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This story was originally published by Fresnoland, a nonprofit news organization.

The Clovis Planning Commission voted to adopt resolutions recommending that the City Council approve a general plan amendment and rezone to allow for the development of a 26-unit apartment complex on the northwest corner of Ashlan and DeWolf avenues.

Residents expressed concerns about the use of a traffic study done by a consultant during the pandemic when the Reagan Educational Center schools across from the proposed site were closed, but city staff did not directly address the question.

Per the city report, the project requires the redesignation of the property’s land use from low-density residential (2.1-4 units per acre) and open space to the high-density residential (15-30 units) classification. Coupled with the change in land use designation is a recommendation to rezone the property from the existing single-family residential very low-density zone district to the multifamily high-density zone district.

The focus of Thursday night’s meeting was on the land use issues, although local residents were concerned about the project’s aesthetics and the timing of its traffic study, which was conducted by a hired consultant when traffic was considerably less due to pandemic-era school closures.

The renderings shown during staff’s presentation including a color palette of a bright white, a beige tan, a muted mint green with red and yellow undertones, a muted red with purple and blue undertones and a muted teal with a yellow undertone.

William Mancebo, who owns the property that butts up against the proposed project site, took issue with the look of the proposed apartment complex. 

“I know we’re not going to be able to stop this development, but we’d like to make it look at least halfway decent,” he said. Mancebo gave several examples of other nearby apartment complexes that blend into the neighborhood, including one on Temperance and Ashlan avenues. “If I have to come out of my house and look at that thing with its gaudy colors, I’m not going to like that,” he said.

Perez said that the owners, too, agree that the project renderings are ugly and do not like the colors or materials. “This project has been going on for a really, really long time and it’s very expensive to do renderings and technical studies, so until there was some kind of assurances on the land use, it didn’t make sense to keep paying to have the renderings done,” she said.

Once the land use issues have been addressed, the applicant can formally request a site plan review. That plan will include updated colors and materials for council review, she said. 

Traffic concerns also an issue 

David Rasha, a Clovis resident who lives near the proposed project site and is a professional asphalt paving contractor, said he was concerned that the traffic count was done when the high school and junior high were closed, and said traffic needs to be looked at very seriously during the hours of 7 a.m. to 8:30 a.m. 

Senior Planner McKencie Perez didn’t give a direct answer to the traffic study concerns, citing LSA as the third-party consultant responsible for the findings. 

“The city didn’t prepare the technical studies, it was prepared by a licensed traffic engineer who did the trip generation based on the total counts,” said Perez. Per its website, LSA is an employee-owned environmental consulting firm. 

According to Perez, an environmental review was completed, which resulted in a mitigated negative declaration. She said the study found that the potential environmental impacts are not severe enough to trigger a larger study.

The next steps in the process will be hosting a second neighborhood meeting and mailing letters to all residents within an 800-foot radius of the proposed project. 

Commissioner Brandon Bedsted said making adjustments to density always gives him pause. “In this case, I see this as an infill lot, and I think the project is pretty well thought out and I appreciate the applicant’s commitment,” he said.

Commissioner Paul Hinkle obliquely referenced state affordable housing requirements that Clovis has failed to meet.

“One thing we as citizens of Clovis need to be very concerned about is what’s going on in Sacramento,” he said. “A lot of pressures are being put on the city of Clovis to meet their demands.”

The Clovis Planning Commission meets again on Feb. 22.