Residents urge Hemet council to extend warehouse moratorium, warn against Newland Simpson project

At the Oct. 14 Hemet City Council meeting, multiple residents urged the council to extend the city’s moratorium on warehouse development and to resist further hearings or approvals for a proposed Newland Simpson logistics project.

Pam Yang, a Hemet resident, asked the council to “extend the moratorium” and said warehouses bring “serious health concerns, deteriorating roads, constant noise, and growing traffic congestion” that affect families and seniors. She said the jobs the projects promise are “short term” and that the developments create “long term burdens for our residents.”

Why it matters: Speakers said the Newland Simpson proposal has already been declined at earlier stages and said bringing it back would signal that developers can overcome local opposition through repeated filings or litigation. Residents described local streets they said could not safely absorb heavy truck traffic and warned of increased diesel pollution near neighborhoods and schools.

Several speakers recounted past rejections and disputed the idea of reopening the project to another public hearing. One speaker said the planning commission previously rejected the proposal 5-0 and that the council has declined it in past votes; another speaker described a later council vote as 3-2. Those counts were attributed to the speakers and are presented here as they described them to the council.

Notable public comments: - David Yang, who said he and his wife have lived in Hemet 11 years, asked the council not to shorten the moratorium and warned that repeated attempts to obtain approval would “send the wrong signal” to developers and residents. - A speaker identified in the record as Miss Finza urged the council to “stand firm” and said she and other community members had filed complaints with multiple oversight bodies, including the state auditor and the Riverside County inspector general, because they feared improper influence if the project were allowed another public hearing. - Tom Kelly, who identified himself as a Solera Diamond Valley resident, said he saw “no logical reason” to approve the warehouse and cited deteriorated local roads including Warren Road.

Council action noted during the meeting: Mayor Pro Tem Linda Krupa made a motion to excuse Councilmember Connie Clark from the earlier portion of the meeting; Councilmember Lodge seconded the motion. The body voted 4-0 to excuse Councilmember Clark. The city attorney also told the council that during closed session the council gave settlement direction on the two items that were discussed by a 5-0 vote; the attorney reported there was “no other reportable action.”

Speakers asked the council to consider the following during any future review of warehouse proposals: traffic studies that account for heavy truck routing, air-quality impacts under CEQA, and whether approval processes were being repeated because of legal pressure from applicants rather than a change in project facts. Several commenters named intersections they said were already failing under current traffic volumes.

The council did not announce any immediate follow-up steps on warehouse policy during the portions of the meeting covered by the public-comment record.