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Rialto adopts 45‑day moratorium on new or expanding indoor storage facilities
Summary
The City Council voted 4-1 to enact an interim urgency ordinance (No. 1697) imposing a 45‑day moratorium on establishment, expansion or intensification of indoor storage facilities citywide while staff studies zoning and mitigation options; the vote followed a large public turnout both for and against the measure.
The Rialto City Council voted 4-1 to adopt Urgency Ordinance No. 1697, imposing a temporary 45‑day moratorium on the establishment, modification, expansion or intensification of indoor storage facilities within the city while staff prepares recommended zoning and policy changes.
City staff introduced the item as an interim step to review rapidly changing industrial development patterns, community impacts and the effects of new state law. The proposed moratorium would pause the issuance of approvals or permits for covered projects while staff studies possible changes to the general plan, zoning code and other regulations. "It has come to staff, and I think the council's attention that due to recent rapid expansion of industrial developments... residents and businesses have experienced various adverse impacts," staff explained in presenting the urgency ordinance under Government Code Section 65858.
The draft ordinance included exceptions carved out after staff revision: projects already approved by the council or Planning Commission with unexpired permits; projects more than 500 feet from existing residential uses (and other sensitive uses); warehouse/storage projects under 100,000 square feet; and properties inside the Rialto Airport Specific Plan IGM district. Councilmembers were advised the emergency ordinance would be in effect for 45 days and staff would return with a report and a public hearing if an extension were recommended.
Public comment filled the council chamber. Construction-trade representatives and union members — including speakers from Carpenters Local 909, Ironworkers and LiUNA — urged council to reject the moratorium, saying the pause would remove near-term work and hurt families. "If this ordinance is put in place you're taking away potential good paying jobs and benefits from hundreds if not thousands of people long term," Ironworkers representative Eli Gonzalez told the council. Several trade speakers described long commutes and a need for local projects to provide steady hours and benefits.
Other residents, community organizers and environmental-justice advocates supported the moratorium as a necessary pause to protect neighborhoods. Joaquin Castillejos of CCAEJ urged the council to approve the moratorium, noting what the group said were numerous warehouse approvals and pipeline projects and projecting truck-trip growth. "I'm here today in support of this moratorium," said Anna Gonzalez, a CCAEJ member and Rialto resident, adding that the pause would allow alignment with state law and local environmental justice priorities.
Land-use counsel Paige Gosney and others cautioned the council that an urgency ordinance requires a showing of imminent, irreparable harm and that evidence of urgency was not obvious; Gosney said, "An urgency ordinance by its very nature requires urgency, imminent, irreparable harm," and suggested a longer public review and clearer record. Mayor Pro Tem Scott argued the moratorium was intended to protect residential neighborhoods from industrial encroachment, showing council members photographs of warehouses abutting yards and saying, "Nobody should have to live like that."
After council discussion and public comment, Councilmember Andy Caracetes seconded a motion to adopt the urgency ordinance (moved by Councilmember Ed Scott). The ordinance passed in a 4–1 vote: Mayor Pro Tem Scott, Councilmember Carrie Salas, Councilmember Montoya and Mayor Joe Baca voted aye; Councilmember Carla Perez voted no.
The moratorium will remain in effect for 45 days while staff prepares options and a draft regulatory package. Staff told council the moratorium language could be revised before any longer extension and that any extension beyond 45 days would require a noticed public hearing and additional council action.
Key points in the adopted urgency ordinance include the initial 45‑day term, exceptions for the specified project types and the requirement that staff return with a detailed report and recommended changes to zoning and code within the moratorium period.
