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| Written by PI Editorial Staff | |
| Saturday, 17 May 2008 | |
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City lawsuit may be necessary but costly The announcement last week that Patterson City Council plans to sue the county because of its agreement with the would-be developer of Crows Landing’s former military base may have come as a shock to some. In many ways, however, the suit was more than a year in the making. Repeatedly, Stanislaus County supervisors have refused to give weight to the West Side’s frustrations while making decisions that will shake the entire region. At issue is PCCP West Park, the 4,800-acre industrial development proposed by developer Gerry Kamilos and his partners. The project would eventually employ 37,000 people, with a container facility that would be linked by rail to the Port of Oakland. City Council members oppose the project because of its size, the potential impact of trains and the consequences for local traffic and air quality. Again and again, county leaders have said such issues will be addressed in the environmental phase, but they appear willing to cement a deal before knowing what those impacts are. And that’s where the city’s lawsuit comes into play. City leaders apparently think legal action is the only way to have their point of view addressed. Regardless of the merits of the suit, the council should be conscious of the Pandora’s box it has opened. Litigation is always a serious matter. It is often costly — with taxpayers footing the bill, in this case — and never leads to improved relationships. One must hope that before taking this weighty step, city leaders made sure they had exhausted all other means of dialogue with county staff and supervisors. Nevertheless, it may be the only way to get the county to pull its head out of the sand and realize that Patterson and the communities of the West Side have legitimate issues that need to be resolved. Ironically, the developer of the project city leaders oppose seems more willing to work with the city than the supervisors charged with overseeing the county and its residents. Council members said they were pleased to meet with Kamilos this week, when he discussed the possibility of trenching Las Palmas Avenue under railroad tracks to alleviate problems with trains. Moving forward, it will be particularly important to see whether the firm charged with completing the environmental review of West Park has ties to the developer or is a non-biased third-party entity. A proper report will truly determine whether the proposal is an asset or a liability for the West Side. If there is any way for the county to make that happen before the final developer agreement is in place, perhaps that could lead the city to drop its lawsuit — that is, unless the city is just using the suit as a stall tactic. Dialogue is always better than litigation, and there appears to have been little two-way discussion between the city and the county from the get-go. Kamilos seems to be setting a good example by meeting with city leaders. Perhaps if county leaders followed suit, a compromise could be reached that would benefit all parties involved. It could never hurt to try.
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