apartment construction housing development — Photo by Jakub Pabis via Pexels
9,000-Resident Senior Development Returns to Fresno County Board After Years of Air Quality Litigation
A proposal to build 2,500 homes for seniors in the foothills south of Millerton Lake is heading back to the Fresno County Board of Supervisors for a final vote in October, more than a decade after the board first approved it and then rescinded that approval following a court ruling.
The Fresno County Planning Commission voted unanimously Wednesday to support the Friant Ranch project, about 10 miles north of Fresno. The project envisions housing for roughly 9,000 residents plus about 250,000 square feet of commercial space.
The project’s backers — the Bigelow-Silkwood family — say a new environmental impact report completed in 2023 shows the development would no longer cause the air pollution problems that sank the original approval. According to the county’s staff report, “new analytical methodology” and “improved pollution control technologies in vehicular and non-vehicular sources” mean “ultimately, the project would not result in a substantial adverse effect on human beings.”
That’s a sharp reversal from the findings that tied up this project for years. The environmental report from the previously approved Friant Ranch development estimated nitrogen oxide and fine dust emissions seven to ten times higher than what the San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District considers significant.
After the Board of Supervisors approved Friant Ranch in 2011, the Sierra Club, League of Women Voters of Fresno, and Revive the San Joaquin sued the county and developer under the state’s environmental law. They argued the county’s environmental analysis was flawed.
The county and developer initially won in Fresno County Superior Court, but the Fifth District Court of Appeal ordered a revised environmental impact report in May 2014. The justices found the original report described “vague and unenforceable mitigation measures” around air pollution from newly proposed traffic.
The state Supreme Court later upheld that ruling, and the Board of Supervisors voted in 2021 to rescind the approval they’d granted a decade earlier.
The plan has been compared to large retirement communities in Arizona and Southern California.
The Breakdown
- The project calls for 2,500 homes (mostly for seniors) and about 250,000 square feet of commercial space in the foothills south of Millerton Lake, about 10 miles north of Fresno.
- The Fresno County Board of Supervisors first approved Friant Ranch in 2011, then rescinded that approval in 2021 after courts ruled the original environmental analysis was flawed — specifically, that the project would produce air pollution far exceeding what the air district considers significant, with mitigation measures the court called “vague and unenforceable.”
- A new environmental impact report completed in 2023 says improved methodology and pollution-control technology now show the project would not cause substantial harm.
- The Planning Commission voted unanimously Wednesday to support the project, sending it to the Board of Supervisors for a final vote in October.
What This Means for You
The five members of the Fresno County Board of Supervisors will decide in October whether to approve Friant Ranch. Previous courts found the original approval’s environmental analysis was flawed.
The new environmental report says the problem has been solved, but the original approval also came with environmental assurances that courts later found inadequate.
What to Watch
The Board of Supervisors rescinded this exact project just three years ago after courts said its environmental analysis was flawed. Now the developer is back, saying new technology and better analysis fix the problem.
The original environmental analysis produced pollution estimates seven to ten times what the air district considers significant. If the new report genuinely shows lower emissions, what specifically changed about the project itself to produce that result?
The developer’s comparison to large retirement communities in Arizona and Southern California is worth noting: those are car-dependent, sprawling developments far from urban centers. The original Friant Ranch approval was found to have “vague and unenforceable mitigation measures” around traffic-driven air pollution.
