Tower District Specific Plan Implementation Committee

City of Fresno Ted C Wills 770 N. San Pablo Ave. Fresno, CA 93728 Meeting Minutes - Final Tuesday, September 3, 2024 5:30 PM Special Meeting Ted C Wills, 770 N San Pablo Ave., Fresno, CA 93728 770 N. San Pablo Ave. Fresno, CA 93728 Tower District Specific Plan Implementation Committee Chairperson - Christopher Johnson Vice Chair - Janay Conley Board Member - Annie Lokrantz Board Member - Michael Birdsong Board Member - Myra Coble Board Member - James Kitch Board Member - Joseph Catania Tower District Specific Plan Meeting Minutes - Final September 3, 2024 Implementation Committee THE COMMITTEE WELCOMES YOU TO THE TED C WILLS, LOCATED AT 770 N SAN PABLO AVENUE, FRESNO, CA 93728 PUBLIC PARTICIPATION – Any interested person may appear at the public hearing and present written testimony or speak in favor or against the matters scheduled on the agenda. Public participation during Tower District Specific Plan Implementation Committee meetings is always encouraged and can occur by attending a meeting in Ted C Wills located at 770 N San Pablo Avenue, Fresno, CA 93728. When called to speak during a meeting, you may approach the speaker podium upon the Chair's call for any additional public comment. Unless otherwise announced, all public speakers will have up to 3 minutes to address the Committee. SUBMIT DOCUMENTS / WRITTEN COMMENTS – Email – Agenda related documents and comments can be emailed to the Long Range Planning Division. Unless otherwise required by law to be accepted by the City at or prior to a Committee meeting, no documents shall be accepted for Committee review unless they are submitted to the Long Range Planning Division at least 24 hours prior to the commencement of the meeting at which the associated agenda item is to be heard. a. Email comments to LongRangePlanning@fresno.gov b. Emails should include the agenda date and item number you wish to speak on in the subject line of your email. Include your name and address, for the record, at the top of the body of your email. c. Emails will be a maximum of 450 words. VIEWING MEETINGS (non-participatory) – For your convenience, there are ways to view Tower District Specific Plan Implementation Committee meetings live: 1. Community Media Access Collaborative website: https://cmac.tv/ 2. Cable Television: Comcast Channel 96 and AT&T channel 99 3. Zoom: https://fresno-gov.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_taAP1qgNRGGeXj2cB5mzQQ Webinar ID: 951 8694 8275 a) Register in advance for this webinar: After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the webinar. b) If you do not wish for your name to appear on the screen, then use the drop down menu and click on “rename” to rename yourself. Should any of these viewing methods listed above experience technical difficulties, the Committee meeting will continue uninterrupted. Committee meetings will only be City of Fresno ***Subject to Mayoral Veto Page 2 Tower District Specific Plan Meeting Minutes - Final September 3, 2024 Implementation Committee paused to address verifiable technical difficulties for all users participating in Zoom or in person. The City of Fresno’s goal is to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Anyone requiring reasonable ADA accommodations, including sign language interpreters, or other reasonable accommodation such as language translation, should contact the Planning Department, 559 621 8277 within 48 hours of the meeting. City of Fresno ***Subject to Mayoral Veto Page 3 Tower District Specific Plan Meeting Minutes - Final September 3, 2024 Implementation Committee I. Call to Order & Roll Call Present 7 - Chairperson Christopher Johnson, Board Member Michael Birdsong, Board Member Annie Lokrantz, Vice Chair Janay Conley, Board Member Myra Coble, Board Member James Kitch, and Board Member Joseph Catania II. Approve Agenda On motion of Chairperson Johnson, seconded by Board Member Birdsong,the above AGENDA was APPROVED. The motion carried by the following vote: Aye: 7 - Chairperson Johnson, Board Member Birdsong, Board Member Lokrantz, Vice Chair Conley, Board Member Coble, Board Member Kitch and Board Member Catania III. Approve Meeting Minutes III-A ID 24-1189 July 30, 2024, Tower District Specific Implementation Committee Regular Meeting Minutes On motion of Board Member Birdsong, seconded by Chairperson Johnson, that the above Action Item be APPROVED AS AMENDED. The motion carried by the following vote: Aye: 7 - Chairperson Johnson, Board Member Birdsong, Board Member Lokrantz, Vice Chair Conley, Board Member Coble, Board Member Kitch and Board Member Catania III-B ID 24-1190 August 20, 2024, Tower District Specific Implementation Committee Regular Meeting Minutes On motion of Chairperson Johnson, seconded by Vice Chair Conley, that the above Action Item be APPROVED AS AMENDED. The motion carried by the following vote: Aye: 7 - Chairperson Johnson, Board Member Birdsong, Board Member Lokrantz, Vice Chair Conley, Board Member Coble, Board Member Kitch and Board Member Catania IV. Council District Updates N/A City of Fresno ***Subject to Mayoral Veto Page 4 Tower District Specific Plan Meeting Minutes - Final September 3, 2024 Implementation Committee V. Staff Updates Chair's Report: Johnson suggested having a special meeting on September 10, 2024, but due to not meeting quorum, Monday, September 9, 2024, worked best. VI. Continued Matters VI-A ID 24-1193 Review and consider Draft Plan update and additional Committee recommendations. Staff noted the Committe's Fall schedule: September 26, 2024 Council initiation October - December 2024 Objective design standards and Tower Entertainment District Gave a summary of the 58 comment letters and 17 calls for public comments received and the August 20th Committee Motions. - Motion to include the Committee recommendations from May 14th to change industrial zoning on the map for properties zoned light industrial with residential uses and rezone the Central Valley Cheese Factory to a zone more compatible in the proposed Land Use Map. - Motion to delay City Council initiation of the Draft Plan update from August 29th to September 26th and hold Committee meetings on September 3rd and September 17th, 2024. Johnson made a motion to review the Draft Plan chapter by chapter and make motions at the end of each chapter. On motion of Chairperson Johnson, seconded by Board Member Lokrantz, that the above Action Item be APPROVED. The motion