Selland Arena photo via City of Fresno website
published on January 6, 2023 – 11:24 AM
Written by Edward Smith
While a measure from the Fresno City Council to declare a homelessness emergency died without a vote Thursday, several ideas came forth, including a request for staff to explore canceling event contracts for the Fresno Convention Center to convert it into a shelter.
Fresno City Manager Georgeanne White said many of the proposals that came forward surrounding the emergency declaration were “great ideas,” but expressed frustration she “had to read about these items in the newspaper.”
The emergency declaration was included on the Council agenda without any accompanying documents. In a Tuesday interview with The Business Journal, Fresno City Councilmember Luis Chavez said the declaration was added as a placeholder. Under the umbrella of the declaration were two ideas, Chavez said — the creation of apartment templates that wouldn’t require the standard permitting processes and that previously unpermitted mother-in-law units in homes would be grandfathered in. The idea had also been floated to convert portions of the Fresno Convention Center into a homeless shelter.
In Fresno City Attorney Andrew Janz’ first appearance on the dais in that role, his advice to councilmembers was that an emergency declaration would be indefensible, saying instead councilmembers could declare a “shelter crisis” — which would narrow the scope of their abilities.
Fresno City Council President Tyler Maxwell said individual measures would come up in future agendas.
The idea to convert convention center properties, Selland Arena included, garnered differing reactions.
After saying he would not apologize for the last-minute addition of the measure into the agenda, co-sponsor Councilmember Miguel Arias said by offering every homeless person in the city a bed, we can finally enforce the removal of encampments.
“We can’t do that now because we don’t have sufficient beds,” Arias said.
Arias said within 24 hours the facility could be converted to house up to 10,000 people. During the height of Covid, portions of the Fresno Convention Center were used for overflow triage.
In the next few months, a lot of emergency housing would disappear as the motels purchased by the City would be converted into permanent housing.
White said there are a lot of things that go into managing a homeless shelter. She worried about the consequences such an action would have, referring to the conversion of the Superdome in New Orleans into emergency shelter following Hurricane Katrina in 2005.
White also said that 30 contracts had been signed with the event center over the next three months, ranging from Disney on Ice to a handful of Indian weddings.
“I would like you to be the one who tells the bride we have to relocate your wedding because we want to go in a different direction,” White said.
In response, Arias directed city staff to investigate the legality of canceling all contracts with the Center. In addition to event contracts, the City of Fresno has also contracted with ASM Global to manage the property and with Pardini’s Catering to provide food service for events.
The administration is approximately 30 days from being able to declare the Fresno Convention Center surplus, said Assistant City Manager Gregory Barfield. Declaring property surplus is the first step in selling it.
Fresno City Councilmember Mike Karbassi said converting Selland Arena could be trading one problem for another, bringing up the new hotel being built adjacent to the Convention Center. He also said a healthy downtown needs an active convention center.
Newly sworn Councilmember Annalisa Perea said she had had discussions with Development Director Jennifer Clark surrounding what is called ministerial approval for housing projects. Perea was a co-sponsor of the emergency declaration.
Ministerial approval is a different method of permitting that makes the process easier. She also mentioned giving extensions to housing developments whose entitlements are coming to an end.
“This would be a business-friendly move,” Perea said.
