Perris planning commission recommends city adopt tighter industrial siting standards, forwarding zoning and Good Neighbor guideline updates to council

The Perris Planning Commission on Sept. 17 recommended that the City Council approve a multi-part update to industrial development standards intended to strengthen protections where warehouses and distribution centers abut sensitive receptors such as residences, schools and parks.

Staff presented a package that includes: a zoning code text amendment to create new industrial development rules in Title 19 (proposed ordinance 25-00005), amendments to chapters 2 and 4 of the Perris Valley Commerce Center specific plan (SPA 25-00002) and updates to the city’s Good Neighbor Guidelines to make the documents consistent. The staff presentation said the work was requested by the City Council in April 2025 and reflects a detailed comparison with AB 98 statewide guidance and a draft Riverside ordinance.

Key policy points in the proposed package include: - Per-building limits for large warehouse floor plates when buildings are close to sensitive receptors (e.g., a 10,000-square-foot building cap for the closest buffer band in the staff proposal, and a graduated approach for increasing permitted sizes with distance); - Height limits tied to proximity (a lower height limit where buildings are within 200 feet of sensitive receptors and higher limits at greater distances); - Increased setbacks adjacent to sensitive receptors (staff proposed larger setbacks than the city’s current standard, with the Riverside draft using the larger 60-foot figure for sensitive edges); - Perimeter screening walls and landscaping: a 14-foot perimeter wall around truck yards in appropriate locations, and minimum landscape-buffer widths and tree-size standards (staff recommended a minimum 30-foot landscaped portion of buffer, with trees in 36- to 48-inch box size depending on location); - Requirements for loading-court stacking (e.g., 150 feet of truck queuing or designs with multiple lanes to reduce queue length) and other circulation standards; and - A two-to-one housing replacement policy where industrial projects would remove residential units, consistent with AB 98’s 1:1 minimum (the staff recommendation mirrored AB 98’s more-prescriptive 2:1 standard in specific circumstances).

Staff also said the draft Good Neighbor Guidelines and specific-plan amendments would be made consistent with the zoning changes; the draft package included new definitions of “sensitive receptor,” expanded noticing radii (staff recommended increasing public-notice radius to 1,000 feet in some cases), and additional site-design requirements intended to reduce noise, light and air impacts.

Planning staff concluded the package is exempt from the California Environmental Quality Act under the common-sense exemptions cited in the staff report (CEQA sections referenced in the resolutions: 15061(b)(3), 15308 and related citations) and recommended the commission forward the resolutions to the City Council for action. After discussion with commissioners and public testimony from developers, labor and community groups, the commission voted 4–0 to recommend that the City Council adopt the ordinance, the Good Neighbor Guidelines updates and the specific-plan amendments (resolutions 25-21, 25-22 and 25-26).

Public comment included labor representatives and commercial real-estate groups urging either a delay for additional study (developers and construction unions sought more outreach and to quantify job impacts) or urging adoption (community speakers urged greater setbacks and a larger noticing radius). Commissioners asked staff to confirm measurement rules (distance from a sensitive receptor to the industrial building: staff said the current draft measures from the residential zone boundary or sensitive-receptor property line to the industrial building but welcomed clarifying language) and to add precise language in the draft ordinance and Good Neighbor Guidelines about where perimeter walls, buffers and truck queuing are required.

Ending: The planning commission’s recommendation sends the matter to the City Council for final action, with staff directed to return clarified draft text on measuring distances to sensitive receptors, to spell out buffer composition and buffer adjacency (so the planted portion sits adjacent to the receptor), and to confirm rules about whether multiple dock lanes may shorten required queue lengths.