Granite Park developer filed claim for damages in July. Fresno is offering him a new deal
The city of Fresno is weighing a new, more expensive deal related to Granite Park with a developer who has a shaky history with the city – and at least one councilmember is drawing attention to it.
Councilmember Garry Bredefeld said that the proposed deal doesn’t make sense given developer Terance Frazier’s history with the city.
Frazier’s attorney said the deal would benefit the city and the community, and any past appearance of impropriety is a misunderstanding.
Frazier’s nonprofit Central Valley Community Sports Foundation was audited about a year ago. The auditor found personal loans, missing documents, spending that appeared “not ethical” and unaccounted money in the nonprofit’s financial records.
“There’s never been any correction to what took place officially,” Bredefeld said about the audit. “I’ve never seen a written report.”
Then, in July, Frazier filed claims for damages related to the audit, according to city records. Frazier’s initial claims from that month totaled $10 million in losses, according to filed documents, which he later amended to leave out the dollar value.
The audit was released prematurely and was flawed, according to David Weiland, the attorney representing Frazier. That’s why his client filed the claim, which will be dropped if the city agrees to the new deal, he said.
“If it’s approved by the City Council, we’re hopeful the project will move on successfully, and that Garry Bredefeld will leave us alone,” Weiland said on Tuesday.
Details of Granite Park proposal
The new Granite Park deal to be considered at Thursday’s City Council meeting increases the city’s annual $150,000 contribution to $250,000. On top of that, the city would agree to $100,000 in utility fee credit per year. Previously, the nonprofit paid all of those fees.
Mayor Lee Brand, who was involved in negotiations, defended the proposal. “This agreement was crafted to keep this public amenity in good repair and sustainable for future generations to enjoy,” he said in statement on Tuesday.
The proposed agreement also would require the city to pay $200,000, “a one-time retro payment,” according to records. The city would put another $150,000 into a reserve fund for deferred maintenance at the park.
Along with his concerns about the promises of new money, Bredefeld said the proposal “makes absolutely no sense” and lacks transparency. “I said before there was a stench. The stench continues.”
Along with the new deal, the running of Granite Park would move from the Central Valley Community Sports Foundation to the Granite Park Sports Complex, another nonprofit headed by Frazier.
The developer’s attorney, Weiland, said that move is requested by the city. The old nonprofit oversaw more than one project and the funds were lumped together, making it more difficult for an auditor to follow, according to Weiland.
Bredefeld has called into question the $2.7 million in capital improvements cited in city records that were made while Frazier oversaw the park, noting that there is no breakdown on what has been improved.
Weiland said Frazier borrowed a “couple million bucks” going back to the start of the project about four years ago and has since added fields and given the area a face-lift. “It was a rundown junk heap with weeds and trash all over the place,” he said.
