By Jennifer Madrigal
Eastvale – The Goodman-Birtcher warehouse construction project that was halted at the June 11 Eastvale City Council meeting, when the council voted 3-2 to not approve the re-zoning and other aspects of the project, has been given new life. After appealing to the council and asking to be put back on the agenda, the council voted 5-0 to grant the developer’s request for reconsideration.
This project, which has been met with some resistance from many members of the community, includes a general plan amendment, zone change and specific plan for a 205 acre site; a tentative parcel map for sub-division of a 193 acre area into five industrial parcels; two business park parcels and one commercial parcel. In addition, the project also calls for the major development of a 2,714,829 square foot light industrial space, including four industrial/warehouse buildings.
Before the council voted on the reconsideration, Bryan Birtcher, CEO of Goodman Birtcher, addressed the council and expressed his gratitude for the project being reconsidered. He also said that there was some general confusion in the community over the Lewis Retail activities. Randall Lewis then spoke and clarified that Lewis Properties are “major supporters of the project and it’s a major investment in the Eastvale community. It will be good for the City.”
The reconsideration calls for the developers to take the recommendations of the council and to resubmit their requests at a future meeting. In an effort to make this process more efficient, each council member gave their recommendations.
Councilmember William Link, who was previously concerned about the amount of projected truck traffic each day, the lack of business retail, and the overall recommendation, did not believe that this project would be good for the community. Link hopes that “ the project will come back to planning with changes that are in line with what most feel would be best for the nearby residents and what is best for the City overall. It is a prime piece of property that cannot be wasted with the wrong project. It will continue to be opposed unless some serious changes are made.”
Mayor Pro-Tem Adam Rush stated that the City has a lot of needs, and he believes that the project is the best opportunity for that specific piece of property. However, he would like to see the impact of traffic, noise, and air quality be less, but understands that can only be controlled so much. “When the revised plan comes before council, we will really need to look at the benefits versus the impacts and make the decision.”
Councilmember Ric Welch emphasized his desire to make more of an effort to separate the warehouse from the residents on Bellegrave, reduce the number of intersections and signals on Hamner, and include a more in depth consideration of Cantu-Galleano to avoid blocking the streets up with trucks. The fact that this area would be one of the first sights seen when coming into Eastvale from that direction makes it imperative that it be well planned.
Mayor Ike Bootsma would like to see more e-commerce retail to help build revenue from sales tax and to keep truck traffic to a minimum.
Councilmember Jeff DeGrandpre noted, “It’s important to strike a balance.” DeGrandpre emphasized the need to look more at a project like Goodman-Birtcher as opposed to the building of 1,750 homes and the revenue that would be lost.
The Goodman-Birtcher representatives will take these recommendations and come up with a revised plan for council and public evaluation at a meeting not yet determined. If the Goodman-Birtcher project is not approved, the current property will remain zoned for housing.
