‘Long overdue’: Infrastructure, development plans approved for west Fresno neighborhoods

FRESNO, Calif. (KSEE/KGPE) – The west of the 99 is going to see a boost! The Fresno City Council has approved a plan to provide infrastructure and development west of Highway 99 to keep up with rapid growth.

The West Area Neighborhoods Specific Plan is a blueprint for future home developments, grocery stores, restaurants and retail. All things residents have been asking for the past eight years.

But at the Thursday’s city council meeting residents also reminded leaders that there’s still a lot of basic infrastructure missing.

“Without this plan, the west continues, facing fragmented development. Homes before roads, families before services and traffic before safety,” said April Henry, Executive Director of the Highway City Community Development.

Community members highlighted the need for sidewalks, traffic lights, and crosswalks.

“Many schools lack access to bike lanes, so parents have to drive instead and students walking to school dredged through a muddy ditch instead of a sidewalk, depending on which side of the street and which block they live on,” said Nabil Kherfan, Central Unified School District Trustee.

Kherfan says students face major intersections with no crosswalks in sight.

“West of the 99 does not have a safe routes to and from school,” he said.

The plan runs north of Clinton Avenue and East of Garland Avenue, most of which falls in Fresno City Councilwoman Annalisa Perea’s district.

“It’s been long overdue. I think if it was in place 20, 30 years ago, that side of the city would look a lot different than it is today,” Perea said.

Back in 2017, residents started meeting to lay out their needs like health clinics, banks, parks and more.

But, to do this, parts of the west had to be rezoned.

“We’re running out of room to grow. And so what we did as part of that plan is we were able to increase the number of land available to build more homes because we are in a housing crisis, but we are also increasing a lot of other land use designations from retail to park space,” Perea said.

Now with the stamp of approval by the council, Perea hopes residents finally feel the investment that’ve been waiting for.

“It’s a plan that’s asked to do a lot of things and deal with a lot, promote growth, new development, preserve rural and agricultural landscapes and cultural traditions, work for residents and work for developers,” said Daniel Brannick, Board of Director for the Highway City Community Development.

While this plan outlines where future development will go, Councilmember Perea reminds us there is already movement in the west. Dolores Huerta Park is under construction. Polk Avenue is being widened and Ashlan Avenue is next.