Perris planning commission approves Vallarta Marketplace project and certifies EIR; adds 8-foot walls, directs trash relocations

The Perris Planning Commission on Aug. 6 voted 5-0 to certify the final environmental impact report (EIR) for the Vallarta Marketplace Shopping Center and to approve a conditional use permit and development plan review that would allow a 59,371-square-foot Vallarta supermarket, a fuel station with a convenience store, drive-through coffee and restaurant lanes, and several inline retail buildings on 10.55 acres at the southeast corner of Placentia Avenue and Perris Boulevard.

Commission staff told the commission the EIR found project impacts would be reduced to less-than-significant levels where mitigation measures apply, but the project nonetheless generated two significant unavoidable operational impacts — one for air quality and one for greenhouse-gas emissions — and the commission adopted a statement of overriding considerations along with the EIR. The commission also approved a set of development conditions, including a new condition to require an 8-foot block wall on the east and south property lines adjacent to residences and administrative actions to relocate some trash enclosures closer to tenant buildings.

Why it matters: The site is in a part of Perris with relatively limited nearby grocery options. Commissioners said a local supermarket could reduce trip lengths for residents, but staff analyses measured project emissions assuming most trips would be new, producing operational air- and greenhouse-gas impacts that exceed the city thresholds and thus require the overriding finding.

Staff presentation and project scope Alfredo Garcia, planning staff, summarized the project as a mixed retail center anchored by a Vallarta supermarket and described the design as Spanish-style architecture with tile roofing, 11 percent landscaping (about 51,000 square…