Monday, 19 April 2010 10:05

The City of Fresno will decide Thursday whether to offer up funding as part of a Property and Business Improvement District proposed for downtown Fresno.

A petition drive was launched in October rallying property owners in the area to back an initiative that would levy an assessment to fund community improvements and other special services. Under state PBID law and the California Constitution, the Property and Business Improvement District (PBID) formation process first involves a petition by a majority of assessed property owners, and then a majority vote of the owners.

The drive is nearly at a majority support with recent major petitions submitted from the Holiday Inn Fresno Downtown Hotel and the Gottschalks Building. Current assessment for the district now total around $208,880.

The City Council's decision on Thursday will determine participation in the PBID on behalf of the City and the Fresno Redevelopment Agency. Together, the two make up the largest single bloc of votes at 15 percent of the total assessments for the PBID.

If it signs on, the annual assessment for the City's properties will be approximately $77,688, or 12.8 percent of the PBID's overall assessment budget of $607,291. Meanwhile the Redevelopment Agencies' assessment will be $15,631, or 2.6 percent of the total.

So far, the City of Fresno has lent $84,309 in City funds to support the PBID formation effort, which will be repayable upon the adoption of the district.

The Fresno City Council gave Ed Kashian and Tom Richards a green light today to proceed with the development of 95 acres in southeast Fresno that will become Fancher Creek Town Center.

The mixed commercial-residential development was approved unanimously by the council, which concluded that it is consistent with the 2025 Fresno General Plan and the Roosevelt Community Plan.

It will be located on Clovis Avenue, between Belmont and Kings Canyon avenues, and is just the beginning of a planned 500-acre community that will feature 1.2 million square feet of retail and office space in addition to at least 240 residential units.

However, two remaining sticking points remain — processing fees and the location and specifications of a transit station that the developers will construct.

The developers anticipate that construction will begin late this year or in early 2011 and that construction of the entire project will be done in phases.

Last Updated on Thursday, 25 March 2010 13:34

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