Council approves Freeway Corridor Specific Plan update and Pacific Oaks Commerce Center after years of review

The Yucaipa City Council voted 4–1 Monday to adopt an update to the Freeway Corridor Specific Plan (FCSP), certify the revised Final Supplemental Environmental Impact Report and approve the Pacific Oaks Commerce Center project and related entitlements per staff recommendations.

The action, moved by Councilmember Miller and seconded by Councilmember Beaver, approved the staff-recommended package of resolutions and findings, including certification of environmental review and project entitlements. The roll-call vote was: Beaver — yes; Miller — yes; Woolsey — yes; Venable — no; Thorpe (mayor) — yes.

City staff and the project applicant spent several years preparing and revising the plan and the supplemental EIR. The update reconfigures land uses along the I-10 frontage to add housing types and business park flexibility, identifies conservation/open-space corridors mapped to drainage and habitat, and provides a development framework the city says is intended to reduce build-out vehicle trips compared with the 2008 plan.

The Pacific Oaks Commerce Center is a multi-building industrial/warehouse proposal on roughly 312 acres (applicant materials). The applicant told the council the project includes measures intended to reduce visibility from public corridors and to provide modern sustainability features such as EV charging and all-electric buildings. An independent peer reviewer and the city’s EIR consultant told the council the analysis used conservative assumptions — for example, traffic counts taken during peak pumpkin-patch season and a stringent health-risk assessment standard — and concluded impacts would be less than significant with mitigation measures.

Supporters, including property owners and economic-development advocates, told the council the project would deliver water, sewer, road and other infrastructure improvements paid by the developer, increase one-time development impact fee revenue (estimated by staff at about $14.4 million) and generate recurring property tax revenue (staff estimate: about $789,000 annually once assessed). Opponents raised concerns about truck traffic, air quality near already-burdened neighborhoods, wildfire egress, and the loss or change of open space and asked for more public facilities south of the freeway.

Staff and the applicant said the design and mitigation package includes: oversized water infrastructure sized in coordination with Yucaipa Valley Water District; requirements for tiered construction equipment and cleaner operational equipment; limits on diesel idling; electric truck charging infrastructure; and architectural/site design intended to screen buildings from major view corridors. PlaceWorks (city EIR consultant) and an independent peer reviewer presented the findings and described the mitigation and monitoring program.

The council held a long public hearing; speakers for and against the project included property owners, local business representatives, labor union officials, environmental advocates and nearby residents. After discussion the council adopted the staff recommendations and certified the revised SEIR.

The council directed staff to finalize the implementing resolutions and conditions of approval. With the motion carried, staff may proceed to implement the entitlements and the applicant may begin the next steps required by the development agreements and conditions of approval.

The update replaces the 2008 FCSP land-use diagram with a new map that staff said preserves sensitive natural drainage corridors while creating additional capacity for housing and commercial uses. The council and staff emphasized that individual projects will return for discretionary approvals and permits as required by the adopted plan and that development must still comply with environmental permits and other agency approvals.

The council’s decision completes a multi-year process but does not itself build any warehouses; it provides the regulatory framework and certified environmental review the city and property owners will use to pursue future entitlements and construction.