Groups celebrate court decision to halt Friant Ranch development

FRESNO COUNTY, Calif. (KFSN) -- Public interest groups are applauding a recent court decision putting a halt to a major senior housing development in the foothills near Friant Dam.

This week, appeal court judges in Fresno ruled in favor of the Sierra Club, League of Women Voters and Revive the San Joaquin in a legal battle over the proposed Friant Ranch project. The development would have been located six miles north of Fresno on agricultural land near Millerton Lake State Recreation Area.

Opponents say the court's decision is a small step in the right direction to make clean air a priority in urban planning. They've been arguing for years now that the project not only promotes urban sprawl -- by completely transforming hills into a residential and commercial development -- but it pollutes the air by increasing vehicle traffic. But supporters say the decision will just delay the project.

More than two dozen people representing various Valley environmental and public interest groups gathered outside the Hall of Records in Downtown Fresno Friday morning to celebrate another delay for the Friant Ranch development, after the 5th District Court of Appeal ruled the developers must add an air quality component to the environmental impact report for the 970-acre project.

"The League of Women Voters is very pleased by the appellate court decision to halt the Friant Ranch project based on air quality impacts and how they would adversely affect the health of our citizens," said Nyla Zender.

But the Fresno County Board of Supervisors approved the original document back in 2011 -- including a finding that pollution was unavoidable.

Friant Ranch was proposed by the Bigelow-Silkwood family. It would include a community of about 5,000 residents next to the small town of Friant across from Lost Lake Park. The development would bring homes, shops and businesses to the rural area, and cater to the 55-and-older crowd by establishing a retirement community near the entrance to Millerton Lake.

In a written statement to Action News, an attorney for the developer wrote:

"Friant Ranch when finally constructed will be an amenity for all of Fresno County. We are still analyzing the court's opinion, but it's our intention to move forward."

The statement angered environmental law attorney Sara Hedgepath-Harris, who says when the Fresno County Board of Supervisors adopted the general plan in 2000, it made air quality one of its primary concerns.

"When you look at the policies you say 'how can this happen?' There's no public transit, there's no population center, there's no work center, it's in the middle of the San Joaquin River bottom," said Hedgepath-Harris.

Agreements reached earlier this year led the San Joaquin River Parkway Trust and the city of Fresno to end suits against the development.

The attorney for the developer says this ruling will only delay the project by six to nine months.