April 17, 2024 – The Council was presented with the official elevations for the new Clovis Branch of the Fresno County Regional Library.
The new library will be built in the northwest corner of the Landmark Square property, north of Third Street near the intersection with Veterans Parkway, where the new Senior Center and transit facility are currently located.
The new library is going to be around 26,000 square feet, a big increase from the current 9,000 square foot library on 5th Street.
Sally Gomez, the interim County Librarian says there will be a central area for staff to be easily accessible, a separate Children’s Collection room, and a large community area that will be used to provide more programming to the community.
Construction of the new library is estimated to be complete in 2026.
Continuing the tradition set in 2010, City Council proclaimed April 26th, 2024 Arbor Day.
Councilmember Diane Pearce read the proclamation, which begins, “Whereas in 1872 J. Sterling Morton proposed to the Nebraska Board of Agriculture that a special day be set aside for the planting of trees. And whereas this special day, called Arbor Day, was first observed in the state of Nebraska with the planting of more than 1 million trees…”
Paul Armaderas, Deputy Public Utilities Director says that Clovis has over 40 thousand city-owned trees. Covis has been recognized as a Tree City USA community by the Arbor Day Foundation since 2010.
On April 26th, there will be a public tree planting at Gettysburg park, in celebration of Arbor Day.
The council approved a Prop 2018 vote for the Renaissance neighborhood at Minnewawa and Alluvial, in order to provide the neighborhood with new call boxes, maintain their gates, and to resume street sweeping.
The City Council approved the sale and transfer of interest in the 500 Club Casino, from Michael Leblanc to Richard “Kevin” Barclay, and Mark English. Barclay now owns 75% interest, and English owns 25%.
Clovis resident of 3 years Kate Wilcox, made a public comment to ask about affordable housing. As a recent Masters graduate from Fresno State, she says that housing in Clovis is out of her budget.
Several items were brought to the council for approval, concerning a new development on the northeast corner of Ashlan and DeWolf, near the Reagan Educational Center. Developers are seeking preliminary approvals from the council in order to begin construction of a new apartment complex.
The items needing approval were the environmental findings, and rezoning the area from Single Family Very Low Density to Multifamily High Density Residential.
This new development will not be “affordable housing”, but will be sold at the market rate.
Kelsey George, from Precision Civil Engineering, stated that High Density zoning allows for up to 30 dwelling units per acre and the apartments will only constitute 16 dwelling units per acre.
Several residents of the Camden Place neighborhood, just south of Ashlan where the planned development will be built, brought up safety concerns about increased traffic with a high density apartment complex so close to the Reagan Educational Center. Concerns about existing traffic, speeding, accidents, and limited options for exit routes from the nearby neighborhoods were brought up to the council.
One resident presented the Council with his own plans for 16 single family homes on the lot. Another resident brought up the idea of 3 and 4 unit multi-plex homes, with garages and shared yards, rather than parking lots and a central park.
Several more residents of the area stated that traffic is a concern well beyond school drop-off and pick-up times. The popular sports centers run programs all evening, and some residents said that the traffic gets dangerous around those times too.
A senior student at Clovis East High School spoke out against these residents. He stated that traffic is only a concern around the 8:36 start time for school, and the 3:16 end time, for about 20 minutes. While he admitted that traffic has sometimes made him late for classes, he also stated that he plays sports in the evenings, and traffic isn’t that bad for him.
After approving the environmental findings, Councilmember Mouantoua said, “Personally, I feel [residents] have more of an issue with it being apartments than with traffic.”
The rezoning items were each approved by 3 council members, and opposed by 2, ultimately passing.
Mayor Ashbeck confirmed that we may see this item brought to council again, during a General Plan Update in the future.
The next City Council meeting will take place on May 6th.