1.84 million-square-foot “warehouse/industrial” project near Riverside in limbo – Press Enterprise

A sign at the proposed West Campus Upper Plateau project site urges people to attend a hearing on Wednesday, June 12, 2024, to oppose the project, which would add two warehouse or industrial buildings totaling 1.84 million square feet near Mission Grove and Orangecrest of Riverside. neighborhoods. (File photo by Jeff Horseman, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)

Plans to add nearly 2 million square feet of warehouse or industrial space between two Riverside neighborhoods are on hold — perhaps indefinitely — after a panel of elected leaders tabled the project after a lengthy and moving public hearing.

The March Joint Powers Commission voted 6-1 Wednesday evening, June 12, to place the West Campus Upper Plateau project “off schedule,” meaning a majority of commissioners must decide whether to shelve the project. future agenda.

There is no timetable for doing so, meaning the project could remain without a vote on its fate.

Riverside County Commissioner and Supervisor Kevin Jeffries made the motion to table the project, which would add two “warehouse/industrial” buildings totaling 1.84 million square feet to 818 acres of a former military base taken into sandwiched between Riverside's Mission Grove and Orangecrest neighborhoods.

“I don’t support warehouses inside the complex,” Jeffries said after the vote.

“I needed to know where the commission was and a motion to take (the project) off the calendar, that’s an instant test. Because if everyone is ready to take it off the schedule, then they are not really interested in the project as it is proposed. And for it to come back now, the staff must find a majority that wants to bring it back.

Jeffries added that the project “is either going to disappear completely or (the developer will) completely rework the project so that it gets community support.”

A lack of support was evident during the nearly three-hour hearing held at the Moreno Valley Conference and Recreation Center. A standing-room-only crowd held “No more warehouse” signs and applauded loudly as more than 60 of the 73 people registered to speak urged the commission to reject the project.

They also booed those who spoke in favor of the project and mocked when commission chairman and Moreno Valley City Council member Ed Delgado did things they opposed, like limiting comments to two minutes per speaker.

After the hearing, March Joint Powers Authority officials and a representative of the developer requested a delay to allow time to respond to public comments and questions. A postponement would have meant that the project would appear on the agenda of a future commission.

That’s when Jeffries made his motion to table the project. He voted in favor of it along with Delgado, Moreno Valley Mayor Ulises Cabrera, Riverside City Council members Jim Perry and Chuck Conder, and Perris Mayor Michael Vargas.

Perris City Council member Rita Rogers voted no, saying she wanted a delay.

The project takes place on land controlled by the authority, a public agency created to redevelop 3,500 government surplus lands left when March Air Force Base was reduced to an air reserve base in the early 1990s.

The commission overseeing the authority is made up of elected officials from Riverside County, Riverside, Perris and Moreno Valley, all jurisdictions bordering land managed by the authority.

Commissioners were tasked with approving an environmental analysis, development agreement and other documents related to the project, which would transform largely vacant land — except for munitions bunkers, a water reservoir and a former water tower – which were part of the air base before downsizing.

The developer, Lewis Management Corp. of Upland, wants to build a mix of logistics, retail, open space and parks on this site, which borders Grove Community Church and is south of Alessandro Boulevard, west of Meridian Parkway and east of Barton. Street and north of Grove Community Drive.

At the center of the project would be two buildings, one measuring 1.25 million square feet and the other totaling 587,000 square feet.

While it's possible the buildings could be warehouses, they could also become manufacturing or industrial spaces. Critics say the project could potentially include more than 4 million square feet of warehouses.

The building, which would be located 1,000 feet from any habitation, can accommodate logistics and manufacturing facilities and “several large manufacturing companies” have expressed interest in occupying the buildings, said Grace Martin, executive director of the March authority.

Randall Lewis, Lewis' senior executive vice president, said 55 percent of the project “will be permanently preserved and accessible to the public for hiking and biking.”