CITY COUNCIL HEARING: Conditional Use Permit Application No.
P23-00835, Planned Development Permit Application No. P23 -02080, and related Environmental Assessment
Exhibit O
Public Comments Received
Prior to Planning Commission
G
olden
W
estside Planning Committee
Date January 1, 2024
To Jennifer K. Clark, AICP, HDFP, Director
Planning and Development Department
2600 Fresno Street, Rm 3043
Fresno, CA 93721
Dear Ms. Clark,
The Golden Westside Planning Committee strongly oppose Conditional Use Permit Application number P23-00835 and Planned Development Permit Application P23-02080 for a Starbucks Café drive-through located on 2.98 acres located on the southwest corner of the intersection of South Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvd. and East Church Avenue.
We have an enormous number of kids and parents who travel these roads in cars and walking distance to drop off and pick up their kids from Gaston Middle School which sits directly across the street from this location. This includes several school buses {15- 16}dropping and picking kids up from Computech Middle-School. Public transportation {FAX}is routed every 15-minutes through MLK, Jr. at Church Avenue. School buses pick up and drop off kids on MLK, Jr. traveling to and from the West Fresno School District {Washington Union High}.
This proposal will cause an astronomical increase in traffic traveling in/out of this location. This proposed location surrounds a heavy presence of residential. The increase of traffic from this parking lot would pose a danger to our students and families crossing at this corner.
During the initial meetings regarding future housing and economic development in this area it was clearly stated that commercial/retail would be developed at Jensen Avenue.
There are several Starbucks locations in the city of Fresno with drive-throughs, however they do not have any located this close to any school.
Please consider safety first in this community as you have done in other communities in the city of Fresno by denying this application!
Sincerely,
Debbie Darden – Chair
Golden Westside Planning Committee
December 22, 2023
Steven Mar�nez
City of Fresno
2600 Fresno Street
Fresno CA 93721
RE: Proposed Starbucks at MLK & Church in Fresno, CA
Dear Steven:
I represent the developer of the proposed Starbucks at MLK & Church in SW Fresno. I nego�ated the deal with Starbucks on behalf of the developer. Starbucks has been very clear that if the drive through is not approved, they will not locate here. They have the right to terminate the lease if the drive-through is not approved. Having said that, they will not locate anywhere in the Central Valley without a drive- through.
As you know, there are numerous examples of drive-throughs across from schools in the City of Fresno and the State of California. If you do not approve a drive-through at this loca�on, the Starbucks deal and many others will go away, and this under-served part of Fresno will be by-passed once more.
If you have any ques�ons, please do not hesitate to contact me.
Sincerely,
RETAIL CALIFORNIA
Lewis S. Smith
Senior Vice President
(559) 447-6235
[email protected]