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Council approves purchase of property for H Street parking garage; mayor and members press solar and cost questions
Summary
Council voted unanimously to acquire property tied to a planned H Street parking garage to support downtown housing development funded by state awards, prompting questions about solar-panel relocation costs and whether eminent domain should have been used earlier.
The Fresno City Council unanimously approved acquisition of property linked to the planned H Street parking garage project, part of a broader set of state-funded downtown housing and infrastructure projects.
Council members asked detailed questions about the property—s sale history (the city previously sold the parcel for $1.9 million), the cost to relocate on-site solar panels (staff estimated roughly $612,000 to relocate panels), and whether the city should have used eminent domain when the land was previously sold. "Frankly, this whole process leaves a bad taste in my mouth," Council Vice President Arias said, adding his preference would have been an eminent domain approach for public-benefit land acquisition.
Mayor Jerry Dyer and city staff said the city had limited resources at the time of the original sale and that the state funding opportunity being used to accelerate garage construction made an acquisition timely and cost-efficient. Mayor Dyer said he would not agree to additional utility subsidies to the stadium operator should relocation of solar panels trigger higher utility costs; he said the city would not increase annual subsidies beyond historical levels.
City staff said the H Street Garage is part of a package that includes another garage at Tuolumne and Van Ness and related infrastructure work tied to state grants. They noted design-build efficiencies from coordinating construction of both garages.
The council approved the purchase; staff will proceed with the acquisition and the contract documents necessary to meet state funding and construction timelines.
Next steps: relocation plans for solar arrays and any design adjustments will be refined and reported back to council; construction sequencing for the garage will proceed consistent with the state funding schedule.
