Will more sprawl help Fresno’s housing crisis? What happens to inner-city communities?
When mayor Ashley Swearengin announced the Restore Fresno Initiative in the spring of 2015, it marked an effort by city leaders to rebuild neighborhoods that were falling apart.
The initiative touted the 2014 General Plan’s focus on combating poverty and fixing the city’s dis-invested inner areas. The General Plan talked about Fresno’s consistent outward development and the toll that took on the inner city over the years.
As part of the initiative, revitalization teams descended into economically-burdened neighborhoods and worked with residents to identify ways to reduce crime and improve housing, among other issues.
But as the city council eyes potential changes to the General Plan – including the possibility of expanding the city’s limits – a recent council vote to restructure the neighborhood revitalization teams puts the city’s efforts to combat poverty and disinvestment at odds.
Neighborhood revitalization advocates say they fear the new direction could undo the slow progress they say has been made in some areas of the city like the Lowell neighborhood by encouraging more sprawl on the outskirts of town.
Advocates of the General Plan update say Fresno isn’t keeping pace with the need for housing during a historic affordable housing crisis across the state.
Slowing progress?
On Dec. 12, the City Council voted 6-1 to establish a committee to study the idea of updating the 2014 General Plan.
Supporters of the plan update say developing on the outskirts of the city will grow the city and attract developers to build much-needed homes. In recent years, a surge of developers pulled building permits.
But critics like Nelson Esparza, District 7 councilman and the only council member to vote against exploring a General Plan update, say growing the city will hurt inner-city areas like his district. He believes the General Plan curbs sprawl and encourages investment in existing communities, and should stay as is.
Esparza said his district stands to lose the most if city leaders decide to loosen regulations on new development. The 2014 General Plan restrained the city’s sphere of influence in an attempt to encourage infill projects over newer developments on the outskirts of the city.
“If we reopen the General Plan and continue to sprawl, what hope is there left for our existing neighborhoods?” Esparza said.
Esparza said lack of leadership over the years has prevented proper implementation of the plan, and thinks updating the General Plan is premature. He said his district has not been given the investment it needs, but he has been working on plans in his first term.
Revitalization advocates say the council’s decision to restructure the revitalization teams could slow the process of fixing impoverished neighborhoods.
That 6-1 vote by council members means, starting as soon as January, the revitalization team will no longer target specific neighborhoods for revitalization work. Instead, each council district will get a personalized team to respond to resident needs. The move spreads staff across the city, but means the staff would not target areas as deep, or for as long.
District 3 councilman Miguel Arias said there is a fair trade-off, given the increase in code violations.
“It won’t be as long or as deep, but it will be more (neighborhoods),” Arias said.
The move is seen as a “fork in the road” by Artie Padilla, director of Every Neighborhood Partnership.
The city’s new direction mirrors the work of Every Neighborhood Partnership, which in the past worked closely with the city under contract for neighborhood development. Padilla said as the city alters its direction, it’s worth looking at the progress and continue what has worked.
Padilla suggested each council member, as well as the mayor’s office, closely examine the issues in their district to understand how to respond to resident needs.
“Everyone agrees that engaging the community is important, but we want to get beyond just engagement,” Padilla said. “I think the community seems to have that vision.”
H. Spees, director of strategic initiatives in the mayor’s office, said while the revitalization team won’t do deeply-rooted work under the new direction, that can be remedied by continuing proactive code enforcement, which means deploying code enforcement officers routinely instead of waiting for residents to report problems.
Arias said proactive enforcement is expected to remain under the new approach.
Code violations have increased in recent years, according to city data. In 2013, there were 8,607 citywide code violations. In 2017, that number reached 14,287.
“A city that only does reactive code enforcement is not going to be a healthy city,” Spees said.
Visible improvements
The neighborhood revitalization team, headed by Phil Skei, saw visible improvement in neighborhoods where they dedicated special resources, according to director Phil Skei. Neighbors also reported improved educational scores, reduced blight and crime as well as an increase in property value.
The revitalization process entails months-long, ongoing work to examine the issues from a community and helping residents sustain the solutions once the city staff moves on.
In some parts of the city, like the historic Lowell neighborhood, residents run neighborhood associations and meet regularly to discuss their needs. The community’s rebound benefited from the city’s push to revitalize rundown neighborhoods, residents said.
The shuffling of revitalization staff is expected to remain around school neighborhoods. But it’s unclear entirely how the new personalized model will look or operate across each council district. A planning meeting is set for January, the same month the new model could be implemented.
“The intent of the model is to serve more neighborhoods more quickly than we were previously able to do through the (Neighborhood Revitalization Team) model,” said Erica Camarena, an assistant at the City Attorney Office, which oversees code enforcement. Camarena said working around schools is an effective approach.
Lingering questions
Spees said the city’s efforts in recent years to revitalize parts of the city have “moved the needle” slightly when it comes to improving poverty conditions for residents. He said the Restore initiative is expected to continue serving as a guide on how, and where, to approach revitalization plans.
Still, as the city council works through the items, questions linger on what the outcomes will be.
As the council awaits a committee’s six-month study on updating the General Plan, the idea of expanding development doesn’t sit well with Esparza, the councilman whose district is primarily the inner city.
“The General Plan as it is tees up the infill development for us, we just have to put our back into it,” he said.
Esparza added that he hopes the committee tasked with studying the General Plan update can identify the obstacles to fulfilling the current General Plan’s goals.
“There’s going to be substantial infrastructure investment required on the part of the city in order to make (infill) development more viable,” Esparza said.
This article is part of The California Divide, a collaboration among newsrooms examining income inequity and economic survival in California.
This story was originally published December 24, 2019 at 9:00 AM.
