Fresno’s Tower District Vacant Property Program Issued Only One Fine in First Year

A year-long pilot program aimed at addressing chronic commercial vacancies in Fresno’s Tower District resulted in only one fine being issued to property owners, according to records obtained through a Public Records Act request.

The Fresno City Council passed the pilot program last year to tackle vacant commercial properties in the Tower District. The program built on existing requirements in the city’s Blighted Vacant Building Ordinance, requiring owners of boarded-up buildings to make their properties ready for occupancy within four months.

Between 50 and 60 properties were added to a registry of vacant buildings under the program, with eight proving “more challenging” cases for code enforcement, Assistant City Attorney Christina Roberson told a recent committee meeting. However, only one property—located at Fern and Maroa Avenues—received a fine under the program as of June 5.

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The $1,000 citation, issued in January, followed months of correspondence between code enforcement and the building owners regarding serious issues including a damaged electrical panel “literally dangling and held in place by wires” that remained unrepaired for at least five months. Records show the property owners paid the fine on February 20.

Councilmember Annalisa Perea, who co-sponsored the pilot program, said it pushed property owners to better secure their buildings and prevent break-ins from unhoused people. “The number one goal that I had with the program was to see more of these underutilized spaces reactivated and reignited with new life,” Perea said. “And I think that’s the main part that we have yet to see realized.”

Perea, who is running for California State Assembly this November and will leave the council after one term, said her office is working to evaluate what could work better and bring back a revised version of the program before her term ends.

The pilot program functioned as enforcement, while Perea also sponsored an incentive program passed last December that promises small local businesses rebates of up to 50% of their city sales tax for two years if they become tenants of vacant properties. After about seven months, only one organization—the South Tower Community Land Trust—has qualified for that incentive.

At a July 16 meeting of the Tower District Specific Plan Implementation Committee, committee members discussed receivership as a potential tool. Roberson said receivership is a “last-case scenario remedy” requiring a very high standard in court. “It’s basically like doing eminent domain without actually paying the person anything,” she said. “Based on the case histories that I’ve seen, these properties are not rising to that level.”

Committee chair Chris Johnson said he was supportive of looking at all options, including receivership for commercial properties, noting that the longest-standing vacancies represent “a significant health and safety issue.”

The Breakdown

• The one-year pilot program added 50-60 Tower District commercial properties to a vacant building registry and required owners to make boarded-up buildings ready for occupancy within 120 days
• Only one property received a fine ($1,000) under the program as of early June, despite eight properties being designated as “more challenging” cases
• A companion incentive program offering sales tax rebates to businesses occupying vacant properties has attracted only one participant in seven months
• Councilmember Perea plans to revise and reintroduce the pilot program before her term ends
• City officials discussed receivership as a potential tool but indicated the current vacant properties don’t meet the high legal standard required

What This Means for You

If you live or do business in the Tower District, the limited enforcement action under this pilot program means most chronically vacant commercial properties in your neighborhood have not faced financial penalties for remaining unoccupied. The city council may revise the program this fall before Councilmember Perea’s term ends.