City Hall Cafe Lease Agreement

The proposed project involved a lease of 1,852 square feet of City of Fresno owned land at City Hall to Vatche Moukhtarian. Vatche will be operating a cafe from an existing facility. Under Section 15301/Class 1, the proposed project is exempt from CEQA requirements when the project consists of the operation, repair, maintenance, permitting, leasing, licensing, or minor alteration of existing public or private structures, facilities, mechanical equipment, or topographical features, involving negligible or no expansion of existing or former use. The key consideration is whether the project involves negligible or no expansion of use. The project is exempt from CEQA because the City is proposing a Lease Agreement for café space that was previously leased to vendors operating a café prior to COVID. The project does not involve new construction, ground disturbance, or increased capacity beyond existing facilities and previously approved operations. Accordingly, the project will not have a significant impact on the environment, as it requires Reading and Beyond to continue operations in the existing facilities. Moreover, the two portable classrooms, gated playground, and two storage containers owned by Reading and Beyond are already existing facilities on the property. None of the exceptions to Categorical Exemptions set forth in the CEQA Guidelines, Section 15300.2 apply to the project. Furthermore, the proposed project is not expected to have a significant effect on the environment. A categorical exemption, as noted above, has been prepared for the project and the area is not environmentally sensitive.