CITY COUNCIL
May 21, 2026
COSTCO WHOLESALE, FRESNO
N. Riverside Drive
COSTCO TEAM
Urban Planning Partners – Planning
Kimley-Horn – Civil
MG2 – Architect
Burke, Williams & Sorensen - Land Use Counsel
CITY COUNCIL
May 21, 2026
• Larger and modern warehouse with all the services
and products offered in other locations to meet
membership expectations:
NEW COSTCO FEATURES
• Tire sales and installation
• Pharmacy
• Optical & hearing services
• General grocery
• Food service & preparation
• Alcohol sales for off-site consumption
• Bakery
• Deli
• Fuel facility with 32 fueling positions
• Car wash
• More parking to adequately serve the warehouse
• Improved traffic flow and access
CITY COUNCIL
May 21, 2026
N RIVERSIDE DR.
HWY 99
W HERNDON AVE.
W SHAW AVE.
W. SPRUCE AVE.
ARTHUR AVE.
0’
1000’
2000’
4000’
Existing Shaw Warehouse and Fuel:
• Outdated - opened in 1985
• Too small to offer members the
array of products now offered
• Site is too constrained to
accommodate an expansion
• Parking supply is not adequate
• Fuel facility does not efficiently
serve current demand
• Members will benefit from a newer
site with more parking and larger
modern facilities, goods and
services
WHY
RELOCATE?
N. VETERANS B
LVD.
EXISTING COSTCO
LOCATION
CITY COUNCIL
May 21, 2026
N. VETERANS B
LVD.
N RIVERSIDE DR.
HWY 99
W HERNDON AVE.
W SHAW AVE.
W. SPRUCE AVE.
ARTHUR AVE.
EXISTING COSTCO
LOCATION
0’
1000’
2000’
4000’
SITE SELECTION
& CONTEXT
Working to establish a new location
since 2018.
Herndon Ave / Riverside Dr location has
the following characteristics:
• Within Fresno city limits
• Located 2 miles of existing Shaw
location to serve existing Costco
membership
• Existing General Plan and Commercial
zoning allows for all Costco uses
except car wash
• Proximity to Hwy 99 and Veteran’s
Blvd interchange
CITY COUNCIL
May 21, 2026
COSTCO AND THE FRESNO COMMUNITY
• Over 60% of Fresno households are
Costcto members
• Charitable Giving – examples
❖ Local Schools
- Backpack program
- Reading Program
❖ Feeding America – clothing and food
❖ Poverello House
❖ Valley Children’s Hospital
❖ Bowe’s Animal Shelter
• Significant tax revenue for the City
• High quality local jobs
CITY COUNCIL
May 21, 2026
COSTCO AND THE FRESNO COMMUNITY
New Partner with Central Unified School District
• Reading program will now include Central schools.
• Central students will benefit from back-to-school
supplies.
• Food pantry will continue to support CUSD’s
families.
• Costco will participate in the CUSD’s CTE
Business/Entrepreneurship pathway program.
• Costco staff also expressed interest in being a guest speaker and participating in student job fair.
CITY COUNCIL
May 21, 2026
• W Herndon Rd: Add left and
right turn pockets,
underground PG&E lines,
and extend path.
• N Riverside Dr & W Fir Ave:
Upgrade signal
• N Riverside Dr: widen street
and add path
• W Spruce Ave: Thru street
connection with traffic
calming and bike lane and
sidewalk along south
frontage
• N Hayes Ave & W Spruce
Ave: Signage and striping
upgrades
• W Herndon Rd: Resurface
and restripe WB lane from
Riverside to N Hayes Ave
LOCAL STREET IMPROVEMENTS
SHARED
USE PATH
UPGRADES
W SPRUCE AVE
SHARED USE PATH
&
UNDERGROUD OHE
W SPRUCE AVE
CONNECTION
GOLF COURSE NETTING
W FIR
AVE
(N) ARTHUR AVE (PRIVATE)
N HAYES AVE
SIGNING AND STRIPING
INTERSECTION IMPROVEMENTS
TRAFFIC CALMING
IMPROVEMENTS
W HERDON AVE
RIGHT TURN POCKET
IMPROVEMENTS
N RIVERSIDE DR
ADDITIONAL LEFT
TURN POCKET
NEW
SIGNAL
RESURFACE & RESTRIPING
ROADWAY WIDENING
CITY COUNCIL
May 21, 2026
REGIONAL OFFSITE WORK
• N Golden State Blvd & W Herndon Ave: Signage and
striping upgrades and extended south bound dual
left‐turn.
