Fresno council rejects South Central specific plan, directs staff to restart process with ad hoc committee

Fresno City Council voted 6-0 on Dec. 5 to deny the South Central Specific Plan and its related final environmental impact report and to direct city staff to form an ad hoc council committee to return with a revised plan. The decision came after five years of work, extensive technical studies and nearly two days of public hearings and testimony.

Planning manager Sofia Pagalotis told the council the plan area covers 5,567 acres and is partly inside and partly outside the city'"The South Central specific plan consists of 5,567 acres of land, 57% of which is located within the city limits," Pagalotis said, describing how the plan would reconfigure land uses, add buffering between heavy industry and sensitive uses and reduce some heavy-industrial designations.

Supporters of the plan argued it would add clarity and mitigation for industrial development in a long-industrial area; opponents, including business groups and industrial employers, warned that the proposed downzoning, 1,000-foot buffers and early requirements for zero- and near-zero-emission equipment would make the area uncompetitive and cost jobs. "I do not see myself supporting this plan," Councilmember Maxwell said,…