A request to exempt a warehouse proposed for a weedy field on the west end of Redlands from environmental review led the Planning Commission to debate just how many of the buildings the city should allow, and what could be done about it.
Up for consideration on Tuesday, Nov. 30, was a medium-sized, 87,771-square-foot distribution center planned for 10756 Nevada St. near West Park Avenue.
Surrounded on three sides by urban development on 4.69 acres of land, the project meets requirements to be considered infill development, and therefore can be exempted from the environmental review process, project planner Jocelyn Torres told the commission.
A divided commission voted 5-2 to approve the project and the environmental review exemption, with Chairperson Conrad Guzkowski and Commissioner Matt Endsley dissenting, but not before having a robust conversation about what to do about the number of warehouses in the area.
It will be the sixth such building, totaling more than 700,000 square feet, approved on the west end of the city since May. In that month, a 179,000-square-foot warehouse on the former Bracken Bird Farm on New Jersey Street was approved. Two buildings, totaling 420,937 square feet, were approved on Mountain View Avenue in July; and two more on West Park Avenue in September, both 19,370 square feet.
Guzkowski said the Nevada Street project feels like it qualifies as infill, “but on the other hand, it’s starting to feel to me like we are reaching a tipping point, or we should at least be having a dialog, a discussion about what could be, very well, a tipping point in terms of the amount of warehousing that we are getting.”
He added when the area was zoned for industrial/commercial it was likely expected to be a mix of types of uses, not just warehouses.
“We’re starting to feel that cumulative impact of all of the truck activity that is hitting our roadways, not only in Redlands, but regionally, and that isn’t really being addressed at this point,” Guzkowski added.
He said he thought the project needed a full environmental report instead of an exemption.
Commissioner Steven Frasher said that traffic is “getting really incredibly bad” at nearby intersections and at 10 Freeway entrances and exits in the area, but “I don’t know if enacting (California Environmental Quality Act) in this case gives us any more answers, or if it just creates another hoop for the applicant to jump through.”
Brian Desatnik, the city’s development services director, told the commission the city did analyze the vehicle miles traveled that could be produced by the project “and using that metric, this project did not produce an impact.”
Commissioner Joe Richardson noted it was a relatively small warehouse.
“Do we make the applicant a victim of our very real larger issues, but that aren’t necessarily about him and this project?” Richardson asked, noting, “it is about this project somewhat.”
Guzkowski said there are still parcels available in the area, and called it “worrisome” that there could potentially be more warehouses exempt from environmental review in the future.
John Steinmann, on behalf of developer Nevada Street Holdings, said he was concerned about the potential changes to the rules at the 11th hour.
“We did all the studies that were required of us,” he told commissioners. “We worked with your staff to present a very viable project that will reflect well on the community by the rules that are in existence. I think all of your comments and concerns are valid, it just would have been nice if those were set out early.”
Frasher was sympathetic.
“The reason that we have zoning laws, the reason we have general plans, specific plans, and planning guidelines is so that applicants like Mr. Steinmann can work within the guidelines the community asks and demands of them, and they’ve done that,” Frasher said.
He added that perhaps some of those guidelines need to be revisited.
“Our rules and ordinances, our tools in our toolbox, are just not up to the speed of what growth is happening,” Commissioner Mario Saucedo said. “We’re trying to play catchup.”
Commissioner Karah Shaw said she wasn’t excited about more warehouses in the city, either, but that she was happy the project was on the smaller side.
“I think if we don’t want any more warehouses in Redlands,” she said, “then we need to do something about that.”
The commission agreed to have staff bring back information for a discussion of warehouses and the city’s options at a future meeting.