carried by the following vote: Aye: 7 - Chairperson Johnson, Board Member Birdsong, Board Member Lokrantz, Vice Chair Conley, Board Member Coble, Board Member Kitch and Board Member Catania City of Fresno ***Subject to Mayoral Veto Page 5 Tower District Specific Plan Meeting Minutes - Final September 3, 2024 Implementation Committee Chapter 1 Introduction The Committee recommended several changes to be made to the Plan. These changes include edits to maps to provide more detail and clarity, adding staff acknowledgments, including a chapter on implementation, focusing on the quality of the housing and resilience in the designs and bungalows on page 9, addressing the lack of parks, comparing demographics from South Tower to the overall District, placing more emphasis on the Tower not being dominated by the automobile, incorporating more pictures from the workshops, emphasizing health and equity, examining freeway impacts and air quality, integrating health and equity analysis, providing more coverage on the unhoused with solutions, promoting an active lifestyle, addressing sound impacts, supporting a healthier market in the district, focusing on environmental comfort and the urban forest, actively infilling and replacing trees, and maintaining the landscapes in the Tower district. Additionally, the recommendations included addressing the high-speed rail, circulation, affordable housing, and utility needs. On motion of Vice Chair Conley, seconded by Board Member Lokrantz, that the above Action Item be APPROVED. The motion carried by the following vote: Aye: 7 - Chairperson Johnson, Board Member Birdsong, Board Member Lokrantz, Vice Chair Conley, Board Member Coble, Board Member Kitch and Board Member Catania Chapter 2 Conservation and Historic Preservation The Committee recommended making several changes to the Plan. These changes include acknowledging the history of redlining that defined some of the historic districts, addressing the missing trees and other landscape features in the district, mentioning the palm trees, properties mentioned in the 1991 Specific Plan and surveys, correcting the Wilson's North Fresno tract to include Rosanna Wilson, identifying thematic courts to map, noting that the historic districts are also the red-lined districts and the ones with lower density, incorporating a picture of a bungalow court, de-emphasizing the automobile and keeping garages at the rear of the property, using more active verbs in the policies and objectives, promoting infill development, incorporating more graphics, considering supporting a historic museum, designing and implementing strategies to preserve and protect historic City of Fresno ***Subject to Mayoral Veto Page 6 Tower District Specific Plan Meeting Minutes - Final September 3, 2024 Implementation Committee properties, promoting the acquisition of historic and/or vacant buildings, establishing objective design standards, prohibiting the development of suburban-style, and improving connections to the freeways and the underpasses. On motion of Board Member Lokrantz, seconded by Board Member Coble, that the above Action Item be APPROVED. The motion carried by the following vote: Aye: 7 - Chairperson Johnson, Board Member Birdsong, Board Member Lokrantz, Vice Chair Conley, Board Member Coble, Board Member Kitch and Board Member Catania Chapter 3 Land Use The Committee recommended several changes to the Plan. These include rezoning residential properties currently zoned as industrial back to residential, reclassifying the cheese factory from industrial to a more compatible zone, updating the land use map, incorporating more parks, providing more detailed information on the apartment overlay district and the Tower Entertainment District, adding definitions to the Plan, rezoning certain properties to Commercial Main Street, enforcing codes for substandard conditions, offering local incentives and assistance for home buyers, addressing barriers to the cost of construction for infill and new housing, highlighting the diversity within the district, providing examples of how to mitigate the impacts of sound and air quality from industrial areas on the neighborhood, removing a picture of grain silos, acknowledging the new name of the Tower District Marketing Committee to Tower District Business Association, adding incentives to support businesses needing to renew CUPs, implementing proactive code enforcement, preventing displacement of residents, encouraging small multiplex buildings, offering building rehabilitation programs and promoting a community land trust, developing strategies to strengthen neighborhood stabilization policies, rezoning existing non-conforming multifamily residential uses to the appropriate zoning district, add policy LU 2.7 to include resources to prevent displacement, incentivizing infill based on a feasibility study, and specifying incentives to attract more grocery stores. Furthermore, the Committee suggests appropriate noise mitigation approaches for businesses, implementing a sidewalk vendors program, reducing and mitigating truck traffic on surrounding residential streets, and prohibiting any further City of Fresno ***Subject to Mayoral Veto Page 7 Tower District Specific Plan Meeting Minutes - Final September 3, 2024 Implementation Committee expansion of industrial zoning. On motion of Chairperson Johnson, seconded by Vice Chair Conley, that the above Action Item be APPROVED. The motion carried by the following vote: Aye: 7 - Chairperson Johnson, Board Member Birdsong, Board Member Lokrantz, Vice Chair Conley, Board Member Coble, Board Member Kitch and Board Member Catania Continued item to September 9th, 2024. On motion of Board Member Birdsong, seconded by Board Member Lokrantz, that the above Action Item be CONTINUED. The motion carried by the following vote: Aye: 7 - Chairperson Johnson, Board Member Birdsong, Board Member Lokrantz, Vice Chair Conley, Board Member Coble, Board Member Kitch and Board Member Catania VII. New Matters Johnson asked if a Subcommittee could be formed to work with staff through the process. VIII. Unscheduled Oral Communications Daniel Branick Are dual designations just for park and public open space or park, public open space, and public facility? Lynn Owens Would like to be able to participate in adding a mother-in-law unit and asked if the Committee received training. IX. Adjournment The Chair adjourned meeting at 7:38 pm. City of Fresno ***Subject to Mayoral Veto Page 8