• N Weber Ave & W Herndon Rd: Signage and striping
upgrades.
SIGNING &
STRIPING
UPGRADE
S
W HERNDON AVE
W WEBER AVE
N GOLDEN STATE BLVD
FULL SIGNAL
UPGRADES
EXTEND LEFT
TURN POCKET
• W Herndon Ave & N Riverside Dr: Extended left-turn
pocket and median improvements, signal, ADA and NB
bike lane upgrades.
W HERNDON AVE
N RIVERSIDE DR
MEDIAN
IMPROVEMENTS
ADA IMPROVEMENTS
NORTHBOUND LANE
IMPROVEMENTS
EXTEND LEFT
TURN
POCKET
SIGNING AND
STRIPING
UPGRADES
SIGNING AND
STRIPING UPGRADES
CITY COUNCIL
May 21, 2026
ECONOMICS AND COMMUNITY BENEFITS
EMPLOYEES -
• ~ 37 new full-time equivalents (FTE)
• 15% more employees
• Increase from 253 to 290 FTE
• Full-time employees are promoted from within
• Initially all employees hired as part-time
• Part-time is a minimum of 24 hours per week
• Benefits: All employees receive a comprehensive benefit package after 90 days
• Compensation: $18.50 to $34.00 per hour
• Retention Rate: Turnover is less than 18% annually
Headcount by Years of Service – Fresno on Shaw Avenue
2023
2024
90% live in Fresno
CITY COUNCIL
May 21, 2026
ECONOMICS AND COMMUNITY BENEFITS
Economic Benefits
• Costco’s $98 million investment to relocate the Shaw Avenue Costco to N. Riverside and W. Herndon within City limits will bring significant economic benefits to the City directly and indirectly during project construction and operation.
• Economic Impact Analysis prepared by the County of Fresno Economic Development Corporation (EDC) to assess the scale of economic benefit that would result from the relocated Costco. • Additionally, Costco prepared a preliminary property tax assessment to understand the increased revenues associated directly with the increased property value.
CITY COUNCIL
May 21, 2026
ECONOMICS AND COMMUNITY BENEFITS
EDC – Economic Impact Analysis
Construction Economic Impacts
• Economic benefit/contribution to gross regional product (GRP) • $151.76 million economic benefit over a 6-month construction duration. • Every construction $ spent equals $1.55 in economic output for the region. • Employing up to 100 temporary workers at its peak.
• Utilizing local city of Fresno General Contractor – helping to keep the dollars in Fresno.
• Tax Revenue
• Approximately $12.95 million across federal, state, and local tax instruments. • Approximately $3.09 million (or 23.8 percent) will stay within Fresno County.
CITY COUNCIL
May 21, 2026
ECONOMICS AND COMMUNITY BENEFITS
EDC – Tax Revenue Analysis
Operation Annual Economic Impacts
• Economic benefit/contribution to gross regional product (GRP) • Estimated $55.82 million annual economic benefit representing the project’s overall gross regional product (GRP) contribution to the regional economy. • Net increase of $4.06 million+ (approximately 7.84%) annually over the existing location on Shaw Avenue.
• 289 direct full-time equivalent (FTE) employees (net increase of approximately 21 FTEs).
• Plus 116 indirect/induced jobs.
• Tax Revenue
• $15.21 million annually across federal, state, and local tax instruments with a net increase over 1.11 million based on a 7.84% increase.
• Approximately $4.37 million (or 28.7 percent) annually will stay within Fresno County. • Costco expects that the projected tax revenue is underestimated given our sales have increased an average of 15% at other recent relocations.
CITY COUNCIL
May 21, 2026
ECONOMICS AND COMMUNITY BENEFITS
Economic Benefits – Property Tax Local Revenue
Costco prepared a preliminary assessment of revenues changes associated directly with an increased property value from the project site.
• Property tax revenue specific to increased property value is estimated at over $1 million annually (shared between the County and City). • Property Value estimated change from $1.4 million to $98 million • Property Tax Revenue (base tax of 1%) change from $14,000 to $980,000 +$965,000 per year to City/County combined
• City portion change from <$5,000 to between $200,000 to $300,000 per year*
• CUSD bond revenue change from <$3,000 to over $210,000 * The City and County split the 1%, and we were not able to get the specific split.
CITY COUNCIL
May 21, 2026
THANK YOU!
CITY COUNCIL
May 21, 2026
APPENDIX SLIDES
SITE SPECIFICS AND OPERATIONS
CITY COUNCIL |Supplemental
APRIL 18, 2024
Warehouse Operation
Warehouse and Car Wash Open:
• Monday through Friday from 9:00 a.m. to 8:30 p.m.
