fresno elections 2008

Fresno definitely needs to expand the amount of park and open space in the city. Fresno has 3 acres of parks for every 1,000 residents, which is less than half the statewide average. The city’s proposed $35 million bond is a reasonable approach to funding additional park space. However, I would like to revisit the list of proposed projects. Making Fresno Unified facilities available to the public is the initial and economical way to expand public space. Additional open space should be carved out of each development that we approve especially those that are set in our city core. More than space, we have to make it easy, inexpensive, safe and fun for residents to use public spaces.

YES. In district 6, local developers have allegedly been paying money into building local parks. At the Todd Beamer Park location, I personally watched that plot of land sit untouched for over twelve-years while housing was built around it and north of it. Nothing was ever built. The homeowners in the neighborhood just beside the park were promised a park close to their homes. It’s been fourteen years, and there is still no park. Now, the city is saying that there is not enough money. What happened to the money I and the other residents invested?

One thing that Fresno does have is parks. We just need to make sure they are kept up and in good working condition for our communities. If so, how? Where? How should it pay for it? If additional parks are needed the should be paid for from a development aspect and also maintained by an interest bearing account produced by developers.

We currently have a ratio of about 2.8 acres per 1,000 people. The 2025 General Plan expands that ratio a little to 3.0 to 1,000 people. The national average is closer to 5.0 acres per 1,000 people. When I was a member of the Fresno Planning Commission we reviewed several tract map applications in the Roosevelt/Sunnyside area. This particular area of Fresno required that all new developments earmark 5% for parks or green space or mitigate the cost. Through the efforts of all commissioners we were able to move forward a plan text amendment to the general plan to require that all future developments citywide have the same 5% requirement. This requirement encourages developers to develop more green space in their subdivisions including linear parks.

Fresno has grown to the point where we could use another regional park such as Woodward Park. Frankly speaking, I think it will be very difficult to achieve in the next four years with major budget shortfalls. In fact, any new park will be hard to finance. We need a long term strategy to solve this problem. We also need to be more creative in the development of parks and green space. A good example of innovative planning for green space is the new Francher Creek development in Southeast Fresno. Using the natural feature of Francher Creek, this development was built around that natural feature with connecting trails to the mixed use community.

Developing new parks will have to be financed primarily through developer fees. We need to seriously assess the fee structure to insure that enough revenues are generated for new parks. Grant monies can also be used to augment developer fees and should be seriously explored. The remaining problem is finding the money to maintain parks once we build them. The city is having a major problem now maintaining median islands, parks, and our streets. Special assessment districts may be one solution to providing an ongoing revenue stream to cover the cost of maintenance.

Our City is in dire need of more park and open space areas in the City. This is especially true in District 4. I am disappointed with the closure of Palm Lakes and also with the lost dreams of building Granite Park into a premier sports facility in District 4. To turn this trend around in District 4 specifically, I believe we should expand the number of schools participating in the agreement between the City and Fresno Unified School District to share green space with the surrounding community. We should require minimum landscape guidelines for new commercial strip malls and we should work with existing strip mall owners to set realistic timelines for adding neighborhood buffers and landscaping improvements to their properties over time. We should also work with entities such as the Metropolitan Flood Control District, the Fresno District Fair and the Fresno Irrigation District to enhance open spaces and the seasonal public use of facilities under their purview. Park impact fees on developments, authorized in 2005, have provided a revenue stream for parks in newer areas of the City, the PARCS division has put together an impressive growth plan and we need to make sure it is carried out and it is funded. Regarding funding: we need to continue to get our share of State/Federal monies, we need to continue to forge partnerships for cost savings and we need to be steadfast on our continued collection of equitable park impact fees from developers.

Fresno does need additional park space for families. Our current General Plan does address some of those needs and I will continue to fully support them. I supported the first ever Parks Impact fee for new development. This will ensure that new areas of Fresno will grow with parks. I do believe however we must have adequate financing to take care of the parks we currently have in our community. When pools are closing in the summer and there is no general maintenance for repairing and upgrading because of a lack of funds, we have a problem that needs to be addressed. I have fought to make sure our budget contains the necessary funds to meet the needs of our existing parks.

The preservation of parks and open space is important to any community and should grow with the population. The proper expenditure of Urban Growth Management fees (UGM) will go a long way to ensure a secure funding source for our expanding park needs. Southwest Fresno deserves a regional park and Redevelopment Agency repaying the millions of dollars of debt it owes the city could be a good start in covering the costs.

Our parks are some of Fresno’s greatest jewels. Over the next couple of years, you will see the completion of several projects that will make Fresno the adventure sports capitol of the country. Not only will these be great opportunities for our residents to enjoy, it will bring people here from all over the world, providing revenue to bolster our local economy. We need to continue to add green space to the downtown, southwest and southeast areas of the city. We can utilize a combination of park bonds, grant monies, and private investment to continue to expand. Remember, it is an investment that helps support healthy families and better air quality.

The City of Fresno is currently in the middle of a $40 million dollars parks improvement and expansion plan. While there is some debate about the financing of this effort, there is no disagreement about the need for this long overdue investment.

During the next Mayor’s first term, the completion of these projects developed by a citizen’s panel will take up available park and open space resources. This will mean that adding new parks or open spaces will not be done using traditional methods.

Some may say we should just make the developers pay for the cost. We then run into the problem of forcing new home buyers to burden the cost of additional parks. With home prices high, adding these costs make it even more difficult for home buyers, especially first time home buyers, to afford a home.

But there is a new way to add parks, the method we used at the Copper River development in my district. We allowed the developer to install a public park, and the city offered development fee credits to offset the cost. It worked. The developer made a new public park at the fraction of the expense it normally would have cost the city, and the cost was covered with the public who will be enjoying its use.

Parks are primarily initiated by developer impact fees, the fees that we have allowed to go unpaid. We can also significantly improve our parks by implementing grant writers who can aggressively pursue federal aid to assist the city.