Neighbors staunchly oppose an 82-unit apartment project in northwest Fresno, but the developer suggests the city might be legally required to approve it. Rendering via City of Fresno

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

The developer behind a controversial housing project wants Fresno city leaders to overturn the Planning Commission’s recent rejection, calling the decision defective and possibly illegal.

In a letter dated May 22 to Fresno Mayor Jerry Dyer, a LandValue Management executive slammed the Planning Commission’s May 15 rejection, saying the project remains “100% compliant with current zoning and all land use requirements.”

According to a copy of the letter obtained by Fresnoland, the company also suggested the commission’s ruling could violate California’s Housing Accountability Act.

“Providing almost 100 new dwelling units, on an infill site, this proposed project is completely consistent with the goals set out by the Legislature,” wrote James Huelskamp, a managing member at LandValue. “We are therefore concerned that the Planning Commission’s denial of this project, if allowed to stand, will constitute a violation of the HAA.”

It wasn’t immediately clear whether City Hall would take up the housing project appeal. A spokesperson for Dyer said the mayor had no comment on Thursday morning. 

Councilmember Mike Karbassi, who represents the district that includes the proposed housing project, said it remained too early to comment.

“I am reviewing the letter as well as the content of the public hearing on May 15th,” Karbassi said in a text message to Fresnoland. “Only after reviewing all the information including the public comment by the residents who are impacted by the project will I make a final decision on an appeal.”

The company proposed building three apartment buildings, each three stories high, and a fourth building that would be four stories high for a total of about 82 market-rate two-bedroom, two-bathroom apartments on the northeast corner of West Herndon and North Prospect avenues.

But intense organized opposition from neighborhood residents, many of whom cited largely disproven stereotypes such as higher crime rates and lower property values, prompted the Planning Commission to overrule city staff’s recommendation to approve the project.

In denying the project, Commision Chairperson Peter Vang cited traffic issues he said “would be detrimental to the public.”

“You want to be a good neighbor, a good steward to the community,” Vang said during the May 15 hearing. “I don’t want to be responsible…have my name tied to the fact that I allowed for such an apartment complex to happen.” 

In its letter to Dyer’s office on Wednesday, the company criticized Vang’s reasoning.

“No factual data was cited or presented by opponents to counter staff’s finding that traffic counts calculated do not rise to a level requiring further study,” Huelskamp wrote. “It is difficult to see how the Planning Commission found traffic impacts to be detrimental to the public.”

Huelskamp also addressed concerns raised by opponents regarding traffic impacts at nearby H. Roger Tatarian Elementary School.

“School traffic congestion occurs at most school campuses for limited amounts of time and our project will not substantially impact school traffic,” Huelskamp said in the appeal letter.

The conflict between concerned neighborhood residents and the city’s almost desperate housing needs put Fresno leaders in a complicated position.

The rejection comes after the state Department of Housing and Community Development declared Fresno’s housing element inadequate, which comes on top of a recent state crackdown on California cities that block projects amid the state’s lingering housing crisis.

And at least one Fresno city councilmember has questioned the Planning Commission’s rejection.

“If we support new housing and we’re in a housing crisis,” Councilmember Miguel Arias said last week during an unrelated budget hearing, “why are we allowing the commission to deny housing projects?”

Fresnoland’s Pablo Orihuela and Danielle Bergstrom contributed to this report.