Clovis, CA- Exploding Fresno Suburb with a well Invested and Urban Downtown

I drew the Urban Area of Clovis pretty tight to its Dwtn core as suburban development begins pretty quickly. I used Sierra Ave. as the northern border, Clovis Ave as the eastern, 8th St. as the southern, and Minnewanna Ave as the western.

Clovis was established in 1890 as a freight stop for the San Joaquin Valley Railroad by a group of Fresno businessmen. Clovis was officially incorporated as a city in 1912. The City’s population hit just over 1,000 residents in 1920 and was pretty stagnant through the early 20th century, only reaching 2,750 residents by 1950. In the Post War period, Clovis exploded into Fresno’s largest suburb as it now has a population of 120K. Clovis is one of Metro Fresno’s most in demand suburbs apparent with its quality schools, stable housing stock, and explosive growth. Thanks to its wealth, the City has been able to invest significantly into its downtown area creating an walkable main street but almost entirely with modern infill. Generally I believe the City has succeeded in this endeavor as the architecture and urban form of its in-fill is to a pretty high urban standard. Dwtn Clovis, however, still needs a lot more mixed-use bldgs and density. Other areas for improvement include better public transit access, development of its surface parking lots, more park amenities, more rentals, and some key retail amenities (i.e. a dwtn supermarket, drug store, and medical offices). 

Click here to view my Clovis Album on Flickr

URBAN STRENGTHS:

* Several quality urban commercial streets including several blocks of 5th St., Clovis Ave., and Polansky Ave. These blocks also have excellent streetscaping.
* Sidewalks and ADA curbs are generally good but several streets are missing sidewalks and ADA curbs in this evaluation area.
* Excellent dedicated bike/recreational path passing through the center of Dwtn. Also a good bike lanes on Sierra St as well and good connected system across all of Clovis.
* Good diversity indicators especially racial.
* Overall a very safe community.
* Most of the dwtn architecture is actually in-fill and quality urban in-fill.
* Some good historic architecture in the residential areas but nothing too exciting.
* Decent pedestrian activity especially in the core of Dwtn.
* Clovis seems to have a pretty good buzz across the region.
* Excellent schools in Clovis but only a handful are walkable and in the Dwtn core including 2 elementary schools and a middle school.
* Pretty good for sale diversity with 2-beds selling btwn 200K-400K, 3 & 4 beds sell btwn 300K-700K albeit with limited 4-bed product in the dwtn area.
* Good cultural amenities including plenty of food & beverage businesses, several local history museum, several night clubs, a performing arts theater, and some live music venues.
* Good retail amenities including several banks, lots of boutiques and clothing stores, lots of gift shops & antique stores, a few floral shops, toy stores & book stores, several dessert stores & gyms, a local post office & public library, and several churches.

URBAN WEAKNESSES:
* Density is pretty low for an urban area.
* Public transit access is very limited in Clovis.
* Transit to Dwtn is pretty terrible taking about 1 hour only on peak times. But a driving commute is only 15-20 mins.
* Decent amount of surface parking but generally behind building that are front the street. The surface parking in the center of the main square is the most unfortunate.
* Northern couple blocks of Clovis Ave are pretty auto centric.
* Some rentals available usually moderately priced.
* Missing amenities dwtn include a supermarket, drug store, no hardware stores, and few medical offices.
* Parks are limited a quality plaza, medium sized parks, and a recreational bike trail.