The Planning Commission on Oct. 14 directed staff to take to City Council a recommended approach that would block future new warehouse/logistics developments in Redlands while preserving existing permitted warehouse uses, following an extended staff presentation, commissioner questions and public comment.

Planner Brian Foote opened the item with a 20-year development analysis showing roughly comparable warehouse square footage built inside the City of Redlands and in adjacent unincorporated areas. Foote reviewed the city's Warehouse Ordinance (No. 2955), which applies to logistics/warehouse uses with a threshold defined in local code (50,000 square feet or facilities with six or more truck docks) and discussed categories of standards: site location (1-mile freeway radius), screening and buffering from sensitive receptors, truck routing and traffic analysis, energy and sustainability measures, and operation/construction standards.

Foote and staff summarized overlaps and differences between the local ordinance and recent state laws (Assembly Bill 98 and AB 735), noting the state typically applies to larger projects (for example a 250,000-square-foot threshold in state law) and prescribes items such as minimum buffer distances from sensitive receptors, truck-entrance configuration and on-site queuing/stacking requirements.

Commissioners and staff discussed options previously considered, including: (1) make no change to the existing ordinance; (2) adopt targeted zoning amendments for specific properties or zones; (3) adopt a citywide prohibition on new warehouses (with existing permitted warehouses remaining allowed); and (4) render warehouses nonconforming (a stronger step that legal staff warned could raise litigation and amortization issues).

Public commenters urged both sides of the question. Linda Hamilton of Accelerate Neighborhood Climate Action urged the commission to favor a ban, citing climate and transportation emissions concerns. Other commenters, including longtime residents and property owners, urged caution and noted potential property-rights and economic implications if the City limited redevelopment rights.

After extended deliberation the commission voted to direct staff to prepare materials for City Council based on option 3 — a recommendation to prevent new warehouse/logistics developments going forward while preserving existing permitted warehouse sites — and to include consideration of state AB 735 elements (for example buffers and truck routing) in staff's proposed code amendments. The motion to send the recommendation to City Council carried with one opposed (Commissioner Stanson). Planning staff said they will prepare draft code language and return to Council for direction and potential ordinance drafting.

Staff also noted the potential legal complexity of other approaches that would convert existing warehouses to legal nonconforming status and the need to craft measures that avoid unintended legal liabilities while achieving the commission's land-use objectives.