DATE: August 25, 2026
TO: Board of Supervisors
SUBMITTED BY: Steven E. White, Director
Department of Public Works and Planning
SUBJECT: Cancellation of Agricultural Land Conservation Contract No. 8271 (RLCC No. 1080 - Joseph Crown)
RECOMMENDED ACTION(S):
TITLE
1. Consider and approve the petition for cancellation of Agricultural Land Conservation Contract (ALCC) No. 8271 filed by Yamabe & Horn Engineering, on behalf of Joseph Crown (Applicant), to remove a 38.18-acre parcel from the Williamson Act Program to allow the parcel to be annexed to the City of Fowler and developed as a residential subdivision; and
2. After making all the five required findings listed under Government Code, Section 51282(b), take the following actions:
a) Adopt and authorize the Chairman to execute Resolution authorizing cancellation of ALCC No. 8271; and
b) Authorize the Chairman to execute the Certificate of Tentative Cancellation and approve the recording of the Certificate of Cancellation when all contingencies and conditions included in the Certificate of Tentative Cancellation have been satisfied.
The subject parcel is located at the southwest corner of the intersection of South Sunnyside Avenue and East Sumner Avenue, abutting the city limits of the City of Fowler (APN: 343-040-02) (5439 E. Sumner Avenue).
REPORT
There is no Net County Cost associated with the recommended actions. This petition for contract cancellation was filed in conjunction with a City of Fowler Planning Application, Tentative Tract Map No. 6520, which proposes to allow the creation of 180 single-family residential lots with annexation of the 38.18-acres to the City of Fowler. The subject parcel is located in the AE-20 (Exclusive Agricultural, 20-acre minimum parcel size) Zone District and is designated as Agricultural in the County General Plan and designated as Medium Low Density Residential in the City of Fowler’s General Plan. The petition is assigned Revision to Land Conservation Contract (RLCC) No. 1080. This item pertains to a location in District 4.
The City of Fowler City Council approved Tentative Tract Map No. 6520 and annexation to the City of Fowler on February 3, 2026, pending cancellation of Agricultural Land Conservation Contract (ALCC) No. 8271 by the County of Fresno.
Should your Board determine that all five required cancellation findings can be made, the proposed petition can be approved subject to the following condition:
The Applicant shall pay the Cancellation Fee in the amount of $477,250 as determined by the County Assessor and certified by the Board of Supervisors for issuance of a Certificate of Cancellation by the Board. The Cancellation Fee shall be paid, and a Certificate of Cancellation issued prior to annexation of the 38.18-acres to the City of Fowler. If the Cancellation Fee is not paid within one year of issuance of the Certificate of Tentative Cancellation, the Cancellation Fee must be re-computed by the Assessor’s Office and re-certified by the Board of Supervisors.
ALTERNATIVE ACTION(S):
If your Board determines that any of the required findings cannot be made, your Board must deny the cancellation of ALCC No. 8271.
FISCAL IMPACT:
There is no Net County Cost associated with the recommended actions. The applicant paid the application fee of $3,595 for the cost of processing the cancellation petition.
DISCUSSION:
The Williamson Act program limits land uses on contracted parcels to commercial agricultural operations and certain compatible uses adopted by the Board of Supervisors. The County’s Williamson Act Guidelines require parcels to have at least 20 acres of prime soil and an active commercial agricultural operation or at least 40 acres of non-prime soil and an active commercial agricultural operation to be eligible to remain enrolled in the Williamson Act program. The proposed residential use is not consistent with the County’s Williamson Act Guidelines to be enrolled in the Williamson Act program. Therefore, the applicant has submitted a petition to remove the 38.18-acre parcel from the Williamson Act program through the cancellation process.
Attachment A is a location map of the subject parcel, Attachment B depicts the zoning of the subject parcel and surrounding area, Attachment C depicts the existing land use of the subject parcel and surrounding parcels, Attachment D is the site plan Tentative Tract Map No. 6520, Attachment E is an aerial photograph of the subject parcel, Attachment F is the Assessor Memo regarding the cancellation fee, Attachment G is City of Fowler Resolution No. 2634, and Attachment H is the Notice of Determination.
