An artist's rendering of the proposed Costco warehouse at Herndon Avenue and Riverside Drive in Northwest Fresno. Draft EIR image

An expanded Costco retail building for Northwest Fresno has reached the draft environmental impact report phase, with the City of Fresno inviting comments on the document.

The Costco would be located near the El Paseo shopping center at Herndon Avenue and Highway 99 and would replace the existing Costco store near Shaw Avenue and Highway 99.

The City of Fresno released a draft environmental impact report on the Costco project on Tuesday, kicking of a 45-day public review period where the public may submit comments about the report.

 

The total project footprint is 241,342 square feet, with about 162,264 square feet devoted to the warehouse/retail portion. The footprint is larger than the 178,223 square-foot building proposed back in 2021.

The extra space is needed to accommodate customer levels for the popular warehouse store, according to the report.

“Costco’s customer base has outgrown the capacity of the current facility, which could lead to future traffic and parking concerns,” according to the draft report.

The Costco facility would include an attached tire center, home delivery services, a detached gas station with 32 fueling positions and drive-through car wash. It would be located on a 22.4-acre parcel at the northeast corner of Herndon Avenue and Riverside Drive.

As part of the entitlement process, Costco seeks to change the existing land use designation from Community Commercial to General Commercial to accommodate higher volumes of vehicle traffic. In addition, the current zoning would not allow a car wash.

Construction is expected to last about 170 days, with a construction workforce of 80-100 workers.

 

Costco anticipates an average of 10-13 trucks delivering goods on a typical weekday.

Public comments received after a notice of preparation for the environmental report from 2021 include concerns about traffic congestion, safety, access as well as air quality and light pollution.

While the City of Fresno is lead agency on the project, it would likely require approvals from several other agencies including the State Water Resources Control Board, Central Valley Regional Water Quality Control Board, San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District and the Fresno Metropolitan Flood Control District.

Comments can be submitted to Supervising Planner Jose Valenzuela via email or phone at (559) 621-8070.