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Planning Panel Rejects Commercial Park: Proposed Facility Amid Vineyards, Orchards Drew Neighbors' Ire.

Posted on: Friday, 12 May 2006, 12:04 CDT

By Russell Clemings, The Fresno Bee, Calif.

May 12--Fresno County's Planning Commission has emphatically turned down a proposal to put a commercial park for weddings and other events on three acres amid vineyards and orchards west of Fresno.

Unless appealed to the Board of Supervisors, the commission's unanimous vote Thursday marks a victory for neighbors objecting to Tara Hamilton's plans for a business that would attract as many as 450 people for events on a site on the east side of Monroe Avenue north of McKinley Avenue, about 2.5 miles west of the city limits.

Hamilton told the commission that the proposed park would fill an unmet need for outdoor venues that can host weddings, receptions and family gatherings.

Unable to find such a place herself, she built a 7,000-square-foot patio, a 3,000-square-foot garden area and other improvements to host a daughter's wedding. Then she sought permission to rent it to others and add parking and bathrooms.

"If this isn't going to be suitable for a park, then where are we supposed to have it, in the middle of subdivision land?" Hamilton asked.

But neighbors objected to the potential for increased traffic and argued that the park's guests would inevitably create conflicts with spraying and other farm operations on adjacent land.

"This is a great facility, wrong location," Commissioner Karri Hammerstrom concluded.

The commission postponed voting on a permit to legalize an existing poultry farm with on-site slaughtering on about 17 acres near Easton.

Lam's Chicken Farm was cited for operating a meat processing plant without land use, building and environmental health permits. The county's planning staff nevertheless recommended approval, subject to more than a dozen conditions intended to reduce noise, odors and the potential for diseases like avian influenza and exotic Newcastle disease.

Proprietor Thien Lam was represented by Norbert Larsen, who described the farm -- on the west side of East Avenue south of American Avenue -- as a modest business.

"We're talking about three members of a family with an operation supporting their daily needs," Larsen said.

But during discussion, the commission discovered discrepancies between the business' written plans, which included incubating eggs and raising hatchlings, and Larsen's account, which said those activities would not happen. As a result, the vote was delayed. No date was set for the vote.

A proposal for another chicken-slaughtering business in a central Fresno neighborhood is currently being considered by the city's Planning and Development Department. That proposal has drawn strong opposition from prospective neighbors raising fears of noise, odors and disease.

At least two similar businesses already operate in rural eastern Fresno County. They sell freshly butchered chicken to customers, many of them southeast Asian, who prefer it to the supermarket version.

The reporter can be reached at rclemings@fresnobee.com or (559) 441-6371.

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Copyright (c) 2006, The Fresno Bee, Calif.

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Source: The Fresno Bee

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