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Baldwin Park planning commission backs zoning change to ease rules for small warehouses
Summary
The commission voted to recommend a zoning-text amendment that would define small- and large-scale warehousing, permit small warehouses by right in industrial zones and require conditional-use permits for larger facilities; staff set a 10,000-square-foot threshold that a property owner asked be raised to 15,000.
The Baldwin Park Planning Commission voted 3-0 on Feb. 26 to recommend that the City Council amend municipal code language governing warehousing and wholesale sales, a change staff said is intended to preserve small existing operations while keeping review for larger facilities.
Planning staff told commissioners the proposal would create two definitions—"small-scale warehousing and wholesaling" (buildings under 10,000 square feet) and "large-scale wholesaling and warehousing" (10,000 square feet or greater)—and would allow small-scale operations by right in the city's Industrial (I) and Industrial Commercial (IC) zones while continuing to require a conditional use permit, or CUP, for large-scale facilities.
"These changes allow for flexibility in existing small warehouse establishments to continue operating in the city while preserving the intent of the previous zoning code update to monitor the more impactful large scale warehouse businesses like fulfillment centers," planning staff said in their presentation.
Staff explained the 10,000-square-foot threshold after auditing CUPs processed since the 2012 zoning update and surveying neighboring cities' rules. Staff reported 19 warehouse CUP applications since the code change, 16 of which were reestablishments after a business license lapsed; all had been approved and none led to code-enforcement cases, staff said.
In public comment, Matt Nichols of Alan Matkins, representing Crest Capital Partners LLC, urged the commission to raise the threshold to 15,000 square feet, saying many multi-tenant light-industrial properties have spaces that exceed 10,000 but remain functionally similar to small warehouses and that a higher threshold would reduce regulatory uncertainty for tenants and owners. "It saves the city time, gives the applicant certainty," Nichols said.
Staff responded that the 10,000-square-foot baseline came from averaging the sizes of warehouse CUPs that have been processed and from comparing other jurisdictions, and that larger warehouses would still be allowed but subject to CUP review because they have greater potential to affect neighbors.
Commissioners asked questions about impacts on existing nonconforming uses and staff said the change was intended to reduce the need for repeated CUP applications when small spaces turn over and lose grandfathered status.
The commission adopted Resolution PC 25-06 recommending approval of AZC 24-06 and found the amendment categorically exempt from the California Environmental Quality Act. The measure now moves to the City Council for final action.
Votes at the Feb. 26 meeting were unanimous among members present: Chair Pena, Vice Chair Gonzales and Commissioner Rodriguez voted in favor; Commissioner Escobosa was absent.
If the City Council approves the text amendment, staff said the code would explicitly replace the prior single "warehousing" category with two subtypes and would update Table 153.05.0.02 and the definitional section in the Baldwin Park Municipal Code.
