Overview:
The Fresno City Council weighed in on a controversial alcohol license application and a study that could influence the future of industrial truck routes in south central Fresno, among other business at a lengthy meeting Thursday.
The Fresno City Council weighed in on a controversial alcohol license application and a study that could influence the future of industrial truck routes in south central Fresno, among other business at a lengthy meeting Thursday.
Councilmembers voted 6-1 to approve a liquor license for Circle “D” Food & Liquor store, despite objections over the convenience store’s proximity to an elementary school. Councilmember Miguel Arias cast the lone “no” vote against the approval.
City staff also presented the findings of a truck reroute study for vehicles weighing over 12,000 pounds that pass through the south central part of the city. The council discussed the study without taking action or public comment, which Council President Annalisa Perea said would come at a later date.
Here’s what to know about the meeting.
Central Fresno convenience store gets its alcohol license back
Circle “D” on the southeast corner of North Fresno Street and East Olive Avenue, which city leaders said had been operating for over 20 years, previously held an alcohol license.
But after a fire about six years ago forced the store owners to rebuild, they had to start the process all over.
In that window of time, the city passed legislation to crack down on alcohol licenses due to the city’s above-average saturation of liquor stores, especially in southwest Fresno.
Called the Responsible Neighborhood Market Act, the resolution placed restrictions on how many new establishments can seek alcohol licenses within a 1,000-foot radius of similar establishments or 1,000 feet of schools, alcohol and drug abuse treatment centers, or public parks.
Despite this legislation, Councilmember Nelson Esparza, whose district includes the Circle “D” market, appealed the city Planning Commission’s denial of Circle “D”’s conditional use permit to obtain an alcohol license.
“I would not normally advocate for granting an additional license in the district or, really, within the city,” Esparza said, “this one that existed long before the fire – probably 20-plus years.
“It’s great to see a reincarnation of an even better version of the business,” he added, “that complies with the (Responsible Neighborhood Market Act).”
Councilmember Mike Karbassi, who was the only councilmember to vote against the Responsible Neighborhood Market Act back in October 2020, urged the council against the notion that “just because they’re a convenience store, that this operator isn’t a good operator.”
“A lot of these are family-owned,” he said, “and they’re small businesses.”
Meanwhile, some students from the neighborhood and representatives from the Youth Leadership Institute – who advocated for the Responsible Neighborhood Market Act four years ago – urged the council to deny the license due in part to its proximity to Webster Elementary School.
“While we understand the hardship faced by the shop owner who lost his business,” said Julio Lopez, a program manager with Youth Leadership Institute, “it is crucial for you all to consider the broader impacts of allowing another liquor store in such close proximity to a school in the Fresno community.”
Arias also voted against the license, saying that granting it would “take us backwards to the days where every liquor store that came forward was approved, no matter what.”
“It makes absolutely no sense to have a liquor store by a school selling alcohol from 6 a.m. to 2 a.m.,” he said.
Study proposes new truck routes through Fresno for the first time in almost 20 years
Councilmembers also disagreed Thursday over the findings of a truck reroute study examining the designated routes for big rigs and other heavy trucks going through south central Fresno.
Staff said the city’s truck route map hadn’t been updated since 2005.
The study was spurred in part by Assembly Bill 617, signed into law in 2017 by former Gov. Jerry Brown. The law requires local air districts to develop and implement emission reduction measures in the state’s disadvantaged communities, which includes south central Fresno.
Arias, who has previously criticized the city for using south Fresno as an “environmental dumping ground” amid industrial expansion, said that existing truck routes have damaged roads near Orange Elementary School in his district.
“No elementary school should be a designated truck route for thousands and thousands of heavy trucks in the city of Fresno,” he said, adding that trips to Amazon and Ulta distribution centers near the school account for the bulk of the trips.
The study recommended 1,000-foot buffers between truck routes and what staff labeled as “sensitive receptors”: meaning residents, schools, parks and community centers.
The south central Fresno air district’s Community Steering Committee – consisting largely of residents as well as business owners, community-based organizations and government agencies – said the newly proposed routes were inadequate in terms of protecting schools and other “sensitive receptors” at a meeting Wednesday, staff told the Fresno City Council.
Karbassi was critical of that steering committee, however, saying that business interests like Amazon deserved more of a seat at the table as significant job creators in Fresno that he doesn’t want to scare away.
“If we’re going to have a truly robust and diverse tax base, where exactly are we supposed to build these distribution centers?” he said.
“I think it’s going to be really, on a larger level, a more philosophical debate about where we see the future of this city,” he added.
Perea said the study will come back before the council in the “next couple” of meetings, and that the council will take public comment on it then.
New trespassing ordinance becomes law in Fresno
The Fresno City Council also gave its final approval to an ordinance that makes it easier for private property owners to get rid of trespassers.
Penalties for violating the ordinance include a criminal misdemeanor charge, up to $1,000 in fines and a maximum one-year jail sentence.
The ordinance passed in a sweeping vote on Thursday’s consent agenda without further discussion, after passing an initial vote at the Fresno City Council’s Aug. 29 meeting.
Correction: An earlier version of this story incorrectly reported the distance restrictions imposed under Fresno’s Responsible Neighborhood Market Act. The story has been updated.
