City of Fresno being sued for approving industrial development

FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- The site is 110 acres of land at Orange and Central, adjacent to the Amazon Fulfilment Center and Ulta Cosmetics warehouses.

The citizens' group, organized by the Leadership Council for Social Accountability, held a news conference to announce their lawsuit. Erica Fernandez says the city's failure to do an environmental impact report violates state law and endangers the health of nearby residents.

"Bringing industrial facilities to neighborhoods with no environmental impact reports is not the future. No one wants to live in the future where it's polluted," Fernandez-Zamora said.

Mayor Lee Brand has dubbed the industrial area and the thousands of jobs it will bring as the future of Fresno.

In a written response to the lawsuit, the mayor said, "These kind of lawsuits are frivolous and a waste of taxpayer money, costing the taxpayers of the city of Fresno hundreds of thousands of dollars to defend. More importantly, they attempt to roadblock and delay much-needed projects that would bring jobs and improve the quality of life for the very people they claim to represent."

Laura Jacinto, who lives across the street from the development fears the construction will result in toxic dust.

"I'm concerned there may have been chemicals that seeped into the ground I don't want my children getting sick especially when they are lifting all that dirt," Jacinto said.

In addition to issues with the construction, the suit alleges 6,000 additional truck trips will create more traffic and pollution that were not addressed by the city. However, the city maintains the site has been zoned for the industry for decades and the city has complied with the law. Fernandez-Zamora disagrees.

"I think this lawsuit is well deserved because they failed in every possible way to like fulfill the law and to do what the residents asked."

The property is owned by Richard Caglia and would be adjacent to his recycling operation but would be used as warehouse and commercial space.