The subject parcel lies within the City of Fowler’s Sphere of Influence (SOI) and growth boundary, and the property is ultimately targeted for future urban expansion and annexation consistent with the City’s General Plan. City of Fowler Resolution No. 2634 (certifying the 2040 General Plan Environmental Impact Report and adopting the Statement of Overriding Considerations) specifically evaluated the programmatic environmental impacts of annexing agricultural lands and cancelling Williamson Act contracts across the SOI. While Resolution No. 2634 acknowledges that converting farmland and cancelling agricultural contracts leads to significant and unavoidable environmental impacts, it confirms that the broader community benefits of planned urban growth and orderly annexation outweigh those impacts. Furthermore, Action Item SAF-34b of the City’s General Plan directs the City to coordinate the status of contracted parcels during and following the annexation process. City of Fowler Resolution No. 2634 is included as Attachment G.
REQUIRED FINDINGS:
The proposed petition is being processed under the provisions of Government Code Section 51282(b), which allows your Board to grant tentative approval for cancellation of a contract if your Board can make all of the findings listed under Government Code Section 51282(b):
1. That the cancellation is for land on which a Notice of Nonrenewal has been served pursuant to Section 51245 of the Government Code.
An executed Notice of Nonrenewal for Williamson Act Contract No. 8271 was accepted by the County Recorder on April 11, 2025, and was assigned Document No. 2025-0035754. Said Nonrenewal is for the 38.18-acre parcel associated with RLCC 1080.
Based on the above discussion, staff can make Finding No. 1.
2. That the cancellation is not likely to result in the removal of adjacent lands from agricultural use.
Adjacent parcels surrounding the subject parcel to the east and northeast are not in agricultural use. Adjacent parcels to the south, west, and northwest are in agricultural use but not under a Williamson Act Contract. As such this petition is unlikely to result in the removal of adjacent lands from agricultural use.
Based on the above discussion staff can make Finding No. 2.
3. That the cancellation is for an alternative use that is consistent with the provisions of the County General Plan.
The subject parcel is within the City of Fowler’s Sphere of Influence. Under Fresno County General Plan Policy LU-G.1, cities have primary responsibility for planning within their LAFCO-adopted spheres of influence. The City of Fowler has designated the subject parcel for residential development in their General Plan.
Based on the above discussion, staff can make Finding No. 3.
4. That the cancellation will not result in discontiguous patterns of urban development.
The existing 38.18-acre parcel is located at the southwest corner of the intersection of South Sunnyside Avenue and East Sumner Avenue, which abuts the city limits of the City of Fowler. To the north and east of the subject parcel, there is residential urban development, similar to what is proposed. As such, development of the subject parcel would create a pattern of urban development that is contiguous.
Based on the above discussion, staff can make Finding No. 4.
5. That there is no proximate non-contracted land that is both available and suitable for the use to which it is proposed that the contracted land be put, or that development of the contracted land would provide more contiguous patterns of urban development than development of proximate non-contracted land.
County staff generated a list of non-contracted parcels of approximately the same size as the subject parcel located within the City of Fowler sphere of influence and utilized online tools to determine whether the parcels are for sale. In this case, none of the approximately same size parcels within the City of Fowler sphere of influence were available for sale.
Based on staff’s research, none of the non-contracted parcels of similar size within the City of Fowler sphere of influence were available for the alternative use, and therefore Finding No. 5 can be made.
ENVIRONMENTAL DETERMINATION:
City of Fowler Staff determined that the project was consistent with the City’s General Plan and General Plan Environmental Impact Report and determined additional environmental review was unnecessary under California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) Guidelines Section 15183. The Project proposes development consistent with the site’s underlying General Plan land use designation. CEQA Guidelines Section 15183 allows streamlined environmental review for projects that are consistent with the development density and use types established by a previously certified General Plan EIR, except where project-specific or site-specific impacts are identified that were not previously evaluated.
PUBLIC HEARING NOTICE:
Landowners subject to a Williamson Act contract within one mile of the subject parcel were provided notice of today’s hearing per Government Code Section 51284. The notice was also published in the Fresno Business Journal, which is a newspaper of general circulation.
ATTACHMENTS INCLUDED AND/OR ON FILE:
Attachments A - H
On file with Clerk - Resolution
On file with Clerk - Certificate of Tentative Cancellation
CAO ANALYST:
Maria Valencia