Tag: air pollution

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County planning director claims massive sprawl development is not sprawl

On By jamesinclair

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!

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Beautiful countryside to make way for massive 5,000 home sprawl project

On By jamesinclair

There’s something almost sinister about the way a developer gushes about the natural landscapes, beautiful views, and rolling hills he is about to bulldoze to build cookie-cutter tract homes.

The Madera County Planning Commission approved the tentative map for the first phase of the project two and a half weeks ago. Now, the builder is working on detailed plans which will bring more than 850 homes to what Bob McCaffrey, the company’s chief executive officer, calls “the most romantic piece of land” he’s ever seen.

Tesoro Viejo — which will eventually have 5,190 homes on 1,600 acres — will follow the natural ebbs and flows of the land which includes rock formations, high and low elevations and a river that flows along the northern edge of the property.
Fresno Bee Click to read more!

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Drought and poor air: Short-term thinking will haunt 2014

On By jamesinclair

This country has a serious problem with planning for the future, and the lack of forward thinking is no clearer than in Fresno.

If you’ve read the Bee over the past few months, you’ve been hit over and over again in the head with two major themes:

-California is in the middle of a serious drought
-Air quality is worse now than it’s been in years

The two are linked of course, and are the result of long-term weather patterns; the same system that is keeping the rain away is stagnating the air. The problem is that many local planning decisions can help alleviate these concerns, but instead, local government turns a blind eye and makes it worse. Click to read more!

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New businesses and bad air

On By jamesinclair

Sunday’s Bee had a couple of interesting articles which on paper had no relationship to each other, but in reality do have a strong connection.

The first was a column: McEwen: Diesel truckers should pay for bad air

The second was an article about new businesses on West Shaw: National businesses flock to Fresno’s West Shaw Avenue

In the opinion column, McEwen brings up the continuing problem of the valley’s bad air, and how it will be especially pronounced this week with “air alerts” being called.

The column hits on a few ideas I called upon a year ago such as tolling trucks and closing drive-thrus. Click to read more!

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Misuse of air quality funds

On By jamesinclair

As you’ve heard me mention on this blog many times, the San Joaquin Valley, home to Fresno, has the worst air quality in the nation. So it makes sense that funding would arrive from multiple sources to attempt to clean things up. Because transportation emissions are such a large portion of the air quality problem, it makes sense to target transportation infrastructure. (The other large source of pollution is agriculture, and that’s a touchy subject).

One such source of funding to help clear the air is called CMAQ

The CMAQ program was conceived to support surface transportation projects and other related efforts that contribute air quality improvements and provide congestion relief. Click to read more!

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Air Pollution Control District should be given power to act

On By jamesinclair

Last week, the San Joaquin Valley was hit with a $29m fine because an air monitor in Clovis passed a federal threshold for the 4th time.

It pushed Clovis over the federal limit for one-hour ozone violations in a three-year period. In 2010, Clovis had three similar violations for one-hour readings – which are the highest daily readings at each monitor.

Fresno Bee

Now every motorist in the Valley will have to pay an extra $12 on their vehicle registration to help pay the fine. Early this year, local lawmakers decided that the penalty should be paid for by motorists, and not industry.

The fine is supposed to be the stick that will motive that valley to clean up its act when it comes to ground level ozone pollution. The money from the penalty will be used to help decrease local pollution by buying cleaner school buses, subsidizing purchases of clean farm equipment, etc. Click to read more!