A controversial mega-development that could bring 150,000 new homes to central California is poised for approval, according to a report.
The project, called the Southeast Development Area, will add 45,000 potential new homes across 9,000 acres in Fresno and “is being planned in order to create more housing supply at all income levels,” city officials said in a 124-page draft of the plan.
The outline, however, fails to indicate how much SEDA will cost taxpayers, how many of the proposed 45,000 homes would be affordable housing and how the city of Fresno plans to pay for SEDA’s infrastructure costs.
These key details wouldn’t be worked out until after the city council approves or denies this project, city Planning Director Jennifer Clark told Fresnoland.
Critics of SEDA included Sanger Unified’s deputy superintendent Eduardo Martinez, who said the development would double the size of the public school district, requiring 16 new schools in order to accommodate SEDA’s young residents.
Building that many new schools would require $1 billion, Martinez told Fresnoland — an eye-watering sum the district doesn’t have.
The proposed development in California’s fifth largest city comes amid a nearly $1 billion land grab by Silicon Valley elites who hope to build a utopian city north of the Bay Area.
Similar to controversial Solano County proposal, Fresno’s plan would convert a rural swath of land into a walkable neighborhoods, where residents could get to a town center, elementary school, recreation area, community garden and local shops all by foot.
The draft also mentions plans to create bicycle paths and a convenient public transit service to “promote health by reducing harmful emissions from cars.”
Building out these communities would create between 30,000 and 37,000 jobs, Fresno officials said.
In addition, should SEDA be approved, “between 40,000 and 45,000 dwelling units of varying types, sizes, densities and affordability levels” would also be built.
The proposal also mentions planting school gardens within the neighborhood’s schools, integrating community orchards into SEDA’s public open spaces and developing a “Fresno Grown” brand for locally-grown produce.
The plan will go before the Fresno City Council this fall for approval.
According to the local news site, Sanger West — the first of the 16 new schools SEDA needs — requires all of the financial resources Sanger Unified has, and the state school bonds that local schools relied on 40 years ago to build new facilities have dried up.
SEDA has already started erecting Clovis Unified’s Terry Bradley Educational Center on an plot of land purchased within SEDA’s parameters in 2008.
The school is set to open to 1,200 students for the 2025 school year, though it’s already facing a big question about how it will receive water and sewer services due to its far-out location.
In April, city officials considered implementing a “temporary” connection to sewer services that would last 15 years, Fresnoland reported, at which point they hope SEDA’s infrastructure is built out enough to connect the school to.
Another proposal included building a entirely new, temporary support infrastructure site near the school, the outlet reported, though the request was denied by the Fresno County Planning Commission.
If Fresno officials don’t come to a conclusion by 2025, students who were planning to attend the school will have to report to Clovis East High School, bringing enrollment to 5,000, surpassing its 3,500 capacity, according to Fresnoland.
Representatives for the City of Fresno did not immediately respond to The Post’s request for comment.
Meanwhile, about 60 miles northeast of San Francisco, a secretive California firm has been tasked with building a city for Silicon Valley billionaires.
Renderings of the utopian techie metropolis, called “California Forever,” were released last week. The idyllic sketches include children riding bikes on tree-lined streets, kayakers traversing a calm river and people fishing along a beautiful waterway with mansions stacked on a scenic, hilly backdrop.
The pictures are a far cry from the land’s current state.
The area — set on 55,000 acres between Napa Valley, Sacramento and San Francisco — consists of mostly dry, inhospitable farmland beset by harsh winds, turbines and abandoned gas wells, local officials told The Post.
The project, near Travis Air Force Base, faces stiff opposition from local officials.
This story originally appeared on NYPost
