Thread by @AndyHS

Down at the October 10th,2019 Fresno City Council meeting! Some selected items on the agenda today: 58 unit multi family mixed use project at L St and Stanislaus; Elm Ave Revitalization with EPA Brownfield cleanup grant; 57 affordable housing units in Chinatown;grant applications

for Fancher Creek trail and EV Charging infrastructure; Fresno Foxes soccer team in Closed Session negotiations regarding SW Regional Park.
Please “Heart” if you like these reports. Forgive any typos or mistakes!

President - Paul Caprioglio
Vice President - Miguel Angel Arias
Councilmembers:
Esmeralda Z. Soria, Mike Karbassi, Luis Chavez, Garry Bredefeld, Nelson Esparza
City Manager - Wilma Quan
City Attorney - Douglas T. Sloan
City Clerk - Yvonne Spence, MMC

CONSENT CALENDAR
Approve the appointment of Kathryn Wilbur to the Housing and Community Development Commission

Amending the Fresno Municipal Code Relating to Shared Mobility Devices (Subject to Mayor's veto)

Approve the appointment of Paul Caprioglio to the Fresno County

Transportation Authority

Amending the Council Rules of Procedure related to Closed Session materials mandating material must be present at least 3 days prior to Session

Actions pertaining to the Disposition and Development Agreement between the City of Fresno and Upside Enter-

-prises , LLC for property located at 1517 L Street and 2139 Stanislaus: mixed use 58 multi-family units.

Approve the reappointment of Michael Lopez to the Capital Projects Oversight Board. Meeting beginning with Invocation by Naindeep Singh Chann. Caprioglio has skin graft on

his right ear due to cancer. @MiguelArias_D3 shouts “Here” during roll call so Caprioglio can hear 😜 Next: Proclamation of “Code Enforcement Officer Appreciation Week” and Proclamation of “John Luttrull Day” by @Esmeralda_Soria Code Enforcement was recently put under City

Attorney’s office and Douglas Sloan is helping with proclamation. Soria thanks Code Enforcement for their quick responses. John Luttrell was named California Code Enforcement Officer of the Year. Focuses on Graffiti and Illegal Dumping. He is looking forward to the changes under

City Attorney’s Office. Other Code Enforcement Officers given certificates as well.

Proclamation of “Domestic Violence Awareness Month” by @MayorLeeBrand Marjoree Mason is the only dedicated facility to Domestic Violence in Fresno County. “Healthy Relationships start with us” says director of Marjoree Mason. Brand thinks Domestic Violence is part of homelessness

Proclamation of “Breast Cancer Awareness Month” sponsored by
Councilmember Soria and Caprioglio. @PaulCaprioglio says his mother survived breast cancer and will be 93 years old soon. Soria stresses early detection. Breast Cancer Walk this Saturday morning at Fresno State.

Councilmember Reports : Mike Karbassi was at grand opening for Fresno Fair. Kaiser Family awards possible. . Veterans Blvd section opened for West Fresno residents. Soria thanks Public Works and Progress for tree trimming due to budget priorities by this Council. Fall Festival at

Inspiration Park October 19th. Caprioglio says National Night Out was October 1st at Wesley United Methodist Park. Coffee with Cops at McDonalds. October 5th was Airport experience for Autistic children. They go thru process of going to an airport and even board an airplane.

October 6 picnic at Sierra Madre Park. YODA for youth art expression. Consent Calendar now. Approved 7-0. 3-A 5-year agreement with AT&T/ FirstNet and Fresno Fire Department for mobile devices. Passes 7-0. 3-B purchase a Aerial Ladder Fire Truck for $1.4 Million. Approved 7-0

Arias asks why lease agreement v purchase? Cost. @kmkarbassi wonders why sales tax couldn’t be paid with North Carolina rate and not California? Chief says cannot be done. 3-C purchase contract to Swanson Farney for 25 police patrol sports Utility vehicles for $1 million.

