Fresno City Council
November 20, 2025

Southeast Development Area Specific Plan -
Environmental Alternatives Workshop
1 What is an Environmental Impact
Report?
• Prepared in accordance with CEQA to evaluate potential environmental impacts with implementation of proposed project • Informs decision makers, representatives, agencies and the public of the potential environmental effects • Describes potential impacts and methods by which impacts can be mitigated or avoided • Provides reasonable alternatives to project
• Levels of Significance
• Not significant
• Mitigated below a level of significance
• Significant and unavoidable
• Mitigation Measures
2 Environmental
Alternatives
• Requirement of CEQA
• Alternatives to proposed project that would
lessen any significant effects of the project and
maintain project objectives
• No Project Alternative
• Requirement of EIR
• Analyzes existing conditions and what could
be reasonably expected to occur in future
3 SEDA EIR
• Topic areas analyzed:
• Aesthetics, Light, and Glare
• Agricultural Resources and Forestry Resources
• Air Quality
• Biological Resources
• Cultural Resources and Tribal Cultural Resources
• Land Use and Planning
• Mineral Resources
• Noise
• Population and Housing
• Public Services
• Energy
• Recreation
• Geology, Soils and Seismicity
• Transportation and Traffic
• Greenhouse Gas Emissions
• Utilities and Service Systems
• Hazards and Hazardous Materials
• Wildfire
• Hydrology and Water Quality
4 SEDA EIR ALTERNATIVES
• Alternative No. 1 - No Project
• Specific Plan is not approved
• Future development in Plan Area developed in according to General Plan land use • Development applications filed with the County of Fresno • Alternative No. 2 – Consolidated Business Park
• Identified as Environmentally Superior alternative
• Build out of Specific Plan could occur
• Concentrates Research and Development land uses area south of Jensen Avenue • Transfers Neighborhood Residential, Mixed Residential, Community and Neighborhood Town Center land uses from South of Jensen to East of Temperance • Alternative No. 3 – Farmland Conservation
• Build out of the Specific Plan could occur
• Eastern buffer would limit development to agriculture and conservation • Conserves 648.61 acres of farmland
5 EIR Alternative 2
Possible realignment of land uses
consistent with the EIR AlternativeConsolidated
Business Park
Alternative
6 How the EIR Alternative could be
modified within the analysis
conducted for the EIR
Selecting an
Alternative for
SEDA
• At a future City Council meeting, City Council
could select one or more Environmental
Alternatives
• To select an alternative, the Council would direct
the plan and associated documents back to staff
to:
• Update Specific Plan to reflect the new
preferred alternative(s)
• Additionally, the Council could direct staff to
return with:
• Updates to Public Facilities Financing Report
• Fiscal Impact Analysis
• Phasing Thresholds and timing for
development to occur
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