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Swearengin: Downtown Fresno a crucial mission

Written by Gabriel Dillard
Tuesday, 26 January 2010 08:41
Ashley SwearenginOn the eve of the Fresno City Council's decision on one of the most significant steps to downtown revitalization in a long time, Mayor Ashley Swearengin delivered a rousing pep talk to community leaders this morning.
A sold-out crowd of more than 470 people were expected to hear Swearengin speak during The State of Downtown Breakfast, hosted by the Downtown Association of Fresno. The event was held at The Grand @ 1401 Fulton, located in the historic downtown Trade Center building.
Swearengin ran down the litany of challenges facing downtown development, then offered a slate of solutions her and her staff are committed to offer. The "most important and urgent" is a $2.6 million contract being considered by the council at its Thursday meeting for consulting firm Elizabeth Moule & Stefanos Polyzoides, Architects and Urbanists, to complete the Fulton Corridor Specific Plan and the Downtown Neighborhoods Community Plan.
The plans are aimed at fixing "outdated" land-use laws that, among other things:
• Make building residential space above retail next-to-impossible.
• Severely restrict the types of signage businesses on and near the Fulton Mall can display.
• Create difficulties for businesses that wish to have outdoor dining.
• Restrict uses for retail businesses such as dancing.
Swearengin said these rules discourage investment in downtown Fresno, as well as hearken back to the movie "Footlose," about a town that outlaws rock music and dancing.
"Let the people dance," Swearengin said to big laughs.
Outlining the challenges of revitalization, Swearengin presented various statistics to drive home the point. She said about 40,000 people work every day in downtown, but 1.5 million square-feet of commercial space is still vacant, with 40 acres of land empty or used for parking. She said the average property values downtown are about 25% lower than Fresno's Tower District.
Other efforts to encourage investment include deferring the payment of developer fees for downtown projects, taking the lead on environmental review work to make new development easier and using code enforcement to put pressure on landlords to spruce up their properties. Code enforcement paid a major role in an out-of-town investor selling the Bank of Italy building on Fulton Mall to local developer Tom Richards and the Penstar Group.
Swearengin said the return on such a mission should make it worth the taxpayers' while. She said a 5% percent increase in downtown property values would result in a 200% return from such avenues as property and transient occupancy taxes.
She also stressed that private investors are a key part of the equation. She estimated it would take investment in the hundreds of millions of dollars to bring downtown Fresno to its full glory.
"It's a mission that is as big, hairy and audacious as Fresno has ever known," Swearengin said.

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