Colossal Cherry Valley Warehouse Blasted By Dozens At Milestone Meeting

RIVERSIDE, CA — Nearly 50 people spoke out Tuesday against a mega warehouse planned on the western edge of Cherry Valley, making impassioned pleas for Riverside County supervisors to reject an environmental impact report that determined the project is viable, despite findings of "unavoidable" air quality and other risks.

"The air quality and traffic impacts of this cannot be fully mitigated," Beaumont Mayor Lloyd White told the Board of Supervisors during a four-hour hearing on the proposed San Gorgonio Crossing.

"Please recognize this project does not belong in the hills of Cherry Valley. Our residents want to keep the open space and the small town neighborhoods that attracted them to the San Gorgonio Pass."

• RELATED COMMUNITY POST: Hundreds send the message: No warehouse in Cherry Valley

White was among 45 people who denounced developer William Shopoff's construction plan, originally known as the Gateway Warehouse Project.

The board reserved an afternoon session entirely to take testimony regarding the "re-circulated" draft EIR completed for the project in May and to consider whether to approve a general plan amendment to re-zone the rural space where the 1.8 million square foot warehouse complex would be centered.

The supervisors were slated to debate the matter after hearing from opponents and supporters, but on a motion from Supervisor Marion Ashley -- who did not want to keep staff on the job in waning daylight -- the board opted to hold a second hearing on Oct. 17 to analyze all the issues brought forward.

"This is a complex project, and it has been significantly reduced in scope (over the last nine years)," Shopoff told the board.

"One-third of the project (site) would be developed, one-third would remain natural, and one-third would be landscaped open space. It would create 1,000 good-paying local jobs."

• RELATED: Click here to watch the full meeting online.

The "high cube" project would entail erecting two industrial buildings with 306 truck bays, occupying 140 acres a quarter-mile east of Interstate 10, north of Cherry Valley Boulevard and south of Condit Avenue.

An EIR was first issued in November 2016 but was sent back for revisions Department of Planning officials said were needed to address modifications by the developer, resulting in a re-circulated draft EIR totaling 2,846 pages. The document elicited more than 700 letters in opposition.

"The warehouses will knock down property values and create more jobs for (automated) robots than human beings," Cherry Valley resident Jack Carol told the board.

Another retiree, Len Jenkins, expressed dread that the thousand or more tractor-trailers coming and going from San Gorgonio Crossing daily would put his asthmatic wife's health in danger.

"You'd be putting in some kind of death decree by approving this," Jenkins said.

Beverly Crow worried that roads near her Cherry Valley home would sustain unending damage from constant use by semis.

"We already have serious traffic issues in the region," she said.

Other property owners feared heavy congestion on Cherry Valley Boulevard and surrounding roads, while others wondered about potential impacts to wildlife habitat, storm drains and scenic vistas in the unincorporated community.

"The sky in Los Angeles is so coated with smog," Nancy Hall said. "That's not something we want in the pass. People moved to Cherry Valley to get away from traffic congestion. We need to keep Cherry Valley the way it is."

The cities of Beaumont and Calimesa have both expressed opposition, citing traffic, noise, water use, pollution and other concerns. Multiple environmental groups, led by the Sierra Club, have also condemned it.

The club submitted a letter listing numerous objections, beginning with the inevitable degradation to air quality from the estimated 1,200 daily truck trips to and from the site, in addition to the idling, parking and docking time when tractor-trailers will be in motion, spewing pollutants.

The organization further argued that there was no way to justify re- designating the project zone area as "light industrial," rather than retaining the "very light rural residential" designation, when four future housing developments are planned within a half-mile, and all existing structures in the vicinity, including hundreds of retirement homes, have been authorized under a general plan that envisioned non-business uses.

The South Coast Air Quality Management District worried about the volume of pollution and greenhouse gases associated with the warehouse complex, saying in a letter to the Department of Planning that "operational emissions" would exceed "regional thresholds for reactive organic gases and nitrous oxides," all of which "would be significant and unavoidable after mitigation."

Those speaking in favor of the project numbered less than a dozen and were mostly members of a union whose members are seeking construction employment.

"You have 320 active construction workers living in the Pass area," said Mike Day with Laborers International Union of North America, Local 1184. "Jobs like this project provide good benefits and wages. We need these jobs to continue."

The proposed facility was put on "fast-track" status in 2008, enabling the developer to bypass the Riverside County Planning Commission.

Ashley, whose Fifth District includes Cherry Valley, is a supporter.

According to the EIR authors, most environmental impacts other than air quality and traffic congestion can be substantially mitigated at the outset, and other challenges can be redressed over time.

— By PAUL J. YOUNG, City News Service / Image via Riverside County Board Of Supervisors Online Meeting