Environmental Assessment No. P24-04457/P24-04470/TPM-2024-12

2025060836

City of Fresno

NOE - Notice of Exemption

6/18/2025

6/18/2025

Valeria Ramirez

City of Fresno

Planner

Lead/Public Agency

2600 Fresno St.
Fresno, CA 93721

(559) 621-8046

valeria.ramirez@fresno.gov

Terra Mortensen

Galloway & Company, Inc.

Project Manager

Project Applicant

7591 North Ingram Avenue
Fresno, CA 93651

(559) 721-5030

TerraMortensen@GallowayUS.com

36°48'9.6"N 119°47'24.9"W

N Blackstone Ave & E Gettysburg Ave

93726

4.22

42717125

State Highway 41

Fearless School, Holland Elem, Pyle Elem, Truth Tabernacle Chris

13S

20E

15

M Diablo

Categorical Exemption

Section 15315/Class 15 & Section 15332/Class 32

Section 15315 (Class 15/Minor Land Divisions) of the CEQA Guidelines exempts from the provisions of CEQA, projects consisting of the division of property in urbanized areas zoned for residential, commercial, or industrial use into four or fewer parcels when the division is in conformance with the General Plan and zoning, no variances or exceptions are required, all services and access to the proposed parcels to local standards are available, the parcel was not involved in a division of a larger parcel within the previous 2 years, and the parcel does not have an average slope greater than 20 percent. The subject application meets all of the requirements of a Section 15315 Class 15 Categorical Exemption. Under Section 15332/Class 32, the proposed project is exempt from CEQA requirements when the project is characterized as in-fill development meeting the following conditions: a) The project is consistent with the applicable general plan designation and all applicable general plan policies as well as with applicable zoning designation and regulations. The proposed project (Personal (Mini) Storage) will meet all the provisions of the Fresno Municipal Code. The project is consistent with the Fresno General Plan designation, policies, and zoning. The existing CMX (Corridor/Center Mixed-Use) zone district is consistent with the Employment-Office planned land use designation approved for this site by the Fresno General Plan, Hoover Community Plan, and the Fresno County Airport Land Use Compatibility Plan. b) The proposed development occurs within city limits on a project site of no more than five acres substantially surrounded by urban uses. The proposed project is located within City limits and occurs on an underdeveloped and vacant project site of approximately 4.22 acres, which is less than the five-acre project site maximum, and is surrounded by other urban uses. The subject site is substantially surrounded by urban uses where existing services and facilities are available to serve the project and is located in an area primarily planned and zoned for mixed uses. Properties to the north, south, and west are planned and zoned for Corridor/Center Mixed Uses and properties to the east are planned and zoned for Residential Single-Family Residential Medium Density Uses. Surrounding the property is a restaurant (north), a retail store and pawn shop (south), single-family residential neighborhood (east) and another restaurant (west). c) The project has no value as habitat for endangered, rare or threatened species. Immediately adjacent (west) to the subject property is North Blackstone Avenue, which is designated as an arterial street in the City’s Circulation Element. Arterial streets are major streets generally with high volumes of traffic, which is typically considered a prohibited corridor for species migration. Additionally, the site habitat has no trees that would attract birds or other species. As previously stated in Finding b above, the site is substantially surrounded by development in all directions. Therefore, the site has no value as habitat for endangered, rare, or threatened species.d) Approval of the project would not result in any significant effects relating to traffic, noise, air quality, or water quality. The proposed project was routed to the San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District, the City of Fresno Public Utilities Department-Water Division, Fresno Metropolitan Flood Control District, and no significant effects were identified relating to traffic, noise, air quality, or water quality, as provided in detail below. Traffic Senate Bill (SB) 743 requires that relevant CEQA analysis of transportation impacts be conducted using a metric known as vehicle miles traveled (VMT) instead of Level of Service (LOS). VMT measures how much actual auto travel (additional miles driven) a proposed project would create on California roads. If the project adds excessive car travel onto our roads, the project may cause a significant transportation impact. The State CEQA Guidelines were amended to implement SB 743, by adding Section 15064.3. Among its provisions, Section 15064.3 confirms that, except with respect to transportation projects, a project’s effect on automobile delay shall not constitute a significant environmental impact. Therefore, LOS measures of impacts on traffic facilities are no longer a relevant CEQA criteria for transportation impacts. CEQA Guidelines Section 15064.3(b)(4) states that “[a] lead agency has discretion to evaluate a project’s vehicle miles traveled, including whether to express the change in absolute terms, per capita, per household or in any other measure. A lead agency may use models to estimate a project’s vehicle miles traveled and may revise those estimates to reflect professional judgment based on substantial evidence. Any assumptions used to estimate vehicle miles traveled and any revision to model outputs should be documented and explained in the environmental document prepared for the project. The standard of adequacy in Section 15151 shall apply to the analysis described in this