This was lowest bidder. Future will have five hybrid SUVs. Arias: is there a a local preference ? Selma is local? Yes says Barfield. @esparza_nelson asks why this is a purchase v lease like Barfield has mentioned in last Council meetings. Approved. Authorizing the Submission of

the Public Works Fancher Creek Trail Plan and FAX Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Planning Projects to the California Department of Transportation for the 2020-21 Sustainable Transportation Planning Grant Program. Approved 7/0

Adopting a Complete Streets Policy

A street that can be used by multiple modes of transportation. Can be used to strengthen grant applications. Safer and more accessible. Bus, walk, bike and drive. Road Diet on Sierra west of Maroa gave new bike lanes. Developer was required to add sidewalk and bike facilities

giving a more complete Street. Some exceptions are allowed such as cost being more than 20% of Project. Annual Performance report to Council will ococur. @MiguelArias_D3 recent fight over Gas Tax dollars. He still has a handful of schools that don’t have sidewalks. Some of these

areas in south Fresno were annexed 50 years ago but still no sidewalks. What is exception the Director can make for safety ? Staff: Sometimes there may already a sidewalk on one side of street but residents don’t want one in their front yard. Arias: Central Unified Neighborhood

especially near farm end of town and being annexed block by block and make students cross street. Planning Commission given full authority to change this. None of the Commissioners are from the south of Fresno. Attorney Doug Sloan says “Council still has final authority. “

@esparza_nelson any conflicts with Blackstone revitalization? Staff: no changes but actually makes it stronger. @Esmeralda_Soria where did 20% cost exception? Staff: other cities were researched. Soria would like more info on this % before voting on this. @LuisCha70215912 SE

Fresno has many areas where one side is City and other side is County. Staff: we try to work with County. Chavez: Armstrong and Butler lot especially. Is there flexibility in Complete Streets? Scott Mozier says City can annex or City can maintain bike lanes even if it is County

Chavez: a more compete conservation with County needed.Absence of Current and Future needs? Staff: demand is not present now such as Bus Transit. @kmkarbassi have we surveyed residents? He may be in road diets with Soria District but does it have to in just my District? Staff:

we would need to still make the case. Arias: Amazon was approved but no sidewalks were required. Now we are trying to play catch up. Again: Planning Commission has no representation from South Fresno. Approved 7-0. 10 AM vacation of a portion of San Jose and Colonial. Fig Garden

expansion. Jeff Roberts of Aseemi Group. They requested this. Have been working on this for over a year and with many residents input. District 2 implementation and Planning Commission has been unanimous. Two parks will be included. Public: Fig Garden Homeowner Rep says this

will provide a sense of place. In support. Next: passed a letter of support in her complex and got majority in approval. Next:how many times do Neighbors have to fight for their neighborhood? A four story office building. She didn’t receive notice as it is required to send not-

ificiation are those immediately adjacent. CEQA: cumulative effect of placing office complex in middle of road. @kmkarbassi most of his calls to his office were in support of this project. Roberts: notices sent to those 10000 ft. Pocket parks with one for pets provided.

Karbassi makes motion to approve. There is a stigma between developers and residents. This effort made to mitigate neighbors issues. Approved 7-0. Appearance by Kelly and Johnny Nelum, Sr. to discuss Police Department concerns (Speakers reside in District 3 A coworker was found

dead after complaining of estranged spouse. Have went to PD Chief Andy Hall for advice on preventing further loss of life. She doesn’t feel like he took it seriously. Sargent Fowler did take all the info and contacted estranged spouse. Spouse continued to violate rules. He is

only held for three hours. Victim has to wait now for 6-8 weeks before Sargent can determine if she is determined true. We now worry for her life during this time. Jonny: says for how much money is spent on Police they should at least know policy for domestic violence. If this

happened in Fig Garden there would be a different response. PF Chief responded well. @kmkarbassi thanks them for coming down. One challenges of PD is stigma of people wanting to report. Marjoree Mason has 24 hour line. We need to encourage women to report. State has changed the

way people are incarcerated and people are let out quicker. @MiguelArias_D3 asks PD Chief Hall if anyone can walk into PD HQ and Report a crime? A: yes. Until 3 pm. Staffing issues but have used officers that have been injured to help out.

