Council upholds planning commission, clears Prologis warehouse at 880 Doolittle after appeal

San Leandro City Council rejected an appeal and affirmed Planning Commission approvals on May 5 for a new industrial development at 880 Doolittle Drive, certifying the project's environmental impact report and approving required land-use permits.

City planning staff described the proposal as a 50-foot-tall industrial distribution building with associated office space, multiple loading docks and trailer parking; staff said the project complies with applicable zoning and that the final environmental impact report (EIR) responded to public comments. "The only potential environmental impact in the environmental impact report that hasn't been mitigated to a less than significant level is greenhouse gas emissions from that proposed natural gas line," Planning Manager Wayland Lee said during his presentation, noting the draft EIR and final responses to comments.

The development team, represented by Prologis, said the building will be primarily electric and that a new natural gas line would be installed only if a future industrial tenant requires it for manufacturing processes. "Please note we're not proactively installing a new gas line day 1 on this project. We will only install a new gas line if we get a manufacturing user … that requires that gas line," said Janet Galvez of Prologis.

Why it mattered: The project drew an appeal from Carpenters Local 713, which argued the EIR failed to adequately analyze or mitigate energy use, greenhouse gas emissions and noise/vibration impacts. Carpenters Local 713 also urged stronger labor and local-hire requirements. Appellant representative Ruhama Toretta said the EIR "does not meet the threshold to be certified" and asked council to grant the appeal and require recirculation.

At the hearing, Prologis said it had negotiated with one appellant group, leading Advocates for the Environment to withdraw its appeal the morning of the council meeting. Prologis told the council it will pursue local-hire goals — proposing a pilot local-hire target of 25% prioritized first for San Leandro residents and Alameda County — and highlighted union labor on prior local projects (Prologis reported 88% union labor on a recent build-to-suit project and 99% union labor on another rehabilitation project). Several construction-trade speakers testified in support of the project and urged approval.

Council action and details: Staff recommended two resolutions: one to certify the EIR and adopt findings, a statement of overriding considerations, and a mitigation monitoring and reporting program; and a second to reject the appeal and affirm the Planning Commission's approvals for an administrative site plan review, conditional use permit and administrative exception for height to allow construction of the warehouse. Council member Azevedo moved and Council member Simon seconded a motion to adopt both resolutions. The council approved both motions unanimously, 7–0.

Project specifics cited in the staff presentation and applicant materials included a 50-foot building height; about 244,573 square feet of warehouse area (as noted in the staff presentation), approximately 15,000 square feet of office space, 64 loading docks and 59 tractor-trailer parking spaces. Most building functions would be electric; natural gas would be plumbed only for specified industrial processes if required by a tenant. The final EIR documented public comments and staff responses; staff said the appeal did not raise issues that would require overturning the planning commission decision.

Next steps: With council action the project approvals stand. The record shows that the city's mitigation monitoring and reporting program and the conditions of approval include a prohibition on new natural gas lines except for approved manufacturing uses, and the developer committed to implementing community benefits around local hiring during construction.

Quotes from the record and clarifying notes are attributed only to speakers who appeared in the hearing.