The Fresno County Board of Supervisors is not accepting a study about possible development in a 5-thousand acre area along the San Joaquin River north of Fresno. Opponents saw the study as a first step toward commercial development along the river bottom.
The so-called ‘Friant Corridor Feasibility Study’ was intended to be a first look at potential places for development from the north edge of Fresno to the Community of Friant.
Citing many shortcomings in the study, such as impacts on water, the supervisors, including Andreas Borgeas, decided to set it aside, essentially rejecting it.
“The concern that I have is that we have fundamentally shortchanged this study,” Borgeas says.
The county planning commission twice rejected the plan. Even the city of Fresno spoke out against it.
The decision is a win for environmentalists and residents like Kirk Anders who consider it the first step toward developing the river bottom.
“This whole focus has been on where can we get our toe in the door and get some development started between the bluffs. And once it’s in it spreads like a cancer,” Anders says.
The study was privately funded. It only identified 100-acres of the 5,000-acre study as suitable for development.
Despite rejecting this study, the supervisors on multiple occasions said there is a need to further research potential development in the area.
