Movie theater operator quits CSU role over development
Fresno Bee 5/16/07
Trustee Moctesuma Esparza's resignation was announced Tuesday. A few minutes later, the board's campus planning committee repeated an earlier vote to approve the 45-acre project's master plan and environmental report. It also approved detailed plans for the retail/office and hotel components.
"I chose to resign to avoid any possible adverse reflection or impression upon the Board of Trustees and CSU as a consequence of the meritless filing" of the lawsuit challenging his role, Esparza said in a letter Friday to Gov. Schwarzenegger. The resignation was effective Monday and was announced Tuesday by the board's chairwoman, Roberta Achtenberg.
Esparza was not present when the board initially approved final plans for Campus Pointe on March 14. The first of two lawsuits against the project was filed April 12 by the owner of Sierra Vista Mall, located about three miles east of the campus in Clovis.
The complaint cited a law that officials "shall not be financially interested in any contract made by them in their official capacity, or by any body or board of which they are members."
News of Esparza's resignation made little impression on David Doyle, attorney for Sierra Vista owner LandValue 77, manager LandValue Management and managing partner James Huelskamp.
"This is still a flawed project with inadequate parking," Doyle said.
Esparza's 14-screen Maya Cinemas theater, planned for Campus Pointe, would be likely to compete with a 16-screen Criterion Cinemas complex that opened at Sierra Vista in December.
Besides the theater, the $167 million Campus Pointe project includes 540 apartments, a 200-room hotel and conference center, and 230,000 square feet of retail and office space. It would be built by Fresno developer Ed Kashian just east of the Save Mart Center at Shaw Avenue and Highway 168.
Fresno city officials filed a lawsuit of their own one day after the Sierra Vista lawsuit. The city charged that the university had failed to pay for enough streets, parks and police and fire facilities for the project. The city was asking for more than $3 million in fees.
CSU Chancellor Charles B. Reed told the board Tuesday the reason he was asking for a second vote on the project was that the university and the city still had not reached agreement. The new vote was scheduled in hopes that an understanding would have been reached by now, he said. He did not say whether the issue of Esparza's involvement also played a role.
Although city officials say discussions are still "making progress," Tuesday's vote suggests that no deal may result because the effect on police, fire and parks were "less than significant" legally and did not require payment or other forms of mitigation, according to a staff report prepared for the trustees.
Kashian, who was represented by a lawyer at the trustees meeting, said later that he believes the dispute with the city has to do partly with the university's concern for setting a precedent.
"The disagreements between the city and the university are policy disagreements that are more far-reaching than this project," Kashian said.
The trustees also approved detailed plans Tuesday for two of the development's main components -- the hotel and retail/office portions.
The hotel plans call for a six-story, 200-room building with 10,000 square feet of meeting space and parking for 383 cars. Its site would be the northeast corner of Shaw and Chestnut avenues.
The retail sector would be north of the hotel along Chestnut and would include 150,000 square feet of shops and restaurants, the 50,000-square-foot, 14-screen theater, and 30,000 square feet of "live/work lofts" on upper floors.
Of the $880,000 in annual rent that the university expects to receive from Kashian, $750,000 is earmarked to help pay off debt from building the $103 million Save Mart Center.
In announcing Esparza's resignation, Achtenberg thanked him for his service and dismissed the allegation of a conflict of interest.
"Mr. Esparza has not lobbied or in any manner sought to persuade this board with respect to his relationship" with Kashian and Campus Pointe.
She pointed out that the board first gave broad approval to the Campus Pointe plan in November 2005, before Esparza became involved with the project.
In his letter, Esparza said that CSU attorneys had "advised me that the university did not believe that there was a credibly existing conflict of interest" but said he was resigning "to avoid even the appearance of a conflict of interest and not wishing to place this board in any legal jeopardy" in light of the Sierra Vista lawsuit.
Kashian expressed regret about Esparza's decision: "We truly lost a really good trustee," he said. "He's going to get an apology from me for causing him all of this trouble."