City of Fresno  
2600 Fresno Street  
Fresno, CA 93721  
Meeting Minutes - Final  
Thursday, May 15, 2025  
5:30 PM  
Regular Meeting  
Fresno City Hall, Second Floor Room 2165  
Tower District Specific Plan Implementation  
Committee  
Chairperson - Christopher Johnson  
Vice Chair - Janay Conley  
Board Member - Annie Lokrantz  
Board Member - Michael Birdsong  
Board Member - Myra Coble  
Board Member - James Kitch  
Board Member - Joseph Catania  
THE COMMITTEE WELCOMES YOU TO FRESNO CITY HALL, LOCATED AT 2600  
FRESNO STREET, FRESNO, CALIFORNIA 93721, ROOM 2165.  
PUBLIC PARTICIPATION – Any interested person may appear at the public  
hearing and present written testimony or speak in favor or against the matters  
scheduled on the agenda. Public participation during Tower District Specific  
Plan Implementation Committee meetings is always encouraged and can occur  
by attending a meeting in City Hall room 2165 located at 2600 Fresno Street,  
Fresno, California 93721.  
When called to speak during a meeting, you may approach the speaker podium  
upon the Chair's call for any additional public comment. Unless otherwise  
announced, all public speakers will have up to 3 minutes to address the  
Committee.  
SUBMIT DOCUMENTS / WRITTEN COMMENTS –  
Email – Agenda related documents and comments can be emailed to the Long  
Range Planning Division. Unless otherwise required by law to be accepted by the  
City at or prior to a Committee meeting, no documents shall be accepted for  
Committee review unless they are submitted to the Long Range Planning  
Division at least 24 hours prior to the commencement of the meeting at which  
the associated agenda item is to be heard.  
a. Email comments to LongRangePlanning@fresno.gov  
b. Emails should include the agenda date and item number you wish to speak  
on in the subject line of your email. Include your name and address, for the  
record, at the top of the body of your email.  
c. Emails will be a maximum of 450 words.  
VIEWING MEETINGS (non-participatory) – For your convenience, there are ways  
to view Tower District Specific Plan Implementation Committee meetings live:  
1. Community Media Access Collaborative website: https://cmac.tv/  
2. Cable Television: Comcast Channel 96 and AT&T channel 99  
3. Zoom:  
https://fresno.zoomgov.com/webinar/register/WN_vd76-Ro1Tb-qFVjAtgt0aQ  
a) Register in advance for this webinar: After registering, you will receive a  
confirmation email containing information about joining the webinar.  
b) If you do not wish for your name to appear on the screen, then use the  
drop down menu and click on “rename” to rename yourself.  
Should any of these viewing methods listed above experience technical  
difficulties, the Committee meeting will continue uninterrupted. Committee  
meetings will only be paused to address verifiable technical difficulties for all  
users participating in Zoom or in person.  
The City of Fresno’s goal is to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act  
(ADA). Anyone requiring reasonable ADA accommodations, including sign  
language interpreters, or other reasonable accommodation such as language  
translation, should contact the Planning Department, 559 621 8277 within 48  
hours of the meeting.  
I. Call to Order & Roll Call  
Chair called the meeting to order at 5:32 pm and initiated roll call.  
Also present were Long-Range Planning Staff Sophia Pagoulatos, Yamilex  
Nava, Ashley Atkinson, Maya Mubarak, Preston Her. Consultant Matt  
Taecker was also present via Zoom.  
Present 6 - Chairperson Christopher Johnson, Vice Chair Janay Conley,  
Board Member Annie Lokrantz, Board Member Michael  
Birdsong, Board Member Myra Coble, and Board Member  
Joseph Catania  
Absent 1 - Board Member James Kitch  
II. Approve Agenda  
On motion of Vice Chair Conley, seconded by Board Member Catania,  
the ITEM was APPROVED. The motion carried by the following vote:  
Aye: 6 - Chairperson Johnson, Vice Chair Conley, Board Member  
Lokrantz, Board Member Birdsong, Board Member Coble  
and Board Member Catania  
Absent: 1 - Board Member Kitch  
III. Approve Meeting Minutes  
April 17, 2025, Tower District Specific Plan Implementation Committee  
Meeting Minutes  
III-A  
ID 25-687  
On motion of Board Member Coble, seconded by Board Member  
Lokrantz, that the above Action Item be APPROVED. The motion  
carried by the following vote:  
Aye: 6 - Chairperson Johnson, Vice Chair Conley, Board Member  
Lokrantz, Board Member Birdsong, Board Member Coble  
and Board Member Catania  
Absent: 1 - Board Member Kitch  
IV. Council District Updates  
N/A  
V. Chair's Report  
N/A  
VI. Staff Updates  
Staff reported that the American Planning Association awarded the City an  
award of excellence for the Tower District Specific Plan outreach and invited  
the Committee to the award presentation.  
VII. Continued Matters  
N/A  
VIII. New Matters  
Review the updated Draft Tower District Design Guidelines and  
Standards  
VIII-A  
ID 25-688  
Taecker from WRT gave the presentation for the Design Guidelines and  
Standards, focusing on the Mixed Use and Commercial Districts and  
developed a glossary and the guidelines into more definable objective  
standards.  
Pagoulatos gave context on the original zoning standards when the  
guidelines had a much more rigid code that disallowed mixed use zoning  
and versatile uses.  
Taecker reviewed items that have been moved from guidelines to standards,  
including streetscape elements, building frontage and facade design.  
Johnson, noticed that his comments on a previous draft may not have been  
able to be brought up in the most current draft of the guidelines. Also pointed  
out an ADU development at a vacant lot near Fruit and Clinton was modern  
in style and had horizontal slider windows.  
Additional questions that Taecker asked the Committee were whether to  
establish a 2-story minimum in mixed use areas (current zoning code does  
not require) and whether to attempt to apply architectural standards to  
multi-family, commercial and mixed use zones, or only single family zones.  
Catania asked about the feasibility of smaller lots.  
Taecker went into depth about Parking, disallowing a drive way near an  
intersection and commercial uses should be allowed alley usage.  
Taecker discussed parking being located at least 30 feet in front of  
businesses, design of roofing of carport garages and columns and  
allowance of pedestrian pathways for residential entrances, dependent on  
the depth of the property’s setback. Granite curbs are a street  
feature.Consider making tree requirements objective standard  
Staff announced the Notice of Preparation for the EIR has been published.  
Scoping meeting on May 27th to notify the public of the scope of the EIR. In  
Room 2120 at 5:30pm.  
LSA is the consultant and ready to facilitate the meeting for verbal and  
written comments.  
IX. Unscheduled Oral Communications  
Brooke Payton invited the public to book fair held at Root Access  
commemorating two years of pursuing a library within the Tower District.  
Catania and Birdsong requested a discussion of the repainting of Tower  
District lamp posts into an agenda item for next month's meeting.  
Johnson inquired about the Historic Preservation Specialist position  
vacancy.  
X. Adjournment  
Johnson adjourned the meeting at 7:37pm