Documented by Kristina Mansfield
Here’s what you need to know
- The Clovis Culinary Center celebrated its fifth anniversary.
- The council voted 3-1 to allow increased housing density in R-3 Zone districts from 25 to 30 units per acre and increased maximum height from 35 feet to 45 feet. The council also approved increasing the density range of the high-density residential land use designation from 25 to 30 units per acre.
Follow-up questions
- How do Clovis residents apply for a home repair/improvement grant?
- What plans does the City Council have in place to address the saturation of calls to police coming from Butterfly Gardens?
- Mayor Lynne Ashbeck mentioned that commercial properties are having issues keeping up their appearance. Is there anything in the municipal code that mandates them to keep their areas clean?
The Scene
The Clovis City Council meeting took place at 6 p.m. in the Council Chamber at 1033 Fifth St. in Clovis. Usually held on the first, second and third Mondays of every month, each meeting is webcast via www.cityofclovis.com/agendas. The meetings are open to the public. Members of the public can also participate by calling in by phone (via Webex) or by submitting written comments online no later than two hours prior to the start of the meeting (4 p.m.). Detailed information on how to submit public comments can be found on the city of Clovis website.
After each meeting concludes, its live recording is made available online, along with meeting minutes, a full agenda and packet (which includes additional information about each item discussed on the agenda, with contact information for each city official and department that is responsible for each item), that can be either viewed online or downloaded.
Approximately 30 members of the public attended the Sept. 18 meeting. Before it was called to order, Mayor Lynne Ashbeck announced that Council member Drew Bessinger would lead the group in the Pledge of Allegiance. Once it concluded, Ashbeck asked City Clerk Karey Cha to call the roll.
Council Members In attendance:
Lynne Ashbeck, mayor
Vong Mouanoutoua, mayor pro tem
Drew Bessinger, council member
Diane Pearce, council member
Matt Basgall, council member, was absent
Presentations/Proclamations
Agenda Item 1: Update on Clovis Culinary Center Activity
- During this section of the meeting, Shawn Miller, who also serves as the Clovis business development manager, gave a presentation commemorating the Clovis Culinary Center’s fifth anniversary. During those five years, he said, the culinary center has assisted about 100 businesses in getting started. “Now there are about 77 still using the kitchen and services, and each of those businesses has on average 3 1/2 employees each.”
- Per its website, “The goal of the Clovis Culinary Center is to lower the risk threshold for opening a culinary business. We make launching your food-related business easy and inexpensive … in order to allow members with limited resources to start a business, while encouraging members to design a business model that is realistic for the marketplace and affordable to start and grow.” Its kitchen and baking facilities are rented by the hour, and members may rent the facilities on an as-needed basis or purchase on a monthly basis at a discounted rate.
- Miller then highlighted the following success stories:
- Dad’s Cookies: Grown into two brick-and-mortar stores, one Clovis
- and one in Lemoore. Its wares were recently adopted as the official cookie of the Fresno State Bulldogs;
- The Grazing Table Events: Caterer Auzzie Lewis specializes in made-to-order artisan charcuterie boards, grazing tables and small-bite platters and got her start at the culinary center before moving her business to her own deli in north Fresno;
- St. Francis Homeless Project: This nonprofit group deals with recently incarcerated or homeless women, teaching them job skills through hands-on experience baking Dogs Dig ‘Em dog treats on-site at the center’s kitchen.
- Next, Miller introduced Kris Marshall, the center’s new executive director. He noted the many community partnerships she has established since joining the team a year ago, naming the Sanger Police Foundation, SPDC and Habitat for Humanity. “She really has made a difference in this community.”
- Miller then introduced three local culinary brands working with the center, Miguel’s Salsa, Deer Creek Homestead and Saint Goods. When asked for comments, Mouanoutoua asked Miller if they were “keeping data on all of these successes.” “On every level,” Miller replied. Mouanoutoua then congratulated the team on its success and Miller concluded the presentation.
- The meeting segued into the public comments portion. This time during each City Council meeting is allocated for members of the public to come forward and address their government with any matter within the council’s jurisdiction that isn’t listed on that meeting’s posted agenda.
Public Comments
- Homeless Outreach Worker and Fresno resident Cindy Pandino gave comments on affordable housing in Clovis. “First I want to congratulate my fellow advocate Dez Martinez for addressing affordable housing here in Clovis. I’m very pleased to work beside her.” she said. “Me being a disabled senior, I am on [inaudible] housing myself; it’s a huge blessing to my income and my bills. I would never make it without it. So let the building begin.”
- Martinez, a Fresno resident and activist, commented on affordable housing in Clovis. Martinez said that although Butterfly Gardens was built in Clovis in December 2022 to be affordable housing, it is only affordable in name because the residents are receiving housing vouchers. “The complex only allows people with severe mental illness to be residents,” said Martinez. “So is it affordable for all? No. I …still can’t afford to move to Clovis, because the only affordable housing that you’ve ever built is only for people that go through the Department of Behavioral Health with the county. This is leaving hundreds of people without a unit of their own.”
- A handful of people continued to provide public comment tied to the controversy surrounding a Facebook post made by Pearce, in which she questioned whether a display of LGTBQIA+ books at the Clovis Public Library was age-appropriate. Pearce then wrote a letter to the Fresno Board of Supervisors requesting it look into the matter, although no specific books were mentioned by name.
