Fresno council wants to help small businesses, so a new plan is hatched

Fresno City Councilman Luis Chavez is launching a small business incentive pilot program for one of the most impoverished areas of the city, and other council members hope the program, if successful, can be used to boost other struggling areas of the city.

The program provides incentives for small businesses to move into vacant spaces along the Ventura Avenue-Kings Canyon Road corridor, an area where nearly 50 percent of the residents live below the federal poverty line, according to city estimates. The hope is that Chavez's Support Small Business Act, which was unanimously adopted by the city council last week, will create jobs in the area.

"We are really trying to craft another tool in the toolbox for economic development," Chavez said during the council meeting.

The pilot was modeled after Mayor Lee Brand's Economic Expansion Act, which fueled a number of deals for large e-commerce facilities with businesses such as Amazon and Ulta Beauty. The Support Small Business Act will reduce or eliminate city impact fees and rebate taxes for commercial and mixed-use developments that create at least five full-time jobs.

Councilmembers Esmeralda Soria and Oliver Baines said they were interested in executing a similar deal in their districts. Soria said the program could particularly benefit a portion of the Tower District, which faces issues with vacancies.

City Manager Wilma Quan-Schecter said the city will gauge the program's success during the 18-month term and consider expanding it after the term expires.

The initiative earned support from the Fresno Chamber of Commerce. Nathan Alonzo, the chamber's vice president of government affairs, called the pilot "a win for Fresno overall," noting it would help many Ventura and Kings Canyon businesses owned by minorities and women.

Being more friendly

The program is the latest effort from city officials to make Fresno more business friendly.

The city council on Thursday also approved amendments to the mobile food vendor ordinance, including doing away with a security bond and background check and fingerprinting requirements. The move came after outcry about the burdensome requirements from food truck operators ahead of FresYes Fest.

Last month, Councilman Garry Bredefeld introduced his proposed "Money Back Guarantee" ordinance, which would give business owners or permit applicants credits if timelines aren't met due to city red tape. The mayor fiercely opposed the ordinance, calling it "fatally flawed." Bredefeld's peers on the council had mixed reactions and asked him to vet the ordinance through the mayor's approach to business initiatives before bringing it back to the council for a vote.

Brand slowly is rolling out his Business Friendly Fresno 2.0! program, which includes the first step of putting together an investigative committee that will examine the city's structure, technology, training, staffing, protocols and other factors contributing to the time it takes to complete a project. The mayor's program also includes launching software that will allow people to electronically submit permit applications and architectural drawings and track the plan check process online.

This story was originally published April 23, 2018 at 4:06 PM with the headline "Fresno council wants to help small businesses, so a new plan is hatched."