District 1 Project Review Committee Meeting - March 4, 2026
District 1 Project Review Committee Meeting - March 4, 2026
The District 1 Project Review Committee met on March 4, 2026, to review a conditional use permit application for a parking lot expansion at the Shrine of St. Teresa Church, discuss administrative matters, and hear unscheduled communications on homelessness.
Consent Calendar
- Approved the draft minutes of the January 8, 2026 meeting.
Public Comments & Testimony
- A resident named Martin expressed concerns about the lack of community outreach for the parking lot project, stating that they had not heard of any community meeting. They questioned the need for 69 parking stalls without a building expansion, requested a formal traffic impact study, and noted that growth should occur in areas zoned for higher capacity. They also objected to the framing of development as a tool to displace homeless individuals.
- During unscheduled communications, a community member (not identified by name) spoke about the homelessness crisis in District 1, highlighting a 48% rise in homelessness over five years, over 4,000 individuals sleeping on the streets, and the inadequacy of 90-day treatment programs. They called for more housing, sober villages, and services within the district, including for long-time residents.
Discussion Items
- Conditional Use Permit P25-02902 for Parking Lot Expansion at St. Teresa Church: The committee reviewed the proposal to expand an existing 16-stall parking lot to 69 stalls on a 0.59-acre site at 1363 North Maroa Avenue. The church's parish manager, D. Schultz, testified that the church has tripled in registration to approximately 1,500 families, that daily attendance exceeds 200 people, and that Sunday masses draw 450 people per service. She stated that the current parking (33 on-site + 16 existing) is insufficient, causing spillover onto neighborhood streets, and that the proposed expansion would alleviate congestion and safety issues. She also noted that the greenfield site is currently used for overflow parking and is a nuisance due to homeless activity. Committee members asked questions about traffic studies, parking calculations, and community outreach. Staff confirmed that no formal traffic study was completed but that a vehicle miles traveled (VMT) analysis showed below-threshold impacts. The existing conditional use permit from 2007 had expired. The committee discussed the need for a traffic study, proper sizing of the parking lot, and broader community outreach including to renters and businesses.
Administrative Matters
- The committee received information about Brown Act and procedural training via a video from the city attorney's office. The committee also clarified that appointments to the committee are made by the District 1 city council member, not the mayor.
Key Outcomes
- The committee recommended approval of the conditional use permit for the parking lot expansion, with the following caveats: (1) additional study of traffic and neighborhood impacts, (2) expanded neighborhood outreach to include not only property owners but also renters and businesses, (3) engagement with the district council member and planning commission to potentially right-size the number of stalls. The recommendation is non-binding and will be forwarded to the planning commission and city council.
- The meeting was adjourned.
Meeting Transcript
Welcome everyone. It appears we have a quorum, so we will start tonight with a call to order and roll call. Yeah. Committee member Barry? Present. Committee member confirmed? Present. Committee member Felix? Committee member Lots. We have a quorum. Okay. Next item is the agenda approval. Do I have a motion to approve the February 12th, 2026 meeting agenda? I have a motion. Meeting agenda. Second. Okay. So it passes. Next order of business is the consent calendar. Do I have a motion to adopt the draft minutes for January 8th, 2026? Present a motion to draft uh for consideration approval of draft minutes from the January 8th, 2026 meeting. Okay. So move. Uh next uh project review new matters uh before the committee today is the approval comments or recommendations for conditional use permit application number P two five-02902. The conditional use permit number P2502902 submitted by Ken Bang of Vice pertains to an approximate point five nine acres site located at 1363 North Morroa Avenue. The applicant proposes to expand an existing parking lot to provide 69 new parking spaces serving the shrine of St. Teresa Church located north of the subject property. The site currently contains 16 angled parking stalls from a partially completed parking lot originally approved under conditional use permit number C06340. As the original approval expired, the proposed parking lot expansion is now considered an expansion of a legal non-conforming use. I want to say uh I since it's a CO6, I want to say it's a it was in 06. Yeah, okay. And so I also noticed uh on the permit justification, it says that the proposed development is necessary to meet parking requirements imposed by the city of Fresno for the continued operation of the church. Uh do you happen to know anything about that? Is this uh some new requirement from the city, or the church would not be able to continue to operate without this expansion, or do you happen to know what that note is about to do? No, well, I'm not sure. Can you can we speak to that? Yeah, it's an existing condition. Uh originally approved the expansion of the uh uh sanctures all across the street. There was some off-site uh or parking uh off-street parking that was allowed as part of that. So I think um now that's getting more exacerbated than when I move some of that into the uh the parking stalls. So it seems like since there was an addition to the church, then that that kind of triggered the requirement for the additional parking. No, they they well they did that a long time ago back in 2007, which was approved in 2007 they expanded the hall and they expanded the parking lot. There was a uh CP to do the 6-9 stalls back in 2007. Um they did they did the hall, but they but they only did um uh the 16 stalls at that time. Uh I believe the funds right now, and so uh now they're and that CP for the supposedly I heard it was the rest of the program stalls and there wasn't both has expired, and so at that time the city allowed even expansion the hall, even stand at six nine stalls, some additional all-street parking in order for the hall to operate. So normally you don't have all-street parking as part of the project, but they they allowed it because it was uh kind of uh sporadic as far as what what the uh the needs of the uh the members in the past. So and has there been uh I know for operational impact it's stating that there is none. Uh has there been any sort of uh traffic study or any sort of environmental work or anything like that to determine or quantify what impact this could have on the local area? No, no, nothing was done yet. Uh CD require any, but uh all these uh folks that are going there now are already going there now.
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