The Clovis City Council adjourned their normal meeting responsibilities to meet with the Clovis Planning Commission.
A little more than a week had passed since the Planning Commission had last met in the council chambers. This meeting was for the appointment of a “receive and file” in which the Commission merely provided an update on multiple items to the council.
Items included in the meeting came from City Staff and the Director of Planning and Development Services Renee Mathis.
Mathis issued a general plan update that included residential permit activity for the past year and major development activity within the city.
In terms of residential permit activity, Mathis claimed that the City had issued about five hundred permits for the year. This included about four hundred permits for single-family use and just under one hundred multi-family use facilities. She believes that more may come but the City is looking to hit about five hundred total in the fiscal year.
Mathis then went on to describe major developments within the bounds of Clovis including activities done at Loma Vista, the Central Area of Clovis, Heritage Grove and Landmark Square.
Clovis City Engineer Mike Harrison went before the council and spoke about multiple Measure C projects. Shaw Avenue out to McCall Avenue will be under construction and has started the first phase as of April 4th that will move from DeWolf to Leonard avenues.
Harrison explains that this project will be worked on for about a year with Leonard to Highland Avenues alone looking to be closed for about six months.
Harrison also announced that Herndon Avenue out to DeWolf Avenue will be widened and will be the “final Measure C regional project.”
This project will include two traffic signals, one coming at the intersection of Locan Avenue and Herndon and the other at DeWolf and Herndon. He explained that the already started construction on the Well Community Church will be met with further road construction done by the City.
Mathis came back with an explanation of the original items she had brought before the council.
This included a review increase on density which included a comprehensive overview in her terms that may take around four to six months to audit. She then went on to mention Senate Bill 9 or the California Home Act.
This bill applies to single-family residential homes in which a single-family residential lot can add a second home if one home exists, or they can add two homes if there are no homes existing on the lot. This of course is based on qualifying criteria and according to Mathis, the bill also allows for the subdivision of homes on a lot.
Mike Prandini, a representative of the Building Industry Association (BIA), came to speak on the association’s interest in creating a high-density zone in Clovis.
To this point, Prandini was met with contention from the Council in which they believed a list of amenities included by the BIA was found to be “offensive” according to Mayor Pro Tem Lynn Ashbeck.
The list provided by Prandini included a park bench and a trash can as items to be listed as amenities. Councilman Bob Whalen stated that if the BIA wanted to be taken “seriously” they needed to be “coming up to the table with something significant”. He then went on to say he had “no confidence” in the BIA if they “were coming in like this [with their proposal]”.
After the Council’s conflicting position with the BIA, Prandini stated that he would go back with the thoughts of the Council.
The Council then retained its position of providing affordable homeownership to all, regardless of financial position.