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| West Park meeting a relatively quiet affair |
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| Written by Jonathan Partridge / Patterson Irrigator | |
| Wednesday, 16 April 2008 | |
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MODESTO — Like the silence before the squall, advocates and opponents of the proposed PCCP West Park industrial project gathered Monday at the Doubletree Hotel to learn more about developer Gerry Kamilos’ proposal. The gathering marked the last meeting of a county-appointed Crows Landing Air Facility steering committee before the Stanislaus County Board of Supervisors votes Tuesday on whether to move forward with Kamilos’ plans. The advisory group’s meeting in January 2007 before a similarly big vote garnered scads of spectators as the steering committee voted in favor of using Dallas-based Hillwood to develop Crows Landing’s former naval airfield. Supervisors ultimately voted 3-2 to use West Park instead. This time around, there was no vote — only polite conversation around a large table following an exposition on the project by West Park consultants. “The board is not going to listen to the steering committee anyway,” said steering committee Chairman Jim DeMartini, also a county supervisor, after the meeting. DeMartini, who has joined several West Side jurisdictions and officials in criticizing West Park for its size, potential traffic impacts and use of trains, told fellow committee members he nonetheless thought project developers had provided all the information the county had requested. West Park’s plans consist of a 4,800-acre industrial park on and around Crows Landing’s 1,527-acre former naval airfield, most of which is now owned by Stanislaus County. A short-haul rail line would connect an “inland port” at the airfield to the Port of Oakland, where goods would be shipped back and forth in containers. The project received a boost last week when the California Transportation Committee voted to give it $22.4 million in state infrastructure bond money as matching money for the project’s 995-acre first phase. West Park officials also said there was still much work to be done. If supervisors approve a nonbinding memorandum of understanding and a quarterly progress report next week, Kamilos said consultants will immediately begin work on an environmental impact report and visual standards for the business park. He said he felt much progress had been made, and he thought West Park had showed transparency about its development process toward community members. “It’s been an incredible process,” Kamilos said. Much of West Park’s work was on display in the Doubletree’s ballroom at Monday’s meeting. Steering committee members and other attendees perused booths where they could ask questions of consultants before reconvening for a round-robin session. Crows Landing farmer and steering committee member Earl Perez told consultants at a display on air quality and water storage that residents worried about the impact of trains. He wanted to ensure that West Park’s use of trains would actually eliminate trucks from the road as developers had indicated. Honey Walters, a consultant for the Sacramento-based consulting firm Edaw, said a study commissioned by West Park looked at various factors, such as truck models, to make sure trucks would be removed and not merely replaced. In addition, she said West Park would use electric drayage equipment and have top-notch emissions requirements for trucks. Consultant D.J. Smith of California Strategies discussed economic aspects of the project, saying West Park’s location and its size would make it appealing to businesses. Smith said West Park mostly would be dependent on firms wishing to export agricultural goods during its first five years, but eventually it expects imports to make up the bulk of the business. He noted that the Port of Oakland is a day closer to Asian markets than Southern California ports. “When this is really singing, we’re going to be matching exports with imports,” Smith said. Wages — averaging $47,658 a year per employee, according to a new study — would be lower than high-tech wages at Pleasanton’s Hacienda Business Park, but its agricultural base would be a good fit for the Central Valley, Smith said. Issues discussed during the roundtable included infrastructural needs in the town of Crows Landing and an overpass at Las Palmas Avenue and Highway 33. Committee member Arsenio Mataka expressed concerns that the Patterson overpass is not scheduled for completion until West Park is built out, but Kamilos said that timeline is not set in stone. The developer also made reference to recent comments by Claude Delphia, vice president of West Park opposition group WS-PACE.org, saying that West Park would work to ensure the overpass does not conflict with the city’s downtown circle or city parks. Attendees’ opinions about the project generally remained unchanged after the meeting. However, one sentiment everyone seemed to share was anxious anticipation about the outcome of Tuesday’s supervisors vote. “Everything now is a week from … Tuesday,” Delphia said. To reach Jonathan Partridge at the Irrigator, call 892-6187 or e-mail him at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it
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