Planning commission recommends denying rezone request to restore light‑industrial zoning on Elm Avenue amid community opposition

The Fresno City Planning Commission on Thursday recommended denial of a plan amendment and rezone request (P.2303006) that would change roughly 55.31 acres south of Annadel Avenue and east of State Route 41 from neighborhood mixed use to light industrial.

The commission's vote asks the City Council to reject the applicants' request to revert the Elm Avenue properties to light industrial zoning; the item is scheduled for a council hearing the week following the commission meeting. The item drew more than an hour of public comment, with business and economic‑development representatives urging approval and neighborhood residents and community organizations urging denial.

Staff told the commission the subject area covers 55.31 acres and that, under current zoning, the land carries a theoretical capacity of 64 dwelling units per acre. "At 64 dwellings per acre you have a net residential capacity loss of 3,541 units," Planning and Development supervising planner Rob Holt said while outlining constraints imposed by California law (SB 330 and related statutes) on plan amendments that reduce residential capacity.

Holt said the proposed action would amend Policy LU 8.1 of the Southwest Fresno Specific Plan, rezone the parcels from neighborhood mixed use to a light industrial (I‑L) zone with a set of conditions of zoning, and that any approval would be "subject to compliance with SB 330." He reviewed proposed conditions that staff and the applicant included in the application packet: a requirement that many industrial uses be subject to a conditional use permit; explicit prohibitions on a long list of uses (including recycling processing,…