Commissioners voted 5-1 to move the proposal forward after debating whether existing warehouses should be allowed to add truck docks and increase building height.
Community Forward Redlands joins CalMatters and regional news partners for a free public election event ahead of the June 2 primary election
Congressman says new federal measures would speed victim notifications and improve protections for postal workers
Commissioners voted 5-1 to move the proposal forward after debating whether existing warehouses should be allowed to add truck docks and increase building height.
REDLANDS, Calif. — The Redlands Planning Commission voted Tuesday to advance a proposed citywide “warehouse ban” to the City Council after commissioners debated whether existing warehouse operators should be allowed to add truck docks and increase building heights as part of future modernization projects.
The commission voted 5-1 to recommend approval of Ordinance Text Amendment No. 372, which would prohibit new warehouses and logistics distribution facilities in Redlands while allowing existing facilities and some previously approved projects to continue operating and potentially redevelop under new rules.
If adopted by the Redlands City Council, no new warehouse development projects larger than 50,000 square feet would be allowed in Redlands. The proposal includes provisions allowing existing warehouse operators to seek approval for up to a 15% increase in building height, conversion to refrigerated space and/or additional truck docks through a conditional use permit process reviewed by the Planning Commission.
Under the proposed ordinance, warehouse operators seeking additional height, truck docks or refrigerated space would be required to obtain a conditional use permit and could also face environmental review, traffic studies, landscaping requirements or economic feasibility analyses depending on the scope of the project.
Planning Manager Brian Foote said the ordinance is intended to prohibit new warehouse development while allowing existing facilities to continue operating and rebuilding within their current footprint and previously approved characteristics.
The possibility of increasing truck docks became one of the central points of debate during Tuesday’s hearing.
Commissioner Kawa Shwaish questioned whether allowing additional loading docks would undermine the purpose of the ordinance by increasing truck traffic and warehouse throughput.
“For the purpose of the original intent of this, I would suggest that we do not have the ability to increase the truck docks,” Shwaish said. “If you increase it, even if your capacity is the same, you can increase traffic.”
Commissioner Mark Stanson argued the city should retain flexibility to help warehouse operators modernize aging facilities and remain economically competitive with nearby industrial areas in unincorporated San Bernardino County.
“Let's not become so non-competitive that we end up with subpar tenants and subpar buildings,” Stanson said. "So I just think we're tying the hands of the staff if we make this thing too tight."
Stanson argued further that because the ordinance would require a conditional use permit to modernize the Commission will ultimately have the opportunity to deny additional docks on a case-by-case basis.
Commission Vice Chair Emily Elliott said she believed significant increases in truck docks were unlikely because warehouse footprints could not expand under the ordinance. However, she questioned whether the city’s existing conditional use permit findings would give commissioners enough authority to deny future requests for additional docks if projects technically met required findings.
“There’s projects that maybe the commission is uncomfortable with,” Elliott said. “But the project makes the findings, right? And so it’s really hard to make a finding for denial.”
Elliott suggested the city may eventually need more tailored findings for warehouse expansion requests as the ordinance moves forward.
Commissioners said the city received input from the development community while crafting the ordinance to better understand what warehouse operators would need to keep facilities economically viable in the future.
Bill Blankenship, representing logistics industry association NAIOP Inland Empire, urged commissioners to preserve flexibility for modernization projects and said the city’s existing warehouse regulations already place Redlands at a competitive disadvantage compared with nearby county areas.
Nicole Torstvet, VP of development for Prologis, wrote an email to the commission with suggested revisions.
The ordinance would also allow previously approved warehouse projects to retain development rights even if construction has not started. Foote said the provision applies to two projects, including the 193,469-square-foot Prologis distribution warehouse on Tennessee Street that was approved by the Planning Commission last year.
During deliberations, Commissioner Alicia Gyllenhammer raised concerns about how the proposed 15% height increase would apply to warehouse projects in the city’s industrial IP zone, which does not have a maximum building height in the zoning code.
Planning Manager Brian Foote clarified that the Tennessee Street Prologis project is separately limited by its approved entitlement, which caps the building height at 39 feet.
Commissioners later added language clarifying that any future height increases must comply not only with underlying zoning rules but also with applicable project entitlements.
Staff said four written comments submitted through the Planning Commission website opposed either the ordinance itself or provisions allowing warehouse height increases.
The proposed warehouse ban builds on years of debate in Redlands over logistics growth, truck traffic and industrial development near neighborhoods and environmentally sensitive areas.
The commission added two revisions before approving the recommendation Tuesday, including language clarifying that height increases must comply with applicable project entitlements and limiting certain alteration provisions to interior circulation areas.
Commissioner Rich Smith, the sole dissenting vote, did not comment during the public hearing. Smith has routinely opposed new warehouse development in Redlands, previously citing concerns about the quality and reliability of warehouse jobs.
The proposal now heads to the Redlands City Council for final consideration.
Sign up for our weekly newsletter
