Remarks by Miguel Arias
198 remarks on the record, newest first · Page 2 of 8
- Play at 6:36:33
“So can you put this on the queue of items that I would like? Can you provide me a list of property owners within the SATA area that's being proposed? that have requested that this plan move forward and that have development plans for their property. And as well as any residents from that area who have expressed opposition to CEDA moving forward. I want to understand, is it 90% of the people opposed to it or is it 90% people in support of it? And I'm talking property owners, because again, most of these folks are not our residents, they're county residents. So I'm trying to be thoughtful of if…”
City Council · Sep 3, 2026
- Play at 6:37:39
“Can you get that for all the plans for me, including for Copper River? I don't know if there's a plan in Northeast Brazil.”
City Council · Sep 3, 2026
- Play at 6:37:45
“Okay, if you can just get it for me for Copper River specifically. Because as I recall, these areas require 25 years before they're fully developed. And I think Copper River is around that 25-year mark, and I don't believe it's fully built out yet. So I'm trying to assess this process, if I recall, was initially discussed on, we have a housing crisis and we need more housing inventory. Now it seems to be to transition to, we want research and development, therefore we want research development you know, section. So I'd like to understand what is the percentage of the build out of all the…”
City Council · Sep 3, 2026
- Play at 6:38:34
“the percentage of the built out of the plans that we've approved.”
City Council · Sep 3, 2026
- Play at 6:38:41
“Sure. And also, and this may be a question for you, Director, or for the City Attorney, have we ever denied a development permit based on the area not meeting a certain growth benchmark? Because I think what I've heard today is a phased-in approach that we would put into this data And I'm trying to understand, have we ever done that before?”
City Council · Sep 3, 2026
- Play at 6:39:21
“Yeah, and the reason I want to understand that is, I know this body ultimately has authority to grant waivers and exemptions of all city policies and make findings that ignore the stated city policy or the adopted city policy. So one, I'd like to understand, have we ever done that before? And two, WHAT ABILITY DO WE HAVE TO TIE A FUTURE LEGISLATIVE BODY'S HANDS TO NOT SIMPLY GREEN LINING A DEVELOPMENT EVEN THOUGH THE BENCHMARKS ARE NOT MET FOR SPECIFIC GROWTH IN THOSE PHASES. THE, DO OTHER, I WANT TO KIND OF GO INTO SOME OF THE COST. THE HOUSING. Is there a, the density housing, and keep in…”
City Council · Sep 3, 2026
- Play at 6:40:55
“Can you provide me a neighborhood, whether it's Fresno or another city, that matches the same proposed density that's being recommended for the financial analysis that you guys utilized?”
City Council · Sep 3, 2026
- Play at 6:41:18
“So if you can show me a neighborhood of 10,000 homes in about 400-ish acres anywhere else in the state that I can drive myself and see what that looks like and feels like, that's what I'm interested in doing. Okay. I actually like showing up and experiencing things directly to see what that would look like.”
City Council · Sep 3, 2026
- Play at 6:42:00
“You're looking at the overall then? I'm looking at it. Are we talking San Francisco? Are we talking LA? Are we talking Spicellia? Like, show me a neighborhood that has achieved that level of density that you guys utilize for your financial analysis to suggest that this would be a revenue generator to a city if it hit this benchmark. So... 450-ACRE SITE WITH 10,000 UNITS. I'M LOOKING FOR THAT KIND OF LIKE EXAMPLE. IN CALIFORNIA, I DON'T WANT TO TRAVEL OUT OF STATE. YOU CAN JUST LIMIT THAT TO THAT. THE STUDY, THERE'S BEEN A LOT OF REFERENCES ON THE STUDY THAT I READ ON AREAS THAT WERE NOT…”
City Council · Sep 3, 2026
- Play at 6:42:59
“Sure. EPS has not independently evaluated the feasibility of the proposed line uses as part of this study.”
