County Sues MoVal over Shipping Depot

Riverside County supervisors on Wednesday gave county attorneys the go-ahead to sue the city of Moreno Valley over a planned 2,600-acre shipping depot that the county contends will overburden area roads.

The Board of Supervisors decided to proceed with legal action following a closed-session meeting.

According to county Executive Office spokesman Ray Smith, the board left open the possibility of dropping the suit, provided the city comes forward with identifiable ways to curb the significant “traffic impacts” associated with the World Logistics Center.

City officials did not immediately respond to City News Service’s requests for comment.

Smith said the county contacted the city prior to the lawsuit vote, offering to postpone filing a civil complaint if Moreno Valley officials agreed to negotiate ways to address the county’s environmental concerns. There was no response, he said.

In the face of community opposition and nearly a week of public hearings, the Moreno Valley City Council voted last month to greenlight the 40.6 million-square-foot logistics center, which Mayor Jesse Molina described as a “game-changer of proportional magnitude -- not only for the city, but the entire region.”

Proponents hailed the estimated $2.5 billion in annual economic activity the mega-warehouse will generate, while opponents denounced the metric-tons of pollution and traffic interruptions they said would inevitably ensue.

According to supporters, the project would create roughly 13,000 construction jobs and lead to permanent employment for up to 20,000 workers.

The logistics center is slated to occupy space east of Redlands Boulevard, west of Gilman Springs Road and south of the Moreno Valley (60) Freeway.

County officials argue that the nearly 69,000 vehicle trips per day, including 14,000 trucks coming and going on a 24-hour basis, risk significant travel delays on the 60 and Gilman Springs Road, along with a higher volume of pollutants in an area already suffering from poor air quality.

--City News Service, photo via Shutterstock