Billion-Dollar Friant Ranch Development Heads to County Board After Planning Commission Approval

A $1.1 billion plan to build a retirement town near Friant cleared the Fresno County Planning Commission last week, setting up a final vote by the Board of Supervisors on Oct. 20.

The commission voted 6-0 Thursday to recommend approval of Friant Ranch — roughly 900 acres along Friant Road near the San Joaquin River calling for about 2,500 homes, most aimed at people 55 and older, plus commercial space, parks, trails, and a wastewater treatment plant.

This is the second time around for Friant Ranch. The county first approved it in 2011. Environmental groups sued, took the fight to the California Supreme Court, and won in 2018 — the court ruled the county’s environmental review didn’t adequately explain how increases in certain air pollutants could affect human health.

The county redid portions of the environmental analysis. The recommendation commissioners approved Thursday is based on that revised review.

Environmental and voting-rights groups lined up against the project again Thursday, arguing the environmental review is too old to meet current state requirements. The underlying analysis dates to 2009 — Barack Obama’s first year in office. Wildlife surveys go back to the mid-1990s.

Critics say the area has changed since then: a major blast mine has been proposed, new state groundwater law was written, Table Mountain Casino expanded “8 times larger” than once contemplated, and traffic is now measured by miles driven under new rules.

Radley Reep, a Fresno-area resident, told commissioners the plan to store treated wastewater in ponds near the San Joaquin River will seep into an adjacent pond owned by the San Joaquin River Conservancy — with no analysis of the impact on underlying groundwater.

“It has not undergone environmental assessment, which is enough for you today to say ‘please go back to the table and fix this particular problem before we recertify the [environmental review],'” Reep said.

Commissioners asked no follow-up questions about that concern.

Lawyers and lobbyists for Friant Ranch told commissioners that 30 years of planning — half of it in court — had consumed much of their professional lives. “I’m 67 years old, and I just did a rough calculation that approximately 20% of my life on the planet has been spent litigating this project,” said Jim Moose, an attorney representing the project.

The project’s backers say the 1,000-acre ranch — owned by the family of former assemblymember Frank Bigelow — is the only parcel in the Fresno area large enough to handle a resort-style retirement community of this scale, designed for roughly 7,000 seniors. Consultants estimated last year it will take 10 years and over $1.1 billion to build.

The Breakdown

• The Fresno County Planning Commission recommended approval of Friant Ranch’s revised environmental impact report on Thursday, voting 6-0.
• The project calls for about 2,500 homes (most for residents 55+), commercial space, parks, trails, and a wastewater treatment plant on roughly 900 acres along Friant Road near Millerton Lake.
• The county first approved Friant Ranch in 2011; environmental groups challenged it, and the California Supreme Court in 2018 ruled the environmental review inadequate on air-pollution health impacts.
• The revised environmental review is based on a 2009 analysis with wildlife surveys dating to the mid-1990s.
• The Fresno County Board of Supervisors is tentatively scheduled to take a final vote on the project Oct. 20.

What This Means for You

The Board of Supervisors will decide whether to approve a project that would build what amounts to a new town the size of Fowler in an area that’s changed significantly since the underlying environmental review was done.

This is your elected county board deciding whether a 15-year-old environmental analysis — one already struck down once by the state’s highest court — is good enough to approve a billion-dollar development that will reshape the Friant area for decades.

If you think an environmental review from 2009, with wildlife surveys from the 1990s, isn’t adequate for a project of this scale, or if you think 30 years of planning and multiple court fights prove this project has been vetted enough, Oct. 20 is when your supervisors will decide which view wins.

What You Can Do

The Fresno County Board of Supervisors is tentatively scheduled to vote on Friant Ranch on Oct. 20 at the County Hall of Records, room 301.

What to Watch

The $1.1 billion figure is the total estimated cost to build this project over 10 years — not the amount of public money involved, which the material doesn’t specify. The supervisors will be deciding whether to approve the project based on an environmental review that’s older than the iPhone, in an area that’s added a vastly expanded casino, a proposed blast mine, and new state groundwater law since that review was written. Why is the county comfortable certifying a 2009 analysis as adequate in 2026?

A resident raised a specific, unaddressed concern Thursday: treated wastewater will be stored in ponds that will seep into an adjacent pond owned by a public conservancy, with no analysis of the groundwater impact. The planning commission asked no follow-up questions. Why not?

This project is designed for roughly 7,000 seniors in a resort-style retirement community. The project’s backers describe it as an “active adult community” with trails and a ballroom, built on what’s been a cattle ranch for a century.