Fresno dairy wants to close a major street to park its trucks. Residents are not happy
A proposal from Producers Dairy in Fresno to make room to park dozens of milk-carrying trucks drew skepticism from its residential neighbors on Thursday, a little more than two years after a similar proposal was denied by the city.
The 88-year-old company has proposed closing a section of H Street, which runs diagonally between Belmont and Palm avenues along some unused silos.
The plan drew opposition from Tower District neighbors worried about the potential to increase traffic on residential roads, commuters who use H Street to get to and from downtown or north Fresno, potential effects on nearby small business and long-standing agreements that could be broken.
Scott Shehadey, president of Producers, said the company is committed to finding a solution that benefits the community. He touted how the company “nourishes” the region with milk and other products, as well as the jobs it offers.
“We focus on how we nourish our team members and their families, how we nourish consumers and how we nourish our communities,” he said. “We do that with our core values. We treat people how we want to be treated, to do the right thing, to do the things we say we’re going to do, and to do things better.”
“I say this in full awareness that we are imperfect, and we are a business that’s trying to become better,” he said.
There are 410 Producers employees in the Fresno area and 140 of them live in Districts 1 and 3, the two City Council districts that share the Tower District, according to Shehadey. He said the average employee has an income about 61% greater than Fresno’s median income of about $47,189.
Shehadey also argued the proposal would put less wear on area surface streets because the new configuration gets trucks on and off of the Producers property faster than they do now.
The environmental impact study says the new configuration would mean trucks would be on Fresno roads almost nine fewer hours a week. But the study says rerouting traffic around a closed H Street could result in an additional 2,000 miles traveled daily.
High-speed rail eminent domain
Producers had used a Thorne Avenue property to park trucks before 2014, when the California High-Speed Rail Authority initiated eminent domain proceedings on a large portion of it.
The newest proposed plan for parking has been met with skepticism by neighbors who say the type of industrial facility run by Producers is a major polluter and should not operate so close to homes.
Producers Dairy was fined $89,960 last year by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for not sufficiently regulating its use and management of anhydrous ammonia, a toxic chemical highly corrosive to skin, eyes and lungs.
Tower District, small business reaction
Kiel Lopez-Schmidt is a Tower resident who said he opposes the idea of closing H Street. He was also an outspoken opponent of the failed 2018 proposal.
“We think this should stay open as a public street and be improved with bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure,” he said. “Producers has not been a great neighbor related to the streetscape and environmental impact.”
Lopez-Schmidt and several others took part in a demonstration on Thursday on H Street to try to drum up support from the community.
Protester Juan Meza said his business Meza Electric is on H Street, which makes the proposed closure worrisome. His business benefits from its location because he’s got good freeway access.
“We’re small-business owners,” he said. “We are not big corporations so, obviously, we don’t have money (or) power to fight anything.”
Adding another parking lot to the area so short on green space would be hard to stomach, according to Malyn Rose, who has lived on nearby Ferger Avenue for 42 years.
“We’ve had some marvelous times in this neighborhood and it’s a shame to see it destroyed,” she said. “We all want to save the neighborhood. We don’t need another parking lot.”
Past controversy
Proposed Producers projects have been controversial with area neighbors for some time.
Producers had plans to demolish two Central Valley Cheese Co. buildings near Belmont and Roosevelt avenues and use the property for parking of up to nearly 70 trucks. The plan called for the construction of a sound wall and decorative fence around the perimeter of the 1.83-acre lot.
The City Council in 2018 ultimately did not support the idea following the outcry of residents. Several people said that idea would have violated a covenant the dairy made with Tower District residents in the early 1990s. The covenant was signed by Producers owners and residents and said the business must maintain the historic buildings.
The newest proposed project could be complicated by the plans for high-speed rail, which will run along the backside of Producers. Officials with HSR did not provide comment for this story.
Some project detractors have wondered aloud why Producers doesn’t just pick up and move to the west side of Highway 99 and away from homes. Shehadey said that idea is cost prohibitive.
“I fully understand what we’re asking for is not a simple thing. It’s not easy,” Shehadey said about H Street. “We respect everyone’s opinion and we want to hear those (and) at the end of the day find something that’s good for the community, good for us.”
Public comment
The public review period remains open through Sept. 14. Comments and questions can be sent to Fresno city planner Phillip Siegrist, 559-621-8061 or via email at phillip.siegrist@fresno.gov.