City Council · Sep 3, 2026
- Play at 6:43:58
“So how many anchors do you propose in a research and development?”
City Council · Sep 3, 2026
- Play at 6:44:11
“So let's say 1,000 acres is research and development. To understand what you described on what portions a consultant did not study, the consultant did not assess whether Fresno, whether there's even a demand for 1,000 acres of research and development. They simply assumed that there is demand. the acres that you asked them to bake into the formula, correct?”
City Council · Sep 3, 2026
- Play at 6:44:52
“So it was our economic development department determined that there's demand for 1,500 acres of research and development, is that correct?”
City Council · Sep 3, 2026
- Play at 6:45:22
“So who in the economic development department could answer the question on how they came to that conclusion?”
City Council · Sep 3, 2026
- Play at 6:45:33
“That's a fair answer. Same thing on the housing side. How did we come up with 10,000 houses being the magic number? Did we essentially identify the cost of infrastructure and then backed up that by saying this many homes are needed to cover the cost? Or did we determine that 10,000 houses are needed based on us being at 90% fill rate on the existing inventory that we have.”
City Council · Sep 3, 2026
- Play at 6:46:13
“So what keeps us from saying instead of 10,000 units, we want 20,000 units?”
City Council · Sep 3, 2026
- Play at 6:46:43
“So we could also say we only want 2,000 homes by changing the zoning to... many mansions on two acres?”
City Council · Sep 3, 2026
- Play at 6:47:06
“Okay. I want to shift to some references about Measure P in parks. Did I understand that reference to suggest that it's going to generate an additional couple million for Measure P, or is it gonna require Measure P funds to build parks?”
City Council · Sep 3, 2026
- Play at 6:47:52
“So you're suggesting in the study that 10,000 new residents would essentially generate more sales tax that would equate to about one point something million in measure P funds?”
City Council · Sep 3, 2026
- Play at 6:48:25
“We can't count it in the general fund, but there's a special sales tax that just measure P. What I'm struggling with is it would make sense to me that we would generate more sales tax if we were locating distribution centers there. Because that's, you know, point of sale, generate significant sales tax. But if we're generating, if we're creating office space and manufacturing facilities, we don't get sales tax from those operations.”
City Council · Sep 3, 2026
- Play at 6:49:02
“Where in this plan do we identify the amount of parks that would be needed to accommodate and to serve 10,000 new residents?”
City Council · Sep 3, 2026
- Play at 6:50:17
“So in my seven years, the subdivisions have been required to build parks as part of their plans. We have either granted them exemptions not to build the 10 acres that they were SUPPOSED TO BUILD. WE HAVE ALSO GIVEN MEASURE P FUNDS TO OFFSET THE INCREASE IN COST FOR DEVELOPMENT OF THE PARK. WE HAVE DEFINITELY USED MONEY FOR THE OPERATIONS OF MAINTENANCE OF PARKS SO THE CFD'S HAVE NOT FULLY PAID FOR THE PARKS THAT WERE APPROVED AS PART OF THAT DEVELOPMENT AND THEY DEFINITELY DID NOT FULLY PAY FOR THE OPERATIONS SO ARE WE ACCOUNTING FOR MEASURE P FUNDS”
City Council · Sep 3, 2026
- Play at 6:51:57
“Are you guys proposing a new CFD in this area or the existing CFD to cover it?”
City Council · Sep 3, 2026
- Play at 6:52:42
Not quoted here: it may name a member of the public. Hear it at the meeting.
City Council · Sep 3, 2026
- Play at 6:52:52
“Especially the truth, even though he looks at you, you can speak the truth. Scott, what, Director, what I'd like to understand is, Does the current CFD fee structure that we have cover the full cost of maintaining all the existing obligations that we have? And when was the last time we made that adjustment? I know that some of them are grandfathered, where they're stuck at whatever amount. Some have escalators. Where are we at in the world of CFDs?”
City Council · Sep 3, 2026