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MODESTO — PCCP West Park took a huge step closer to developing the Crows Landing Air Facility following a 4-1 vote by Stanislaus County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday.

Following several hours of presentations from advocates and proponents in the crowded chambers, the board voted to accept a quarterly progress report on the development and to sign a memorandum of understanding to continue negotiations with lead developer Gerry Kamilos.

Supervisor Bill O’Brien, who voted against negotiating with West Park during a 3-2 vote in February 2007, changed his mind about negotiations, saying he wanted to learn more about the environmental impacts of the project.

“I didn’t think I’d get to this point, but I want to see what those environmental concerns truly are,” he said.
Supervisors Jeff Grover, Dick Monteith and Tom Mayfield joined O’Brien in deciding to move forward. Supervisor Jim DeMartini, whose district includes the West Side, remained alone in his opposition to the project.

Supervisors proceeded despite objections from Patterson City Council’s legal representative, Steve Herum, who said the supervisors’ decision is illegal because it doesn’t conform to state environmental law.

Herum told the supervisors an environmental impact report must be completed before the memorandum with West Park can be approved.

“You must comply with the (California Environmental Quality Act) as soon as possible,” Herum said. “If you do anything else, you will be in violation of state law.”

Legal representatives with the county said that because the memorandum is not binding, they can enter it before the environmental impact report is complete.

“This may have to be resolved in a court of law,” Mayfield said. “I have no idea.”

PCCP West Park is a proposed 4,800-acre industrial development at the 1,527-acre former Crows Landing naval airfield, most of which is owned by Stanislaus County.

The project would be linked to the Port of Oakland via a short-haul rail line, and container loads would be shipped back and forth between the two places.

A recent study commissioned by West Park predicts the project will generate about 34,000 on-site jobs at build-out in 35 years and about 3,000 construction jobs.

County staff initially had pondered whether to move Tuesday’s meeting to the Gallo Center for the Arts because of fears that there would not be enough room in the board’s chambers, but many seats remained unused.

Still, dozens of advocates and the proponents of the project spoke up, leading the meeting to break for lunch and later reconvene.

Advocates included business leaders, union representatives and several West Side residents, who said jobs were sorely needed in the county and on the West Side.

A few people also mentioned West Park’s statements that the project would include a hospital and would benefit overall air quality in the San Joaquin Valley.

Several critics who spoke wore pins signifying they belonged to WS-PACE.org, a group that opposes any project at the Crows Landing Air Facility that is larger than the airfield’s existing 1,527-acre footprint. They complained of potential problems with local air quality, trains and traffic.

Ron Swift, president of WS-PACE, noted that West Park’s plans have drawn opposition from government agencies on the West Side, with Patterson City Council leading the charge.

WS-PACE Vice President Claude Delphia said an overpass at Highway 33 and Las Palmas Avenue, where trains are expected to cross Patterson, could destroy the historic character of downtown. City leaders also have expressed concern that a graded crossing there could interfere with the city’s downtown circle.

Kamilos has said in the past that West Park plans to spend $40 million on the matter and that preliminary engineering studies have shown Plaza Circle will not be impacted.

DeMartini, who advocated restarting the process to search for a developer, reiterated his belief that the project has virtually no support on the West Side and said the project would create problems on the West Side. 

“There are negative impacts to this that just can’t be overlooked,” he said.

Mayfield stressed that the memorandum of understanding is nonbinding.

“Everyone seems to think that today is the end of it all, that this is a done deal,” Mayfield said. “This is not a done deal. There are a lot of questions that Mr. Kamilos is still going to have to answer.”

The memorandum approved Tuesday will remain effective for 180 days. A binding Disposition and Development Agreement with the developer would be ready for supervisors about the time the airbase is ready to be redesignated as a redevelopment area. That likely will happen by late summer or early fall, county officials have said.

The DDA is expected to be complete before the state-mandated environmental review process is finished. However, West Park is subject to any mitigation measures outlined in the final environmental impact report.

Kamilos said he also aims to begin marketing the project to potential tenants right away.

Swift said he was disappointed by the split vote, saying issues such as water availability, loss of farmland and infrastructure had not been addressed and that West Side residents’ voices had been ignored.

Still, he said WS-PACE’s battle is far from over, adding that possibly the only way to convince supervisors to change their minds is for the group to gain thousands of members.

“Our organization will continue to gain in strength and numbers and continue our fight against this illogically located project,” Swift said in a prepared statement. “You may not hear from us for awhile, but we assure you there are other methods of opposing this humongous project. County government hasn’t heard the last of WS-PACE.org.”