Fresno Bee, CA
Jan 6 2005

Armenian Town plan challenged

Two local preservation groups file a lawsuit.

By Russell Clemings / The Fresno Bee

Two groups of local historic preservation advocates have gone to
court hoping to overturn Fresno’s approval of a large part of the Old
Armenian Town redevelopment project.

Heritage Fresno and Friends of Armenian Town allege that the city’s
redevelopment agency did not “properly address impacts on historic
resources and feasible alternatives” when its board – which also is
the City Council – unanimously approved the project in November.

Their Fresno County Superior Court complaint says that the city and
developers Richard Gunner and George Andros made no mention of their
plans for the facade of Armenian Evangelical Church, in storage since
being torn down in November 2003.

It also says the agency did not get enough public comment before
deciding where to move five other historic buildings that would be
displaced by the project. The agency plans to put the structures on
vacant lots along L Street between San Benito and Monterey streets;
preservation advocates have proposed an alternative site at M and
Ventura streets, closer to their original locations.

“These people just don’t think a good enough job has been done in
protecting historic resources,” said their attorney, John C.
Gabrielli, of Davis. “They’re not interested in stopping the project
at all. They’re interested in sitting down and hashing things out.”
Neither Marlene Murphey, interim director of the redevelopment
agency, nor Lowell Carruth, attorney for Gunner and Andros, responded
to requests for comment on the lawsuit.

The Old Armenian Town project includes a new home for the state’s 5th
District Court of Appeal, plus three office buildings, a parking
garage, and some retail space. An Armenian Cultural Center also is
planned. The site is bounded by O, Ventura and M streets and Freeway
41.

George Bursik, a spokesman for the preservation groups, lives in one
of the few remaining homes in the project area and says he objects
mainly to the city’s plans for his and other houses.

“I don’t believe the city has a legal right to confiscate a person’s
home,” he said. “I mean, I understand that they have the legal right,
but … just because some developer comes along and wants to take it
doesn’t make it in the public interest.”