Fresno planners split with staff — commission recommends against ministerial approval for broad housing conversions

Planning staff presented a citywide text amendment (P24-00794) that would permit ministerial (streamlined) approval of several housing types: office-to-dwelling conversions in office zones, multifamily near bus stops in RM zones, multifamily in mixed-use infill areas, and standalone multifamily in office zones. Adrian Asadorian Gilbert, supervising planner, said the amendment follows the 1 Fresno housing strategy and the city's pro-housing designation from the state and is intended to provide more capacity for housing in high- and relatively high-resource areas.

"This designation makes the city eligible to receive grant funding for a variety of housing projects and initiatives," Asadorian Gilbert said, summarizing the policy background. The staff-released Mitigated Negative Declaration (MND) assumed the amendment could provide capacity for roughly 22,425 dwelling units citywide over 30 years, the staff presentation said. Staff also proposed one modification in response to comments: new residential development would be prohibited on vacant or underutilized parcels in the office zone district within 500 feet of a school.

The proposal drew heavy public comment from residents, neighborhood organizations and builders. Darren Rose, president and CEO of the Fresno Madera Building Industry Association, told the commission he supported ministerial approval and said, "We believe that the, housing crisis that affects our, general region and community, specifically in Fresno, necessitates, streamlined approval of these projects." Hundreds of residents from neighborhoods near Herndon and Prospect spoke in opposition, raising traffic, school safety, infrastructure capacity, aesthetics, and loss of public review as concerns. Several speakers said they discovered the MND and proposed amendment only after notices were published and criticized the timing of notice distribution.

Commissioners expressed concerns about removing public review for projects in RM-1, RM-2 and RM-3 zones and about neighbors not receiving direct notice of ministerial zone clearances. Commissioner Calandra said she had a major concern with allowing ministerial approval in the RM zones because "the neighbors, the community should have some input on that." Staff responded that ministerial approvals would be processed as zone clearances routed to internal departments and are appealable within 15 days of approval if someone is on the notification list for that parcel.

After extended discussion and more than two hours of public testimony, Vice Chair Bray moved and Commissioner Calandra seconded a motion recommending the City Council not adopt the proposed text amendment in its ministerial form. The commission approved the motion by voice vote; commissioners present voted to recommend non-adoption and forward that recommendation to the City Council.