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Perris planning panel backs rezoning to site future Green Valley fire station
Summary
The Perris Planning Commission voted 5-0 to recommend a rezoning and CEQA addendum that would reclassify 3.4 acres in the Green Valley specific plan to allow a future fire station, with staff noting traffic, utilities and noise-mitigation details will be handled during later administrative review.
The Perris Planning Commission voted 5-0 Oct. 1 to recommend that the City Council adopt a CEQA addendum and approve Specific Plan Amendment 25-00001 to rezone about 3.4 acres in Planning Area 57A of the Green Valley Specific Plan from open space to public facility to facilitate a future fire station.
Staff said the site, at the northeast corner of Murrieta Road and Watson Road, was identified previously in the Green Valley plan and was formally transferred to the city on May 13, 2025. Nathan Perez, planning staff, told commissioners the change is intended to facilitate construction of a station the specific plan had anticipated.
Perez said the city is recommending adoption of the fifth addendum to the previously certified environmental impact report and a finding the amendment conforms with the city’s General Plan pursuant to Government Code Section 65402 and CEQA Guidelines sections 15162 and 15163. “This concludes my presentation. I’m here to answering any questions. And just to let you know, this is a city sponsored project,” Perez said.
Commissioners asked for details about offsite work, school proximity and noise. Brad Brown, a city project representative, said additional design work would be required once funding is available, including widening Murrieta Road to accommodate fire truck turning radii and completing sewer and water connections. Brown said noise and siren use were discussed with Riverside County fire personnel and that crews “really won't use the sirens unless absolutely necessary, like, when they get to the intersections or things like that.”
Brown also described site circulation intended to reduce backup beeper noise: a circular driveway with two driveways so engines can exit directly onto Murrieta Road without reversing near residences or the planned school. He said only the western half of the 3.4-acre site is expected to be developed initially and that the conceptual plan anticipates an approximate 170-foot setback between the station and the school.
Commissioner Jimenez, who said she previously worked at an elementary school, asked about sound impacts on students and sought assurance that siting and operations considered trauma-sensitive approaches. “It is so distracting the way the sound carries ... that sound can reescalate even for adults that have had traumatic experience,” Jimenez said. Brown and staff said minimizing siren use near schools and having the circular vehicle circulation were among measures considered in the addendum and conceptual site plan.
Staff emphasized that the rezoning decision is limited to land-use conformity and that final building elevations and detailed design will proceed through administrative review and the Public Safety Committee. Perez said the project was identified through prior public-safety planning involving city staff and Cal Fire as the most suitable location to serve southern Perris.
A motion to recommend adoption of Resolution 25-23 (adopting the fifth addendum to the Green Valley EIR and approving Specific Plan Amendment 25-00001 to rezone approximately 3.4 acres in Planning Area 57A from open space to public facility) was moved and seconded and carried 5-0.
The commission’s recommendation now goes to the City Council, and staff said further design, funding and administrative approvals will be required before construction can begin.
