Ontario council upholds approval of nine–building airport-area industrial project over environmental appeal

Ontario’s City Council voted 5-0 to reject an appeal of a planning commission approval for a nine–building industrial development east of Ontario International Airport, upholding staff recommendations and the use of an addendum to the Ontario Plan 2050 supplemental environmental impact report (File PDEV2047). The project would construct 4,263,454 square feet of industrial space on about 216.36 gross acres.

Mr. Murphy, the city’s executive director of community development, told the council the Planning Commission had reviewed an addendum to the city’s Plan 2050 EIR and approved the project by a 4–0 vote. Murphy said the appellate groups — Pomona Valley Audubon Society, the Center for Biological Diversity, Endangered Habitats League and Los Angeles Audubon Society — based their appeal on three main claims: procedural concerns about public-comment time at the Planning Commission, alleged misstatements about burrowing owl presence on the site and claims that the addendum did not…