In a residents vs. business dilemma, Fresno mayor’s solution better be the real deal
Fresno Mayor Jerry Dyer has proposed a solution to one of the thorniest problems of his first year: how to allow industrial businesses in the city’s southwest area to modify their operations without harming nearby residents.
Whether the effort will actually work is a big question. And whether it can satisfy everyone involved is yet to be determined. On the one hand are a group of businesses and property owners who want to modernize their companies and holdings. On the other side are the 40,000 residents of west Fresno — Latino, Black and Asian — who have paid the price long enough for industrial uses that have made their part of town one of the most polluted urban areas in California.
The background
Over a year ago businesses in a 92-acre part off South Elm Avenue complained that the zoning they fell under as part of the Southwest Fresno Specific Plan was too constricting. The zoning, called neighborhood mixed use, came about as part of the extensive, two-year process of creating the specific plan. That is the overall guide to how development is to occur in west Fresno.
Previously, the businesses had been under a zoning category known as light industrial. They wanted to return to that so they could get loans for modernization projects, like switching to all-electric power. Banks and insurance companies, they said, would not loan to them since they were considered a legal but nonconforming use under the specific plan. Such a status was “risky” in the lenders’ opinion.
But west Fresno residents and community groups like Leadership Counsel for Justice and Accountability pointed out that the specific plan clearly states there is to be no industrial expansion.
West Fresno has some of the worst air quality in the state, due to manufacturing as well as nearby highways and train lines. Residents have higher rates of diabetes, asthma and heart problems than Fresnans living elsewhere in the city. There are multiple brown fields — land contaminated with chemicals. Some health experts say west Fresno residents have average lifespans that are 20 years shorter than those of people living in the north end of town.
Rather than industrial expansion, west Fresno residents hope to see more housing, as well as commercial and office uses. There is only one supermarket in the area, just a smattering of restaurants, and few shops. Poverty is high and educational attainment is low.
Neighborhood industrial
The mayor’s proposal is to create a new zoning designation with the seemingly contradictory name: neighborhood industrial.
Under Dyer’s concept, the businesses could modernize. But there could be no greater water use, air pollution, noise or light impacts than exists now.
He points out that the specific plan allowed the industries to remain, and his goal is to find a middle ground in hopes that the businesses can continue operating. About 1,000 people are employed by the firms.
The ordinance creating the neighborhood industrial zoning says it is meant to lead to “the orderly and planned transition” of legal, nonconforming properties to mixed use.
But Leadership Counsel representative Ivanka Saunders questions how temporary the zoning will be. She thinks the industrial uses could continue indefinitely.
She also points out that the zoning would be applied citywide, not just to southwest Fresno. That raises the specter of residential areas in south-central and southeast Fresno being impacted should businesses there seek the same zoning.
Time to speak up
Review meetings are being held in every City Council member’s district. Once that is done, Dyer’s proposal will go to the Planning Commission, and ultimately the council.
In July The Bee Editorial Board stated that this dilemma was of the city’s own making. Fresno leaders in past decades directed industrial development into the southern and western parts of the city. But over the years, disinvestment became the norm in west Fresno, and today it is a shell of the community it used to be.
The Editorial Board said current city leaders should uphold the Southwest Fresno Specific Plan out of respect for the hard work and extensive community involvement that created it. At the same time, the businesses that located there did so in good faith. So the city should relocate them to a more suitable location — an obviously expensive proposition.
Short of that, Dyer’s proposal is on the table. One thing not explained is just how the city would monitor and enforce compliance under the neighborhood industrial zoning. That must happen.
Community involvement is once again critical. West Fresnans, make your opinions heard. Public comments can be submitted by emailing Nicholas Caldera at Nicholas.Caldera@fresno.gov.