Church plans parking lot on rare green space in Fresno’s Tower District. See the plans
A Catholic parish in Fresno wants to convert a grass parcel in Fresno’s Tower District neighborhood into a 69-car parking lot.
Currently, the Shrine of St. Therese Church on Wishon and Floradora avenues has a 16-angled parking stalls on the southwest corner of Floradora and Maroa avenues. The lot is largely empty during the week, except for an occasional Fresno police car. St. Therese also has a larger parking lot adjacent to the church that’s accessible from Wishon Avenue.
Now, the Diocese of Fresno Education Corporation is proposing to replace the 16-stall parking lot with a larger, 69-stall parking lot to serve the church. To do this, the diocese will replace the existing spaces with 90-degree parking stalls as well as expand into the fenced-off grass field it owns along Maroa Avenue, according to a notice from the City of Fresno’s planning department.
“Come Sunday, there’s definitely a need for parking,” said District 1 Councilmember Annalisa Perea, whose district includes the church.
On Sunday mornings and around major Catholic feast days, the residential streets around St. Therese tend to fill up with overflow cars that don’t fit in the parish parking lot. Perea and Diocese officials said the goal is to mitigate offsite parking, which has become a challenge with the Midtown Vineyard Church gathering across the street at California Arts Academy.
“Our primary goals in securing additional parking are to improve safety and accessibility,” Diocese of Fresno Communications Director Chandler Marquez said in a statement.
“We believe this would also benefit our neighbors by reducing street congestion, preventing blocked driveways, and easing the impact of weekend and special-event traffic on the surrounding area,” Marquez said.
Because the original approval of the conditional-use permit has expired, the proposed parking lot is now considered an expansion of a legal non-conforming use, according to the City of Fresno’s notice that was sent to residents within 1,000 feet of the project last week.
In recent years, unhoused individuals have broken through the chain-link fence to set up camp in the grass field, one of the few green spaces in Fresno’s central Tower District neighborhood. Nearby neighbors around St. Therese told The Bee they remember when the church used to host events on the green space and invite youth to practice soccer.
St. Therese’s Parish was established in Fresno in 1919 as Our Lady of Victory Parish and has since grown to serve more than 1,000 families, according to the parish website.
Project timeline unclear
It’s not immediately clear when the city planning department will make a decision on the proposed parking lot expansion project.
City Spokesperson Sontaya Rose said staff expects to take action on the project to occur toward the end of March or early April.
Marquez said a construction timeline has not yet been finalized.
According to the city’s notice, the existing chain-link fence and concrete wall remain while the existing iron fence will be removed. The proposal would also include installing a 10-foot landscape buffer along the perimeter of the parcel and new curbs, while retaining the existing parking lot lighting.
The fate of the several trees on the parcel, however, is unclear.
“With any construction project, we will do what can to be respectful of the environment,” Marquez said. “Preserving existing trees and green space is an important consideration, and any final plans would be reviewed with that in mind as part of the approval process,” he said.
Have thoughts on St. Therese’s parking long expansion?
The City of Fresno of Planning and development department is accepting comments, concerns and requests for final project action by Monday Feb. 9, 5 p.m.
Members of the public can submit comments via email to PublicCommentsPlanning@fresno.gov (cc: Brittany.Martin@fresno.gov) or via postal mail to: Jennifer K. Clark, AICP, HDFP, Director, Planning and Development Department, 2600 Fresno Street, Room 3043, Fresno, CA 93721.
Comments must include your interest in, or relationship to, the subject property and specific reason(s) why you believe the project should or should not be approved, said the city’s notice.
Once the planning director takes the final action on this project, there will be a 15-day appeal period.
This story has been updated to include comment from the City of Fresno.
This story was originally published February 4, 2026 at 5:00 AM.