Tconsider the adoption of the Elm Avenue Revitalization Strategy, which pertains to approximately 1,092 acres. EPA grant to clean up Brownfield areas. View.ashx for full extensive report. 83% in area have families with children compared to 33% for rest of Fresno. 2% commercial

but 33% of parcels are vacant. We can see this as a positive by allowing changes to corridors. Engaged the community. Residents wanted parks, compete streets, affordable housing and community based retail. Murals , signage ,trees. St Rest Site: green and mixed use development

Elm/Church:housing with focus on commercial. Elm/North site could host pop up commercial businesses. Cleanup: need to find out what the chemical contaminants are. This is a playbook and meant for reference. District 3 Implementation Committee Member says she is in favor of this.

@FresnoBHC rep says this is a good project. She was involved in TCC and thanks @MiguelArias_D3 for helping this community. Her middle name is “building awareness” as opposed to previous speaker whose middle name was “Implementation Committee”. Arias thanks City Staff for reach-

out to residents. They want what they used to have: compete Streets that were left to deteriorate. @Esmeralda_Soria thanks community for pushing City Staff and Council to keep moving on this. She met with St Rest this week to see building go up. Approved 7-0!

Adding the Toni Hunter Organ Donor Protection Act, Section 3-126 to the Fresno Municipal Code related to paid leave for organ and bone marrow donors. Caprioglio says April was Organ Donation month. @kmkarbassi honored that this is his first bill. This allows one city employee to

another city employee and they will Be protected. Staff: has some suggestions to Proposal. @Esmeralda_Soria Former Councilmember Esther Padilla was a champion of organ donation. Approved 7-0.

3-F power transformer for Fresno/Clovis Regional Wastewater Treatment Plant $870,000 approved 7-0. Transformative Climate Communities (TCC) Grant and Transform Fresno Plan project regarding the Chinatown Housing Project: 1. Approve a Sub-Recipient Agreement with the Housing Au-

thority of the City of Fresno, CA for the Chinatown Housing Project totaling $10,807,319. @GarryBredefeld recuses himself. Approved 5-0

Arias mentions lots of groundbreaking going on from this. Next: Approve a $397,118 HOME Investment Partnerships Program Agreement with Doragon @ Chinatown, LP for the construction of 57 affordable rental units to be located at 1101 F Street in the Chinatown area. Approved 5-0.

3-J ASET and Code Enforcement Report and Obtain Council Direction on structural changes, funding, and enforcement priorities.

City Attorney Douglas Sloan wants direction from Council for Code Enforcement. Three divisions Rental, Community Compliance and Neighborhood Revitalization. 8800 violations in 600 units. 30 open cases. Rental Housing Division: 85,000 units registered for inspection. 67% need

some type of correction. Maybe as small as broken window or faulty smoke detector to something major. Most are in compliance by 30 days. @kmkarbassi balance between property owner and resident with cockroach infestation. A: staff tries to determine cause. Arias says he hears

that property owners only repair the 10% inspected and ignore the rest. Staff: other tenants have ability to report the other units too. Staff also gives property owners have significant notice before inspectors arrive and some still have violations. ASET can elect to inspect

all units if the initial 10% inspected show violations. Next division: Community Compliance has 43 staff members with three are inspectors. 1259 rental houses inspected for Reactive Housing Unit. Can consist of hoarders too. Demolition team especially after a fire, death and no

kin. Vacant buildings: 262 open cases now. Illegal Dumping: 121 illegal dumping citations. 3483 vacant lots inspected for weeds. Arias: when was the last time for weed abatement or dumping fees have been increased? Tires: amnesty event this month. 3300 tires surrendered. Illegal

cannabis and honey oil with hazardous electrical leads to fires and explosions. Mobile Vending to curb illegal and unsanitary-food sales. Has resulted in more coming in to get legal licensing. Council heading to Lucy Recess and will be back at 1:30 to continue this.

Resume at 1:38 pm. Neighborhood Revitalization Team in 15th most deteriorated neighborhoods with goal of 40. Blight decreased 95%, crime down 8%, fires down 34% property values increased 22% and Students Language Arts and Math increased 17-18%. Private and HUD dollars used. These

neighborhoods were neglected for decades. Neighbors feel it has made area cleaner. Schools have out performed similar schools. Doug Sloan: feedback and direction from Council requested. Communication is a priority. Tracking online. Formalize Council Code Committee? Council Dis-

-trict Teams? Do they need liaison directly in Council office? Caprioglio suggests 2-3 days a week. If each Council had their own team then resources would need to be added or perhaps move personal around. Caprioglio suggested it worked better when a dedicated team was used.

