Search
Polls
Latest Forum Posts
| Taking a Knee unclebuck 15-11-08 13:51 |
| Re:Football unclebuck 07-10-08 15:24 |
| Re:Football unclebuck 02-10-08 12:59 |
Login Form
| West Park garners boards' support |
|
|
| Written by Jonathan Partridge / Patterson Irrigator / | |
| Wednesday, 07 November 2007 | |
|
“The (policy board) staff report oftentimes will have the flavor of those (StanCOG advisory committee) meetings.” — Keith Boggs Stanislaus County deputy executive officer for economic development
 Pi Photo File The citizens and technical advisory boards of the Stanislaus Council of Governments gave PCCP West Park the thumbs up last week as a candidate for state bond money. Meanwhile, a group of COG boards throughout the San Joaquin Valley approved the project’s selection to a list of top candidates for state bond money. Developers now await the official vote Nov. 14 from StanCOG’s policy board, which will decide whether to apply for bond money on West Park’s behalf. “The (policy board) staff report oftentimes will have the flavor of what came out of those (StanCOG advisory committee) meetings,” said Keith Boggs, Stanislaus County’s deputy executive officer for economic development. Gaining approval West Park hopes to turn the Crows Landing Air Facility and surrounding land into an industrial park, with a rail link to the Port of Oakland that would allow containers to be shipped back and forth between the port and Crows Landing. The development group, headed by Gerry Kamilos, is negotiating with Stanislaus County to draft a full proposal that county supervisors will consider in April. The citizens’ group, an advisory commission of various county residents, voted 7-0 on Oct. 31 in favor of applying for bond money for West Park, supporting a short-haul rail link to the Bay Area and advising StanCOG staff to work on bond applications. Five members were absent, including West Side representative Ed Maring, who was on vacation. The technical advisory committee, which includes all of the county’s city managers and its chief executive officer, voted 8-2 Thursday in favor of supporting short-haul rail and applying for bond money for West Park. Patterson City Manager Cleve Morris and Newman City Manager Mike Holland, whose city councils have opposed West Park, dissented. StanCOG’s consolidated planning committee, which contains public works officials from the county and its cities, also favored the staff’s recommendation, though no official vote was taken, StanCOG Executive Director Vince Harris said. West Park officials predict that the industrial park, which they say would employ 37,000 people when it builds out within 30 years, would cost $52 million. They hope to get $26 million in matching bond money. Developers seek $10 million to $16 million from a pool of $2 billion in state infrastructure money available, and $10 million from a $1 billion environmental improvement bond. Both bonds, approved by state voters in November 2006, pertain to trade corridors. Kamilos said West Park’s goal is to have the county and StanCOG apply for the money on its behalf. Matching funds for the bond would come from West Park developers and from the industrial park itself. The county is also including the value of 170 acres of the airfield that would be used for the inland port as part of the matching amount for the infrastructure bond money. The existing runway should be strong enough to house parked trains, Kamilos said, so the value of the runway would be included in the matching amount. Community opposition A letter written Monday to county supervisors by Ron Swift, president of the West Park opposition group West Side-Patterson Alliance for Community and Environment, took aim at the 170-acre contribution, noting that county supervisors had promised the county would not spend any money on the project. However, deputy executive officer Boggs said he interpreted that agreement to mean cash expenditures, not in-kind expenses. He noted that supervisors unanimously agreed in a resolution that West Park could lease the airfield, while the county would continue to own it, and that would not change under this agreement. StanCOG’s staff recommendation also is under fire from Supervisor Jim DeMartini, who has questioned the suggested use of environmental bond money. That money is supposed to be used to retrofit vehicles, according to draft regulations for distributing the environmental funds, he said. “Kamilos is trying to get the rules changed,” he said by phone Monday. Harris of StanCOG said Monday that DeMartini was correct about the draft rules, but he noted that the final regulations will not be approved until next month. Meanwhile, the state Air Resources Board, which will distribute that money, has had workshops on the bond money’s regulations, including one that featured a presentation by West Park.  Pi Photo File StanCOG staff members were not the only folks called out at the Oct. 31 meeting. StanCOG advisory board member Doug Sweetland said DeMartini should not have spoken publicly against the project before the advisory board, as he also serves on a two-person ad-hoc committee that is negotiating with West Park. Sweetland also serves as the economic development director for the Alliance, the economic development agency that works on behalf of Stanislaus County. DeMartini was furious Monday about Sweetland’s comments. “I’ve never seen anyone be treated so rudely as I was,” DeMartini said. Sweetland was not at his office and could not be reached for comment. On the list The San Joaquin Valley Regional Policy Council on Friday included West Park’s inland port on a list of top-priority projects in the valley to receive state infrastructure bond money as part of a goods-movement action plan. The Regional Policy Council, which met in Fresno, includes policy board representatives from councils of governments throughout the San Joaquin Valley. Other projects on the list are a Highway 4 extension to the Port of Stockton, a train that would serve freight and shuttle purposes between the Altamont Pass and Central Valley, an intermodal facility in Shafter near Bakersfield and double-track rail through the Tehachapi Pass. The list of “Tier One” projects in the goods-movement plan is similar to a list from San Joaquin Valley regional planners sent to the state Business, Transportation and Housing Agency on Oct. 5. Tier One projects deal with nationally significant trade corridors, have local matching funds for at least half of the project and have an identified delivery date. Harris said the vote was unanimous in favor of the goods-movement plan. In addition to Harris, StanCOG policy board member and Ceres Councilman Chris Vierra attended the meeting. Board chairman and Newman Mayor John Fantazia was absent because of a schedule conflict, Harris said. Big decision ahead StanCOG’s policy board ultimately will decide whether to request bond money for the project next week at what could be a lively meeting. Citizens’ advisory board member and WS-PACE member Maring, for one, said he plans to attend, saying he thinks the bond money should be used for “better purposes,” such as modernizing tracks at Donner Summit and through the Tehachapi range. “I hope we can rile up the troops to the StanCOG meeting Nov. 14,” he 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
Set as favorite
Bookmark
Email This
Hits: 715 Comments
(1)
|
Subscribe to this comment's feed
