Millerton new town Archives

New Google satellite imagery for Fresno! (Spring 2013)

On September 29, 2013February 19, 2018 By jamesinclair

Some parts of the country, including major cities like Boston, only get updated satellite imagery from Google every 3 or so years.

For Fresno, it’s never more than a year before we get the freshest pictures. The latest update, rolled out last week, shows Fresno and the surrounding area as of March 15, 2013.

The previous update, pushed out November of 2012, featured images from August 26, 2012. I did a photo summary of that as well.

That’s less than 7 months between updates! Older images are still accessible via the history slider in Google Earth.

These updates are a great way to follow development in the area, and see how fast some areas are still growing. Click to read more!

Categories : UncategorizedTags : assemi city council downtown fresno granville medical campus medical college milleerton millerton lake Millerton new town sprawl1 Comment

Who do the city councilors represent?

On May 13, 2013February 19, 2018 By jamesinclair

Last week, the Fresno City Council voted to support a proposal for a new medical college. The problem is, the proposed campus isn’t actually in Fresno, or even really near it – it’s 20 miles away from downtown, in an area currently used for farming and recreation.

Granville, the housing development company behind the medical college, owns large tracts of land by the lake, and wants to use it to build thousands and thousands of new suburban homes. They plan on using the medical university as an anchor, and what I see as bait to get public opinion to support the plan.

Many in the community have naturally been outraged. The area is home to beautiful natural scenery, and thousands of new cookie-cutter homes will destroy that. Worse, the area will be 100% auto-dependent. There are no services, stores, or jobs there. Meaning every time a home is built, multiple car trips will be added as people drive 10-25 miles to get to jobs in Fresno. Of course, the area already has some of the worst air pollution in the country, and this will just make things much worse. Click to read more!

Categories : UncategorizedTags : 180 expansion fresno aerial fulton village google maps google maps fresno google maps imagery update gvurban Millerton new town pedestrians sprawl walmartLeave a comment

A satellite view of what’s new in Fresno

On December 2, 2012February 19, 2018 By jamesinclair

Two weeks ago, Google refreshed their satellite imagery of the Fresno region with pictures taken on August 26, 2012, replacing what was seen on April 25, 2011.

Here’s a brief tour of the more significant changes in that year and a half. Some good, some bad. There’s a good amount of positive changes downtown, but many not so good changes on the urban edge.

I’m providing a link to the map, if you want to explore the area on your own, and also when relevant, a post I may have written on the subject.

NOTE: Google keeps defaulting to the 45 degree view, which is old, from 2010. On the right, hover over the map button and then click 45 to disable that and see the most recent images. On the other hand, this gives you a quick way to compare the changes. Click to read more!

Categories : UncategorizedTags : Millerton new town sprawl4 Comments

Millerton New Town – More sprawl, coming soon!

On June 9, 2011February 19, 2018 By jamesinclair

The Fresno Bee recently gave an update about a proposed new city by Millerton Lake, ingeniously known as “Millerton New Town”. This development has struggled to get going since the 1980’s, and the developer, Bonadelle, has finally decided that the time is right to start bulldozing the rural landscape to built new subdivisions.

This is leap-frog development inducing new sprawl in a beautiful rural area, and what does the developer have to say about that?

“This is a little different than talking about urban sprawl where you just build out from the fringes of the city and keep going,” Ewell said.” Click to read more!