section.” On June 25, 2020, the City of Fresno adopted CEQA Guidelines for Vehicle Miles Traveled Thresholds, dated June 25, 2020, pursuant to Senate Bill 743 effective on July 1, 2020. The thresholds described therein are referred to herein as the City of Fresno VMT Thresholds. The City of Fresno VMT Thresholds document was prepared and adopted consistent with the requirements of CEQA Guidelines Sections 15064.3 and 15064.7. The December 2018 Technical Advisory on Evaluating Transportation Impacts in CEQA (Technical Advisory) published by the Governor’s Office of Planning and Research (OPR), was utilized as a reference and guidance document in the preparation of the Fresno VMT Thresholds. The City of Fresno VMT Thresholds adopted a screening standard and criteria that can be used to screen out qualified projects that meet the adopted criteria from needing to prepare a detailed VMT analysis. The City of Fresno VMT Thresholds Section 3.0 regarding Project Screening discusses a variety of projects that may be screened out of a VMT analysis including specific development and transportation projects. For development projects, conditions may exist that would presume that a development project has a less than significant impact. These may be size, location, proximity to transit, or trip-making potential. For transportation projects, the primary attribute to consider with transportation projects is the potential to increase vehicle travel, sometimes referred to as “induced travel.” The project location is located within a high-quality transit corridor. Therefore, the project screens out from further VMT analysis and the proposed local-serving retail project would not result in any significant traffic impacts based upon the City of Fresno’s adopted thresholds and guidelines for VMT analyses. Noise The project is a banks and credit unions use. Typical noise from the project would be transportation-related noise from vehicles entering and exiting the already developed shopping center. Therefore, the project would not result in a significant amount of noise compared to the other adjacent uses and would be conditioned to comply with any applicable noise standards of the Citywide Development Code. Air Quality The project is conditioned to comply with any applicable regulations and conditions from the San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District (SJVAPCD) and the project is subject to review by the agency regarding air quality during construction and operation. The project as described will not occur at a scale or scope with potential to contribute substantially or cumulatively to existing or projected air quality violations or impacts. The project was reviewed by the SJVAPCD and determined that project specific annual criteria pollutant emissions from construction and operation are not expected to exceed any significance thresholds as identified in the Districts Guidance for Assessing and Mitigating Air Quality Impacts (GAMAQI). Water Quality Fresno Metropolitan Flood Control (FMFCD) provided comments on February 25, 2025, which directed that drainage from the site shall be directed per FMFCD requirements; and that the site does not appear to be located in a flood prone area. The district also stated that in an effort to improve storm runoff quality, outdoor storage areas shall be constructed and maintained such that material that may generate contaminants will be prevented from contact with rainfall and runoff and thereby prevent the conveyance of contaminants in runoff into the storm drain system. The District encourages, but does not require that roof drains from non-residential development be constructed such that they are directed onto and through a landscaped grassy swale area to filter out pollutants from roof runoff. Runoff from areas where industrial activities, product, or merchandise come into contact with and may contaminate storm water must be treated before discharging it off-site or into a storm drain. Roofs covering such areas are recommended. Cleaning of such areas by sweeping instead of washing is to be required unless such wash water can be directed to the sanitary sewer system. Storm drains receiving untreated runoff from such areas shall not be connected to the District’s system. Loading docks, depressed areas, and areas servicing or fueling vehicles are specifically subject to these requirements. The District’s policy governing said industrial site NPDES program requirements is available on the District’s website at: www.fresnofloodcontrol.org or contact the District’s Environmental Department for further information regarding these policies related to industrial site requirements The applicant will be required to comply with all requirements of the City of Fresno Department of Public Utilities that will reduce the project’s water impacts to less than significant. When Conditional Use Permits are issued, the subject site will be required to pay drainage fees pursuant to the Drainage Fee Ordinance. Therefore, compliance with conditions of approval dated February 25, 2025, will ensure that the proposed project will not result in any significant effects relating to traffic, noise, air quality, and water quality. e) The site can be adequately served by all required utilities and public services. The site has been reviewed and conditioned by the Fresno Metropolitan Flood Control District, Fresno County Public Health, City of Fresno Public Works, City of Fresno Police, City of Fresno Public Utilities, and the City of Fresno Fire Departments. In addition, given the surrounding properties and neighborhoods have been substantially developed and utilities and public services already exist in the area, the site can be adequately served by all required utilities, including sewer, water, and solid waste, as well as public services.