• Saturday and Sunday from 9:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m.
Fuel Open:
• 5:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. daily
• The extended hours for fuel minimize demand during peak hours and spread activity across a longer period and reduce idling and queuing. • School busses pick up in the area at approximately 7:15 am.
CITY COUNCIL
May 21, 2026
Car at fueling position ( 32 handles)
Anticipated 95th percentile
peak hour queue (30 vehicles)
Additional storage within
fuel area (25 vehicles)
QUEUE
MANAGEMENT
SITE SPECIFICS AND OPERATIONS
CITY COUNCIL |Supplemental
APRIL 18, 2024
Concepts without Car Wash
The Costco car wash
program is being
expanded nationally and
there is demand for the
service in California
CAR WASH AS PARKING LOT
CAR WASH AS OUTPARCEL
CITY COUNCIL | Supplemental
APRIL 18, 2024
ECONOMICS AND COMMUNITY BENEFITS
Charitable Giving
• Local Programs – Costco donated approximately $80,000 cash in FY 22/23 to local organizations in Fresno including but not limited to Valley Children’s Hospital, Holy Cross Ministries, Fresno Central Seventh Day Adventist, and Bowe’s Animal Shelter.
• For the Valley Children’s Fundraising Campaign Area warehouses collectively raised over $9 Million during May 2023
• Costco’s 1% pre-tax profit charitable giving represents the company’s total cash donations throughout the company, including cash donations made by individual warehouses.
Community Benefits
CITY COUNCIL | Supplemental
APRIL 18, 2024
ECONOMICS AND COMMUNITY BENEFITS
Backpack Program
• 1,152 total backpacks donated in 22/23 - 768 backpacks to Jefferson Elementary 384 to Pinedale Elementary.
• Other schools that have participated in the program include Lawless Elementary and Madison Elementary.
Feeding America Donations
• The Fresno Shaw location donated over 203,000 lbs of food plus assorted items including clothing, to food banks in Fresno in FY23.
Reading Program
• 4 employees volunteer their time to read to students at a local elementary school.
• Last year's school was Lawless Elementary, and Polk Elementary has participated in the past.
New Partner with Central Unified School District
• Reading program will now include Central schools.
• Central students will benefit from back-to-school supplies. • Food pantry will continue to support our families.
• Costco will participate in the CUSD’s CTE Business/Entrepreneurship pathway program.
• Costco staff also expressed interest in being a guest speaker and participating in student job fair.
Community Benefits – Local
CITY COUNCIL | Supplemental
APRIL 18, 2024
ECONOMICS AND COMMUNITY BENEFITS
• Costco does not regularly collect data regarding adjacent home values. • Costco team obtained data regarding home values in the vicinity of the new Clovis warehouse that opened in 2019.
• The data show the homes closest to Costco increased in value at a greater rate than homes appreciated in the area generally.
• In the three years after the Clovis Warehouse opening, home values within ¼ mile of the Costco increased 40.4%.
• By comparison, in the three years after the Clovis Warehouse opening, home values within 1 mile of the Costco increased 34.4%.
Impact on Adjacent Home Values
CITY COUNCIL
May 21, 2026
20182021202220232024
• Site selection in 2018
• Project application submitted in March 2021
• Ongoing community engagement
• Draft EIR review period July 11 - August 28, 2023
• Final EIR / RTC released February 9, 2024
• Planning Commission recommendation for approval
February 21, 2024
• City Council March 7, 2024
• Two (2) community meetings (2021-2022)
• Stakeholder and Small Group Meetings (2022-2024):
• Residents - Neighborhood meeting (February 2, 2024)
• Forgotten Fresno
• School District
• Riverside Golf Course
• Member Outreach
PLANNING
PROCESS
SITE SPECIFICS AND OPERATIONS
CITY COUNCIL |Supplemental
APRIL 18, 2024
Site Renderings - Intersection of W. Herndon & N. Riverside looking toard the new Costco.
SITE SPECIFICS AND OPERATIONS
CITY COUNCIL |Supplemental
APRIL 18, 2024
Site Renderings - Looking toward the new Costco across N. Riverside.
SITE SPECIFICS AND OPERATIONS
CITY COUNCIL |Supplemental
APRIL 18, 2024
Site Renderings - Looking toward the new Costco across N. Riverside at the new signal.
SITE SPECIFICS AND OPERATIONS
CITY COUNCIL |Supplemental
APRIL 18, 2024
Site Renderings - View of Costco and parking lot from Arthur entrance.
