Fresno, CA Special Events & Permits: Parklets (2026)

Fresno Municipal Code § 15-1104(F) requires every project citywide (except sign-only permits and remodels under 50% of a property's current value) to bring its adjacent sidewalk to a 12-foot minimum width. Where the existing right-of-way-to-curb distance is short of 12 feet, § 15-1104(F)(2) gives the Review Authority three compliance paths: setting the building back, demolishing and reconstructing the sidewalk along the full block frontage, or building a parklet. Under subsection (2)(c), the sidewalk 'may be expanded into the roadway by a metal or wood deck which does not interfere with the drainage of the street,' but only if the applicant enters into an encroachment agreement with the City accepting full responsibility for the parklet's maintenance and repair and providing the indemnification and insurance the City's Risk Manager requires.

A fourth option, the Director's width exemption for unusually challenging sites, still requires the applicant to meet the section's separate tree and lighting standards. Those standards, carried in the same section, call for street trees spaced 20 to 40 feet apart and pedestrian-scale lights spaced 30 to 80 feet apart along any frontage that gets rebuilt, and require a maintenance agreement or Community Facilities District if one is not already in place. The section was added by Ordinance 2015-39 (effective January 9, 2016) as part of the Citywide Development Code and has since been amended five times, most recently by Ordinance 2025-024 (effective July 27, 2025).