Development Permit Application No. P25-01975

2025100861

City of Fresno

NOE - Notice of Exemption

10/20/2025

10/20/2025

Valeria Ramirez

City of Fresno

Planner

Lead/Public Agency

2600 Fresno St.
Fresno, CA 93721

(559) 621-8046

valeria.ramirez@fresno.gov

Nicholas Crawford

Crawford Architecture & Planning

Project Manager

Project Applicant

7122 E Garland Ave
Fresno, CA 93737

(559) 977-9779

nicholas@crawfordap.com

36°44'31.2"N 119°47'54.3"W

Amador St & Fulton St

93721

0.17

46613418

State Highway 180, 41 & 99

SOUTHERN PACIFIC

Lowell Elem, Fresno Adult, Child Dev Center, Unltd Learning

14S

20E

04

M Diablo

Categorical Exemption

CEQA Guidelines 15332

Section 15332/Class 32 (Class 32/In-Fill Development Projects) of the CEQA Guidelines exempts from the provisions of CEQA, projects characterized as in-fill development, which meet the following conditions: a) The project is consistent with the applicable general plan designation and all applicable general plan designation and general plan policies as well as with applicable zoning designation and regulations. The subject property is designated for Downtown Neighborhood planned land use. The proposed project requesting authorization to construct a three (3) story building with ground-floor commercial space and twelve (12) multi-unit dwellings on the upper stories is consistent with applicable policies of the General Plan, Downtown Neighborhood Community Plan, and Fulton Corridor Specific Plan which allow Multi-Unit Residential uses in appropriate zone districts as they do not have any specific policies that would restrict the proposed use. 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 0.17 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. Surrounding properties to the north, south, east and west are planned and zoned for Downtown Neighborhood. Surrounding the subject property is a senior housing (Silvercrest) (north), music production studio/parking lot (south), Salvation Army Family Services (east) and Fulton Village (mixed-use) (west). c) The project has no value as habitat for endangered, rare, or threatened species. Immediately adjacent to the subject property is Fulton Street, which is designated as a collector street in the City’s Circulation Element. Collector 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 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. 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 is 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 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, pursuant to Senate Bill 743 to be effective of 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 project location is located within a high-quality transit corridor. Additionally, the proposed use (multi-unit residential) will result in less than 500 ADT according to ITE Trip Generation thresholds. 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 multi-unit residential facility. Typical noise from the project would be transportation-related noise from vehicles entering and exiting the site and pedestrians entering and exiting the ground-floor commercial spaces. 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 July 30, 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, 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. None of the exceptions to Categorical Exemptions set forth in the CEQA Guidelines, Section 15300.2 apply to the project. Furthermore, the proposed project is not expected to have a significant effect on the environment. The proposed project is not located on a hazardous waste site, a historical resource, or adjacent to a scenic highway. The project is in an area planned and zoned for industrial uses, therefore the exception for cumulative impacts is not applicable. A categorical exemption, as noted above, has been prepared for the project and the area is not environmentally sensitive.