SITE SPECIFICS AND OPERATIONS
CITY COUNCIL |Supplemental
APRIL 18, 2024
Site Renderings - Looking across Spruce toward the car wash.
SITE SPECIFICS AND OPERATIONS
CITY COUNCIL |Supplemental
APRIL 18, 2024
Site Renderings - Looking across Spruce toward the fuel station.
SITE SPECIFICS AND OPERATIONS
CITY COUNCIL |Supplemental
APRIL 18, 2024
Site Renderings - View of Costco and parking lot from Arthur entrance.
SITE SPECIFICS AND OPERATIONS
CITY COUNCIL |Supplemental
APRIL 18, 2024
Warehouse Elevations
SITE SPECIFICS AND OPERATIONS
CITY COUNCIL |Supplemental
APRIL 18, 2024
Fuel Station Elevations
SITE SPECIFICS AND OPERATIONS
CITY COUNCIL |Supplemental
APRIL 18, 2024
Car Wash Elevations
CEQA
CITY COUNCIL | page 34 of 14
APRIL 18, 2024
Impact 3.13-2 and 14-13: Conflict or Be Inconsistent with CEQA Guidelines Section 15064.3, Subdivision (b) Regarding Vehicle Miles Traveled for both the project and cumulative conditions. • As discussed above, The primary source of daily VMT is warehouse shopping by Costco members. Members purchase
items in bulk at Costco facilities, making walking, biking, or transit trips to the warehouse impractical.
• Bulk shopping generally requires access to a personal automobile and is often a single-destination outing. Mitigation that would substantially reduce the VMT of Costco members is infeasible due to the nature of Costco’s land use and business model, which is inherently auto-oriented.
Significant and Unavoidable Impacts – VMT Project and
Cumulative
CEQA
CITY COUNCIL | page 35 of 14
APRIL 18, 2024
Impact 3.13-3: North Golden State Boulevard and West Herndon Avenue intersection overflow Note: This is only a project impact as it is mitigated to a less-than-significant level under cumulative with other planned improvements including high-speed rail.
• The southbound left-turn queue at the North Golden State Boulevard and West Herndon Avenue intersection would
overflow the available storage for the turn pocket.
• As discussed in the EIR constraints including the existing roadway layout, limited right-of-way and approved projects such as Highspeed Rail in the area preclude additional
design features to fully address this impact.
• Spillback condition would occur during the most congested period of the day and would not be a continuous condition. • This would remain a transportation hazard with mitigation until the planned High Speed Rail improvements are
constructed. (Draft EIR p. 3.13-21)
Significant and Unavoidable Impacts – Hazards Due to a Geometric Design Feature
CEQA
CITY COUNCIL | page 36 of 14
APRIL 18, 2024
Mitigation Measure 3.11-5: Implement noise reduction measures to ensure that exterior noise levels at residential land uses near the west side of North Riverside Drive do not exceed the City’s 65 dB :
• Pave the roadway segment with rubberized hot-mix asphalt or equivalent surface treatment with known noise-reducing
properties on top of the roadway surface.
• Construct a sound barrier taller than the 6-foot cinderblock wall, of solid material.
• Costco will utilize rubberized hot-mix asphalt (underlined above) if mitigation is needed to meet 65 dB SNEL
• Given Costco has committed to requiring all delivery trucks to access the site from Arthur Avenue and not utilize N. Riverside east of W.
Herndon Avenue, the noise associated with trucks and single event noise is not expected to exceed 65 dB SENL
EIR Mitigation Measure with Options
CEQA
CITY COUNCIL | page 37 of 14
APRIL 18, 2024
Impact 3.13-2: proposed project would result in a net increase of 129,326 regional daily VMT.
• Costco will implement Mitigation Measure 3.13-2 as detailed in the Final EIR, prepared by Ascent, the EIR consultant hired and contracted with the City, which requires Costco to implement the listed VMT measures to reduce employee VMT by a minimum of 26 percent. • Employee trips account for less than 2 percent of the project’s daily trips and less than 7 percent of the VMT (13,385 of 129,326 overall project VMT)
• Reduction in employee VMT will have minimal impact on the overall increase in VMT. The mitigation measure will reduce the project’s VMT by approximately 3,500 of 129,326 daily VMT. • Given the limits of reducing members’ VMT given the nature of Costco shopping, it is not possible to reduce VMT at a meaningful level and in any way that reduce this impact to a less-than-significant level. • The project will provide bike parking as does the Clovis warehouse.
Transportation VMT Mitigation