REDLANDS, Calif. – A proposal to build a 197,000-square-foot distribution warehouse on Tennessee Street in Redlands has been stalled by the Redlands Planning Commission.
The Commission voted a second time to request a resolution for the denial of the proposed warehouse at 301 Tennessee Street. In doing so, the Commission rejected Prologis Inc.'s request for a 6-month extension to revise the proposal. The vote passed unopposed, with Chair Karah Shaw abstaining because she was not present during the project's public hearing last month.
Why it matters: During the public hearing on April 23, the Commission received more than 50 public comments in opposition to the distribution warehouse. Commissioners and the public who opposed the development cited concerns over worsening air quality, increasing traffic and a mismatch in the neighborhood aesthetic.
Details: Following last month's public hearing, the Commission expressed its intent to deny the project and requested that city staff prepare a resolution to deny it at the April 14 meeting.
Instead, Prologis asked the Commission to consider a 6-month continuance to "undertake comprehensive revisions" on the project.
However, during Tuesday's meeting, the Commission expressed doubts about the feasibility of significant changes within this timeframe.
"The building height issue was one, the throughput was the other. And because of those two things, I just can't imagine that the six months is going to produce something fruitful," said Vice Chair Matthew Endsley. "I feel like it's a tactic to buy more time to relitigate the discussion we had here to hopefully get some distance and fatigue from the community to come back and represent their position," continued Endsley.
Commissioner Maryn Wells agreed that six months is not enough time to rethink the land use.
"And the question of whether or not this level of intensity really matches the spirit of that zoning, I think, remains a question. Even if they come back with a redesign, it's still going to have a lot of trucks coming in. And so I don't think that that could be achieved with a six-month continuance," said Wells.
Two public comments summarized sentiments from the public hearing in opposition to the project and encouraged the Commission to deny the extension.
One comment was made in support of the developer's request for more time to revise the project.
No one from Prologis spoke at the meeting.
The resolution to deny the project was not prepared for the May 14 meeting because, according to the city spokesperson, Carl Baker, "staff needed time to prepare the resolution and vet it through appropriate legal review."
Moving Forward: The Redlands Planning Commission is expected to vote on a resolution to deny the project during the May 28 meeting.
If the permit is denied, the applicant can appeal the decision to the City Council, said Brian Desatnik director of development services in an email to Community Forward on May 15.
The developer has another option, according to Desatnik.
"Alternately, it is possible that the applicant chooses to withdraw their application prior to the denial and then works on a revised concept and new application to the City," wrote Desatnik.
