teachers and supplies are being taken away from the schools that her children attend?

Thank you. Thank you, Mr. O'Connell, for waiting.

Okay. We have Chantel, I think it's Crossland, followed by David Yacoub.

Thank you. David, followed by Jim Grant.

Thank you. I believe there's another card in that basket. I think I see one in there. Okay, this is Josh Grant. Jim Grant first?

Is there anyone else in the audience that would like to speak?

I'm sorry, your time is up. Is there anyone else?

Thank you. Okay, is there anyone else that would like to speak?

I'm sorry your time's up. Is there anyone else that would like to speak?

Thank you. Is there anyone else that's not spoken? OK, seeing none, I'm going to take this back to the commission. We are going to take about a 10 or 15 minute break and come back and do our deliberations. So we'll see you in a little bit.

I was supposed to, I apologize, it's late. Does the staff have any answers?

Yeah, well, I guess he doesn't get to have his two sons. I had a great day.

Okay, everyone, we're back. Hello. Hello, we're ready to get started back up again. If you'll please be seated. Okay, we have brought this back to the Commission. We brought this back to the commission now, so are there any comments or motions by the commissioners?

Sorry, I wrote some questions down, but you did answer some, so I'm just going through my list to make sure that they were all answered. And this is only regarding the EIR, correct?

Sorry, give me like a couple. So I guess one of my questions is, do we have any safeguards in place in case the population does not reach what is expected? Say, for example, they start everything, start building, and then the population is not growing as expected. Is there anything in place in preparation for that if that should happen?

Does anyone else have a question for him? I do. What do I have?

I don't have a question for him, but I do have some questions for the city staff. Whenever we're ready. Thank you. Okay, thank you.

I DO HAVE A QUESTION. THERE WAS A CONCERN RAISED BY NUMEROUS COMMUNITY MEMBERS ABOUT, YOU KNOW, CURRENTLY WE DO HAVE A LOT OF PLANS. WE HAVE WEST SIDE PLAN, WE HAVE WEST OF 99 PLAN, WE HAVE TOWER DISTRICT PLAN. WE GOT SO MANY PLANS. Will this plan affect those plans? Because those plans have already been approved. There is plenty of infrastructure. For example, if you look at West of 99, there is infrastructure there. Now, downtown Fresno is any downtown in a city, that's the heart. People should be looking forward to coming to downtown Fresno. there is a downtown plan. And then we all know th

You know, I mean, there is plenty of, I mean, we know the story of Manchester Mall. Once it was a vibrant mall. Now they don't even have any stores in there anymore. We do have a lot of land in Fresno. Like, my question is, when we do have a lot of land inward and there is infrastructure, why new need for that when we can't even when we have plenty of like like one of the common we heard we have a lot of acreage available for businesses so businesses so they don't want to come to the west side they don't want to go to west of 99 like is is that's the reason

I have a question regarding the financial analysis. So am I correct in thinking that we don't actually have a financial analysis right now or a transparent way of viewing how this will all be financed?

So essentially you want us to adopt this and recommend this and certify it without having that information at hand.

In terms of the fiscal part of it, the community benefit fund is a policy, right? That that's going to be part of the plan. So without knowing that that actually has funding, how can we recommend this to the council? Where is it gonna come from? I mean, and the fencing for the property that gets encompassed by a planned development or multifamily, that fencing for that farm that's enclosed, where's that funding gonna come from? There's questions here that I think are policy questions that need to be answered before I can give a recommendation to the council.

Jennifer, correct me if I'm incorrect. Our job here today is to determine if this policy meets the findings and make a recommendation to the city council that we've made the findings and that's all our job is. Is that correct? So...

We've taken this back to the dais and I appreciate it if you could show us some respect and let us discuss this.

And to take that... you know, a little bit further, the compensation for the loss of prime ag land through a conservation easement, where does that other piece come from? Okay, you're allowing development here, but where's the piece that's going to be put into the conservation easement?

