What's at stake?
The Fresno City Council will hold a hearing for a proposed housing development in northwest Fresno following an initial rejection from the city's planning commission in May.
The hearing comes after the city attorney's office found the possibility of fines and litigation if the planning commission's decision stood as is.
The city will have to decide whether public pressure is enough to overturn a housing proposal in a desperate rental market.
The Fresno City Council has the final say on a much-maligned housing development during a hearing at 5 p.m. Thursday at City Hall.
The Fresno apartment project from local developer James Huelskamp of Land Value Management would consist of three three-story buildings and one four-story building totaling 82 market-rate two-bedroom and two-bathroom housing units. The project would be on the northeast corner of West Herndon Avenue and North Prospect Avenue, neighboring Orchid Park and H. Roger Tatarian Elementary School.
Having followed all the city requirements, it seemed like the Fresno apartment project would easily get its development permit approved, but in a surprise bow to public pressure, the city’s Planning Commission chose to “ignore the rules” and unanimously rejected the proposal.
Appealing rejected apartment permit
An initial hearing for the housing development took place in May during a near-capacity city Planning Commission meeting in the council chambers. The weekday evening meeting was notably near-capacity, with many neighboring residents coming to voice their opposition to the project.
So many appeared for public comment that Planning Commission Chair Peter Vang had to cut the public comment period from three minutes for every speaker to two.
The Fresno apartment project hearing saw comments that perpetuated stereotypes that have been mostly disproven— such as decreasing property value, increased crime rates and worsening traffic.
“With 82 new families moving in, I am sure that a portion of this will need to be Section 8 housing,” read a comment template that was submitted repeatedly to the city. “While I am not opposed to giving those people who need low income housing a break, it should be done in the correct neighborhoods. This is a middle to upper scale neighborhood, as you can see from the housing prices in the area…
“…Not only will this bring the local housing prices down, but it will bring in people who are not as wealthy as those in the area, and may cause some of those to misappropriate things from others as they think that they can afford to have things taken from them. More traffic will also bring more opportunity for theft in the area.”
Architect Scott Vincent, who represented the developer Land Value Management during the hearing, disagreed with residents’ concerns over the introduction of the apartment complex.
“There’s a lot of fear factor when you talk about apartments, and unfortunately most of those fears are inaccurate,” Vincent said during the hearing. “Crime does not necessarily go up if the project is well maintained and well managed, and that’s what we expect here. We’re coming into a prime area and expecting prime rents. We’re not going to let people come in and ruin that value.”
Though the project met all of the requirements and had the city staff’s recommendation to approve, the Planning Commission sided with the public. The commission’s official resolution says “the project would result in traffic impacts detrimental to the project.”
And how did the Council get involved?
Land Value Management quickly filed an appeal with the city, and Mayor Jerry Dyer and northwest Fresno Councilmember Mike Karbassi granted it.
Dyer and Karbassi said their decision was motivated by letters from the developer and the Greenfield Coalition asking to appeal the decision, along with advice from the Fresno City Attorney’s office, which said the rejection may violate the California Housing Accountability Act.
The joint statement also revealed that the decision to deny the project could lead to future litigation and fines of up to $4.1 million.
“The city has been placed at substantial risk of litigation that will likely result in substantial fines and the courts approving the project as it stands today by the developer,” Dyer and Karbassi said in their joint statement. “It is logical to presume that if the Planning Commission’s decision is not appealed, the applicant could litigate, and has a strong likelihood of winning.”
Though city staff is, again, recommending the approval of the project — it’ll ultimately be up to council to make the final decision on the proposed development.
How can I participate and what to expect?
The hearing is scheduled to take place at 5 p.m. Thursday during the Fresno City Council meeting. Members of the public will get up to three minutes to speak during the public comment portion.
However, increased attendance can be expected again, as residents have been mobilizing as early as Monday to make sure they can participate in the hearing through flyers.
Though residents can also view the hearing virtually through Zoom, YouTube and CMAC streaming channels, they will not be able to participate following last month’s resolution to end virtual public comment.
However, members of the public can submit virtual comments through the meeting’s online Granicus page until 9 a.m. Wednesday.