Sloan: Code Enforcement Budget was reduced by $250,000. Perhaps this is a good time to add it back to hire vacant spots. Caprioglio: What is carryover? Jane Sumpter thinks 3-4 weeks will provide answer. Caprioglio says 1-2 weeks would be better. Sumpter: there are other items

the council have made it priority. This. $250,000 could be added. Arias: I want to see list first before we add anything more. Sloan: Enforce health and safety, then nuisance and Blight. Low priorities will get Courtesy Notices. Avoid gentrification. Motel inspections may cause

some people to be displaced. We need a plan before this happens. Specific Tooics: razor wires not allowed in residential; chickens pro and anti; locking trash bins already in PBID areas downtown. Illegal signs, alley dumping; Conditional Use Permit Enforcement; Cannabis Business

are on hold as law changes. Motels into long term housing. @MiguelArias_D3 he would like to see the codes Enforced throughout the city. Razor wire needs to be enforced especially on the routes to schools. Locked Trash bins downtown have to be enforced. Motels needs to be expedi-

ted. Most of those motels are 80% vacant so most wont need to find another home. Neighborhood Revitalization Team : Likes the proactive approach and meeting residents. Concerted effort around schools of vacant properties etc @kmkarbassi $250,000 ? What is the vacant positions ?

Sloan: four positions vacant. Karbassi: does NRT work with entities like Fresno Unified? Staff: yes. There are different phases and need for them may be less/more. Most successful depends as we are working with people. Hildago schools have increased. Karbassi: What happens when

a person gets cited for razor wire and then angrily goes around and points out others with razor wire. Sloan: barb only with Permit and razor wire not allowed ever. Karbassi: on remodeled bathrooms how do we know it has been done correctly? Staff: building inspector makes sure it

is up to code. Karbassi: focus on rental checklist or do we look for other items not on that list ? Staff: if we see other items we may refer it. @District5Chavez In three and half months this has been running. I would like to see an assessment of what works. I don’t have motel

problems like some Districts but I have other problems. He doesn’t want to micromanage. @Esmeralda_Soria thanks Attorney Staff and Code Enforcement Staff. It has been night and day the difference since moving it to Attorney’s Office. Sloan: we will keep doing what we are doing

unless we are given direction to do something different. Caprioglio motions to combine area teams to Neighborhood Team. Lines to Attorney office is more open than ever. @esparza_nelson lots of signs in his district that leads to blight. Maybe not high on list but is important. Is

there more that can be done than just removing? Recent Airbnb policy was something that falls outside the 9-5. How do we enforce outside these times? Sloan: we can look at those times. Esparza: we will need Research. City Manager Quan says she would like more time before we

explore NRT. @GarryBredefeld thanks City Attorney and Code Enforcement for what they are doing. @MiguelArias_D3 We gave direction to Attorney to come back after six months from starting this transition so he wants to be sure we are still on track. Wants to be sure my district’s

homes burn due to lack of stopping a nuisance because Code Enforcement was up North shutting down a party house. @GarryBredefeld he doesn’t like Arias disparaging people up North like this code Enforcement issue with party houses or fighting over SB 1 Gas Dollars. He would like

Arias to stop with that. @kmkarbassi jokes the keg parties are actually near Fresno State. Approved 6-1 with Karbassi voting NO. Will go to Closed Session. Closed Session: Property: 1707 W Jensen Ave, Fresno, CA(Fresno Regional Park)
Negotiating Parties: City of Fresno, Fresno

Foxes
Next meetings: OCTOBER 17, 2019 - NO MEETING OCTOBER 24, 2019 - 9:00 A.M. MEETING OCTOBER 31, 2019 - NO MEETING
NOVEMBER 7, 2019 - 9:00 A.M. MEETING NOVEMBER 14, 2019 - 9:00 A.M. MEETING

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