Image via Starbucks

The Fresno City Council unanimously approved a conditional use permit Thursday morning for what would be the largest Starbucks in town.

The 5,781 square-foot Starbucks drive-thru was announced last year in a social media post by Fresno Mayor Jerry Dyer. 

District 3 Councilmember Miguel Arias previously appealed the planning commission’s approval of the Starbucks, voicing concerns about pedestrian safety. Introduced in planning documents to include two buildings— each with a drive-thru, City of Fresno Planner Phillip Siegrist clarified Thursday the scope of the project from developers Sylvesta Hall and Jim Shehadey.

Plans for a second drive-thru site were axed in an updated plan, according to Siegrist.

Siegrist added that off-site improvements, including traffic and pedestrian infrastructure updates, will take priority and be completed before the project goes into full development.

Additionally, FAX bus stop 32 will be relocated from its current location on Church Avenue just north of Jensen Avenue to a proposed location on the southwest corner of the intersection.

Once approved, the bus stop will be relocated within 14 days, according to FAX.

“Once the sidewalk and gutters and curbs are in place, FAX can then relocate the existing bus stop across the street into that location,” Siegrist said.

Residents, developers eager for growth

Hall, a longtime Southwest Fresno resident and partner in the project with Shehadey, assured the council that the community’s work with the Starbucks Corporation will ensure the hiring of local minorities and people of color to work at the store, adding that future developments in the area will follow suit.

“You can’t come into Southwest Fresno and not be held accountable,” he said. “West Creek Village development and this Starbucks location is different from any in the nation; it’s being developed by a brother from that neighborhood – me.”

Fellow resident Bob Mitchell offered the lone public comment, voicing praise to the community for recent improvements in the often-overlooked part of town, including the opening of the new Fresno City College West Campus that took place last fall.

“It’s something that we have long sought for our community,” he said. “We’ve long sought commercial businesses to come to our community of a nature that will bring good business and will not affect us in a negative fashion.”

Mitchell also noted that the single drive-thru, as well as the extensions of sidewalks, crosswalks and the addition of designated turn lanes in the area will benefit both businesses and the schools located within a block of the proposed developments – the FCC West Campus and nearby Gaston Middle School.

Dyer reaffirmed his support, emphasizing the importance of development in the area and sharing his hopes for the future.

“It’s going to be the largest Starbucks in Fresno. It’s going to hire from within that community,” he said. “It’s going to be a community Starbucks and I do believe that West Fresno is deserving of it.”

He added that the development of financial institutions and grocery stores are all on the horizon for West Fresno, citing Pastor DJ Criner and his work in Southwest Fresno commercial development.

Arias pleased with updates

During the last council meeting on March 21, Arias cited concerns over the proposed development “replicating Chick-fil-A and In-N-Out in West Fresno,” referring to traffic stemming from the stores’ drive-thrus at the corner of Blackstone and Nees avenues.

On Thursday, Arias said his fears were alleviated with the news of only one officially proposed drive-thru site.

“It’s been my goal to ensure that whatever actions we take in this body don’t undo that investment, even if it’s for the convenience of a [cup of] coffee,” Arias said. “We have a city that leads the nation in pedestrian deaths. We have, too often, distracted drivers and competing uses in proximity.”

Arias also thanked the work of Mitchell and Chair of the Golden Westside Planning Committee Debbie Darden, both of whom were instrumental in the development and approval of the proposed plan.

The vote passed unanimously 6-0, with District 2 Council Member Garry Bredefeld recusing himself due to a conflict of interest with the developer.