FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) — The Fresno City Council voted 6-1 on Thursday to table the Southeast Development Area, or SEDA, project indefinitely, a major setback for the long-debated development proposal in southeast Fresno.
The decision came during a meeting many expected would bring the project to a final vote, after decades in the making. Councilmember Nick Richardson cast the lone vote against tabling the proposal.
As soon as the council voted to indefinitely table the project, opponents celebrated.
During the meeting, Councilmember Miguel Arias seconded a motion to indefinitely table the item.
“Rather than open up those old wounds again, I’m going to make a motion to table this item indefinitely so it doesn’t ever come back again,” Councilmember Mike Karbassi said.
The proposed project would have covered about 9,000 acres in southeast Fresno. According to city staff, the plan was intended to add housing, create jobs and improve environmental sustainability. Phase 1 focused on South SEDA, located east of Temperance Avenue and south of Jensen Avenue.
Mayor Jerry Dyer acknowledged the outcome right after the council’s decision.
“I am disappointed in the outcome of today. It’s not unexpected,” Dyer said.
Rhonda Dueck, executive director of the Jackson Community Development Corporation, said opponents of the project had spent more than a year analyzing and discussing the proposal.
“I’m actually really glad to see it. We’ve been part of a coalition for over a year that have been having conversations, trying to say, ‘You’re giving us the data, we’re running it through algorithms, we’re looking at it, but frankly, it really doesn’t pencil out,” Dueck said.
But Naindeep Singh, Joaquin Arambula, and Ariana Martinez Lott, all running for a spot on Fresno City Council and leading their races, oppose the SEDA plan.
Despite the vote, Dyer said he does not view Thursday’s action as the end of discussions surrounding development in the SEDA area.
“I am going to be meeting with some community members who were adamantly opposed to SEDA and see if there’s a way to come back with an alternative,” Dyer said.
“I’m going with an open mind. I’m willing to be wrong if the data can show that but I think it’ll be the new city council who will be looking at that,” she said.
Dyer did not provide details about what an alternative proposal might include. In a statement, Councilmember Annalisa Perea said:
Tonight, my colleagues and I voted to table the Southeast Development Area (SEDA) Plan indefinitely. While this action does not formally reject the proposal, the reality is that it effectively brings the current plan to an end.
I recognize the importance of having a comprehensive plan in place before development occurs, especially when considering a project of this size and scope. However, the question before us was not whether Fresno needs to plan for future growth, but whether the plan presented tonight was the right plan for our city.
addressed. This plan has been discussed and debated extensively, with considerable public input provided along the way. These discussions have made it clear that significant concerns remain, and moving forward without resolving them would not have been in the best interest of our city.
For those reasons, I supported the Council’s decision to table the proposal. Fresno needs to plan for its future, but we also need to get it right. A plan of this magnitude will have lasting consequences for our city, and we owe it to our residents to make decisions based on what makes sense for Fresno, not simply on how long a proposal has been under consideration.
