The Clovis City Council gathered for the first meeting of the year on January 4, 2021.
After two weeks off, the first meeting of the year had all council members present in the chamber.
One of the items discussed was an amendment to the General Plan.
Before the discussion, Mayor Drew Bessinger asked if he needed to excuse himself from the vote due to his job at the airport. Scott Cross affirmed the mayor that there was no conflict of interest between his job and the vote taking place.
The item to be voted on was a request to amend the text of the general plan to incorporate language that would ensure consistency between the General Plan and the Fresno County Airport Land Use Capability Plan (ALUCP).
The ALUCP was last updated in 2018 which required the City of Clovis to update the General Plan and incorporate language that is consistent with what the ALUCP found.
Since a portion of Clovis is within the Airport Influence Area, the city must make plans with Fresno Yosemite International Airport (FYI) in order to eliminate any conflicts. Being within Safety Zone 6, the City of Clovis is prohibited from building more than 100 feet above ground.
Also, they can not build any outdoor stadiums or any similar use building and the city is also prohibited from building anything which is deemed hazardous to flights.
One question from the council was from Councilmember Lynne Ashbeck who asked if Clovis Unified has made any comments about the land use for stadiums.
City Planner Dave Merchen said that there was no comment from Clovis Unified as there are no available sites in the area large enough to accommodate schools.
City Council voted unanimously to approve the amendment to the text of the General Plan.