Planning commission upholds director on Engle truck yard; rejects rezoning request to heavy manufacturing

The South Gate Planning Commission on a 3‑0 vote upheld the Community Development Director’s determination that the historic metal processing and recycling use at 8530 Alameda Street ceased in 2020 and therefore that legal nonconforming rights tied to that operation have ended. The commission also unanimously recommended denial of the owner’s separate request to change the parcel’s zoning from Industrial Flex (IF) to Heavy Manufacturing (M‑3) and to remove the site from the South Gate College District in the general plan.

The director’s determination (issued earlier in 2025) concluded that metal processing and recycling operations ceased in March 2020, the structures used for recycling were demolished, and that a subsequent use—truck and trailer storage by a different operator—does not qualify as a legal nonconforming use independent of the prior recycling activity. The determination further advised that truck‑and‑container storage operating as a principal use unconnected to recycling must be terminated because it did not have a prior legal nonconforming status under the municipal code.

At tonight’s hearing staff summarized property history: the site was developed and used for metal recycling beginning circa 1973, the city’s zoning changed in 2015 to Industrial Flex (IF) with new designations in the general plan, and Fleet Yards Inc. began using the site for truck trailer storage in 2020…