Mike Prandini

Editor’s note: Michael Prandini, president and CEO of the Building Industry Association of Fresno/Madera Counties, wrote the following letter addressed to Fresno’s mayor and councilmembers dated Jan. 26.

The publication Fresnoland recently reported that the City of Fresno will be postponing further consideration and approval of the specific plan for the Southeast Development Area (SEDA).

Work on the SEDA specific plan has been ongoing for more than 10 years. A draft specific plan has been completed. An environmental impact report (EIR) is almost complete, but consideration of the document by the Planning Commission and the City Council has been delayed. The city would be well served scheduling, as soon as practicable, the specific plan and the EIR for consideration by the Planning Commission and the City Council at noticed public hearings.

To be sure, there are public infrastructure and related financing challenges that will require solutions, but those could be addressed after the EIR is certified and the specific plan is adopted. Public infrastructure plans must be completed, but that can’t happen until the city, with public input, decides upon the land uses and development patterns envisioned by the specific plan.

Once public infrastructure cost estimates are known for the preferred land uses and development patterns, a public infrastructure financing plan can then be developed.

The Building Industry Association (BIA) believes that failure to adopt a specific plan for SEDA will eventually bring development in the city to a standstill, limit housing opportunities and, thereby, drive up the cost of housing, making housing less affordable.

Beyond the lack of an adopted SEDA specific plan, there are two other issues likely to restrict or limit growth in the city in the future. Those are the lack of a tax sharing agreement between the city and the County of Fresno and definitive plans to provide water, sewer, transportation, and other public services for SEDA.

The lack of a tax sharing agreement forces developers to engage in a lengthy process with the city and the county to process annexation requests before they may be considered by the Local Agency Formation Commission (LAFCo). In the absence of a tax sharing agreement, a proposed annexation cannot be considered by LAFCO without a project- specific, stand-alone tax sharing agreement.

However, it is our understanding that stand-alone tax sharing agreements are not preferred by either the city or the county and are, therefore, problematic and unpredictable. The current stalemate between the city and the county over provisions of a tax sharing agreement effectively stops development in any area outside the city limits, even areas within the city’s pre-SEDA sphere of influence.

It is time the city and the county reach an agreement on a tax sharing agreement.

The lack of SEDA public infrastructure plans for water, sewer, transportation and other public services is a glaring deficiency. It is our understanding that preliminary public infrastructure plans are complete. If so, the plans should be released for review and comment by interested parties. By addressing issues such as the specific plan, the tax sharing agreement, public infrastructure plans, and related financing alternatives — concurrently, rather than in a serial fashion — substantive progress toward the desired goals of expanding the city’s inventory of developable land and thereby expanding housing opportunities for residents could be realized more quickly.

The BIA urges the administration and the city council to expeditiously consider all the issues set forth above. Failure to do so will ultimately work to the city’s detriment by stymying growth and encouraging development and growth in other San Joaquin Valley communities.

Michael Prandini is president and CEO of the Building Industry Association of Fresno/Madera Counties.