Fresno's Smart & Final project on Blackstone tabled until April

FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- The effort to re-develop the corner of Clinton and Blackstone in Central Fresno is in limbo after city leaders decided to table the vote until the first of April. The area is full of vacant and boarded up buildings.

City planners support the development of a Smart & Final grocery store. But councilmember Clint Olivier says Fresno's growth is being hampered by how city leaders want to go forward with the project.

Olivier said, "For this development to happen the private industry the free market developers who are going to do this have to jump through hoops to make the Fresno bureaucrats happy."

The developer wants the Smart & Final store to be visible from the street. Which councilmember Olivier says is a sticking point.