- Clovis resident and former journalist Malcolm Gibson said, “To be clear, I do not object to Council member Diane Pearce sending a letter [to the Fresno County Board of Supervisors]. I support her 1st Amendment right to comment on this or any other issue of her choosing.” Gibson continued, “I spent most of my career as a journalist and writer under the umbrella of the 1st Amendment. My concern is that I do not want [the] government, or any government official, trying to undermine that. But by writing under the [. . .] city of Clovis by using its letterhead, she has done just that. As to the content of the letter, she said she is not trying to ban any book — but that’s not accurate, because the result is the same. She wants to restrict its access.”
- Kay Rodderberry says her children and grandchildren have attended Clovis schools, and that she and her husband have also decided to move to Clovis due to its conservative values and great police force. “We feel safe here,” Rodderberry said. “We feel this … freedom.”
Rodderberry continued: “Two weeks ago, after three hours of sitting and listening to advocates of the LGTBQ lifestyle, I went home in a state of shock. I went home and I just thought, I just don’t know much about it. The LGBT community seems that we should affirm their lifestyle. One speaker said she needs the LGBTQ display in the city library because ‘it makes her feel normal.’ Is that what we’re about? Whether it is pornographic, inappropriate books in the children’s section of the library, it’s wrong. Yes, parents can decide, but a lot of parents take their kids and drop them off and don’t go in there; they’re not looking at every book. So they’re assuming that we have enough common sense to put the books in the right place.”
- She then referenced a book she had read, citing it as an example of her personal research, before continuing. “So, what I’m feeling is that you can’t change your sex, it’s in your DNA. I’ve been very tolerant, I have a niece that’s a lesbian, but they have drawn the line and they’ve stepped over it because they’re going after our kids. They’re trying to tell children that they can change their sex,” she said. “I hear about it because I have kids, I know kids in the schools. I hear about it. They’re indoctrinating our children to want them to take the sex hormones to mutilate their bodies. And to hurt a child is the epitome of evil. Thank you so much, Diane. I actually came here to thank you for having the courage and the strength to stand up for our children and do what’s right. It takes a great politician. It’s very rare. We must warn people about this horrible agenda, and I encourage you to do your own research. Thank you.”
- Longtime Clovis resident David Raul was next to go on public record: “With respect to the most recent comments, I’ve been here for several of these meetings and I’ve heard most of these speakers. No one is encouraging anybody to be gay, no one is encouraging anybody, or recruiting anybody to change their sex. These statements are simply false. What the speakers said was ‘Quit picking on us, quit discriminating against us, quit telling us that we don’t count. That we can’t express ourselves, that we can’t be proud of who we are.’ They’re saying ‘Let people do what they feel they must do and let us do it on our own without interference from government.’ That’s all they’re asking for,” he concluded.
- Clovis resident and commercial driver Sergio Romo called in to discuss Ordinance No. 4.5.1014, which states that no commercial vehicles can be parked on commercial streets in Clovis for longer than four hours on any public street, alley, right of way or highway, other than a state highway, in any 24-hour period. The council confirmed they would move forward with the necessary next steps to add the item to the agenda for discussion.
Ordinances and Resolutions
- None.
Consent Calendar
Agenda Items 2-8
- Motion passed 4-1.
Public Hearings
Agenda Item 9:
- Chad McColumm, Clovis economic development director, presented the Consolidated Annual Performance and Evaluation Report (CAPER) for expenditure of Community Development Block Grant Funds (CDBG).
- Completed projects from fiscal year 2023 include seven home repairs for the elderly and low-income, 598 code enforcement cases, funding the community kitchen and the Gettysburg/Norwich alley reconstruction, among others.
- McCollum also shared that the department is on track with both its two-year and five-year goals.
- Motion passed 4-0.
Agenda Item 10
- Dave Merchen, Clovis city planner, presented a proposal to amend the existing density ranges for multi-family residential development in the general plan and development code to correspond to the applicable density requirements specified for the city’s Regional Housing Needs Allocation (RHNA) sites inventory.
- The Planning Commission previously unanimously voted to recommend approval of the proposed changes
- Approved request to amend the density range of the H (High Density Residential) land use designation to increase the maximum density from 25 to 30 units per acre. Motion carried 3-1 opposed (Pearce)..
- Approved request to modify the maximum height for the R-3 Zone District from 35 feet to 45 feet to accommodate the higher density. Motion carries 3-1 opposed (Pearce).
- “My vote on this is going to be a protest of what I believe is Sacramento taking our local control, not allowing us to do things that we think are best for our community,” said Pearce. “I just need to be on record with that: Stop telling us how to do what we should be doing for our community. That’s where I’m coming from today.”
City Manager Comments
None.
Council Comments
- Pearce: “I just want to go back to this council being an example of hate. That’s someone’s perception. That’s their 1st Amendment right to say that, but it absolutely does not make it so.”
- Bessinger: “Diane and I attended the POW/MIA dinner and it was great. I was happy to attend.”
- Mouanoutoua: “I attended the ribbon-cutting for the Clovis Community Closet. It was beautiful; they did a great job. They’re looking for professional clothing so they can prep students.”
- Ashbeck: “I do want to reinforce the commercial property standards. Our commercial centers are just as important as our neighborhoods, and my experience at the Peach and Herndon Walmart was horrifying. No neighborhood deserves that kind of trash.”
The meeting was adjourned at 7:35 p.m. The next regular City Council meeting is scheduled for Oct. 2.
If you believe anything in these notes is inaccurate, please email us at fresndocs@fresnoland.org with “Correction Request” in the subject line.
