Month: January 2016

County planning director claims massive sprawl development is not sprawl

What do you call 30,000 homes being developed outside a city boundary on farmland?

This is what Norm Allinder, Madera County planning director thinks, according to a new article from the Fresno Bee:

“This doesn’t perpetuate the legacy
of sprawl,” he said. “Gunner Ranch is contiguous; it’s a logical
expansion for urban development.”

The yellow star is the area he is talking about, in relation to the clearly identifiable City of Fresno.

And this is what they’re planning there:

Principal owner Tim Jones’ vision for his nearly 6,600-home
development a few miles north of Woodward Park is a subdivision with six
separate themed districts. Riverstone will compete for home buyers with
southeast Fresno, northwest Fresno, southeast Clovis and a new
community planned south and east of Clovis North High School. Click to read more!

That Fresno Blog returns – Also, why does the Fresno blog scene suck?

The Fresno blogosphere is surprisingly desolate. With a metropolitan population of just under 1 million, you’d expect a lot of voices online, typing away about Fresno food, events, crime, planning – whatever. However, for reasons I don’t fully understand, that’s quite not the case.

I’ve been operating this blog for almost five years now, which typing it out, is kind of shocking. In that time, I’ve seen a dozen Fresno-oriented blogs come and go. Unfortunately, there have been more going than coming. Right now, my list of Fresno blogs to read is not much of a list. Click to read more!

An Attempted Look at High Speed Rail Construction in North Fresno

Is 2016 finally the year for High Speed Rail (HSR) in California? Construction has been underway on the boring part for over a year now – relocation of utilities, and demolishing of abandoned buildings. However, for most people, that type of invisible work doesn’t count. It’s hard to tell if a hole being dug in a street is for HSR or one of 200 other possible reasons, after all.

We want to see real construction – that means bridges, tracks, tunnels, etc.

And so a couple of weekends ago, I decided to tour the High Speed Rail construction sites in Fresno to take a close up look at the real progress. I’ve done this tour before, for about three years now, and each time came up with a big pile of nothing. Was the January 2016 edition any better? Click to read more!

Fresno’s First Tesla Supercharger About to Open

In November I reported that Fresno was finally getting a Tesla Supercharger – high speed electric chargers that can “refuel” a Tesla in 30 minutes. Although originally scheduled for 2015, Tesla missed that goal, although it looks like they’re about ready to open up.

Let’s take a look:

The Supercharger is being installed at Herndon and CA-99, in a new shopping center anchored by Target.

Conveniently placed by plenty of electricity, see the green fence in the background?

Peeking over the fence, here’s what it looks like now, with 10 charging stalls (one didn’t fit in the shot):

Still some minor work left.

Up close:

Stepping back, you can see the site is currently fenced off. However, note that little shed? (Not the ATM) Click to read more!