So my question is because the council is in charge of the financing and that piece, are we in this position today where we have to either recommend adoption or not recommend adoption because that adoption and approval will then guide them to do that and to find out the financial analysis? Or is there a way that we can make this decision once that financial analysis is completed?

Thank you. And you know, I appreciate how hard you guys are working and I appreciate everybody coming here and talking. I think we can practice a little bit of kindness if that's okay, because city staff has been working very, very hard and we all want a better Fresno together, but everybody has different visions. That's why we're here and we're collaborating. So I have noticed a little bit of that and tensions are a little bit higher and I noticed some people are a bit nervous and perhaps can't answer the questions how they would like. So I would just like to encourage kindness. We all have a

Commissioner Calandra, your question? Okay.

Yes. I have a question regarding the thresholds for future development. And if this council that's seated now can prohibit future councils from You know, keeping, you know, making promises that a future council can't keep or won't keep is, I mean, do they have that right?

Are there any further questions or comments?

I have one question. I just want to know when you guys say it'll pay for itself, can you explain just how it will pay for itself and what the plan is? Is it going to pay for itself after a certain amount of months or will it pay for itself prior? Or is that up to council also to determine?

Okay, and when you say property tax revenue, is that property tax revenue specific to that area or like part of the general fund or?

Thanks. Thank you very much. Would that be the new development, their taxes, or would everyone in that area?

So if the development doesn't occur as projected, then would that affect other areas of the city?

I have one more question related to the thresholds and about the voter referendum on when development could occur. And I mean, is that even... I mean, I just can't imagine opening up a decision that is typically the legislative body of this community to voting. Is that going to be staying in the plan? I mean, that is part of the plan?

You know, there's one thing that just kind of keeps on bugging my head right now. It's like There's one comment that really like touched my heart about like West Fresno saying, you know, we only have like one store and life expense, like, you know, 20 years less. I mean, like where is the equity? Like, I'm just kind of scared and we approve this thing. Are they gonna take it away from the developing areas? The areas that were redlined in the history. I mean, that is history. These minority areas were redlined. So I want to make sure, if I want to vote on this, I want to make sure that the West

There was one more question that was not addressed that was asked by the public in regard to the research and development and data centers. Is that going to be an allowed use in that area or is that going to require conditional use permits? Has the city set a policy yet on data centers?

Okay. Are there any other comments or questions?

Yeah, I have one comment. Here's a little story, a real story. Clinton Avenue, 99 and Clinton Avenue. That avenue was so messed up. It had so many potholes. True story, seven years ago. This council was about to steal that money. The money was allocated for Clinton Avenue. They were about to take it to somewhere else. Same thing, the community showed up. That money came back. The thing is, we need to be assured that all the development that has been planned, they will go accordingly. That SEDA will not take that money away. SEDA will not take away the resources of the people. Like, F... I mean

Excuse me. Please don't interrupt the conversation on the dais.

Commissioner Holt kind of reiterated something I've been saying in previous meetings, and it is that school. Clovis School on Leonard is happening. And I don't want to sound like a conspiracy theorist, but someone out there knows what's going to happen. They would never put a school there if they didn't think that there were going to be students in that area. They didn't put a school there for kids to come from Easterby Elementary School to go clear out to there. So whatever's happening that we may not know about, there's going to be development there. Some of you know I lived there for 40 yea

If you'd like to add to it, that's fine. Perfect. So I'm going to make a motion to approve the staff's recommendations. And I'd like to hear what.

Yeah. Is there any way that we can include or guarantee that council won't take any funding or monies away from other programs for this program? We don't have that.

I don't want to be sarcastic. You can't guarantee the council will do anything. So, you know, so, you know, I mean, we could put something in there. But it's no guarantee. And I'm not saying this council. A council can change the whole thing whenever they want to. So I see this as another good chance to get some decent jobs in Fresno.

is my motion. Can we have a roll call vote, please?

Yes. OK, so the motion passes, and we'll move on to the end of our meeting. So do we have a report by the secretary?

Okay, is there any unscheduled oral communications? Okay, we're adjourning the meeting. Thank you.