Patterson Irrigator

The flyers are out, and meeting dates have been announced.

Developer Gerry Kamilos and his PCCP West Park team will make the rounds starting next week, talking about the 4,800-acre business park they plan to build at the former Crows Landing Naval Auxiliary Landing Field. The project already has aroused much suspicion and outright opposition from a number of West Side residents — and applause from a couple of county supervisors.

Many local residents are concerned about worsening traffic and air quality caused by the project, and rightfully so. When Kamilos says his plans will create only 24 minutes of wait time in Patterson each day for trains going to Crows Landing, that does not take into account existing rail traffic and future trains that might use the tracks for other purposes.

In addition, the sheer magnitude of the proposed business park — the size of Patterson and Newman combined — is guaranteed to change life on the West Side as we know it. There has yet to be any substantive talk about how West Park will mitigate traffic impacts to the West Side.

Perhaps the upcoming meetings will provide answers. Kamilos plans to have his team of technical experts at each workshop.

It’s unfortunate, though, that each meeting is limited to 40 attendees and that residents are required to register for the workshops in advance, as both of those requirements may keep people away.

Kamilos has said he wanted to keep a small number of people at each workshop to prevent locals from feeling intimidated. However, residents at least should have had more time to mark the dates of the workshops on their calendars. As it was, they found out about next week’s meetings by mail only this week.

The requirement to RSVP also could keep less organized residents from attending. After all, people regularly show up at City Council meetings on a spur-of-the-moment basis after hearing about topics of discussion from friends and neighbors.

Kamilos has said he will schedule more meetings if there is enough demand. We hope that’s the case. For starters, an English-speaking meeting during the weekend for commuters likely would attract a big crowd, as Patterson saw with the large attendance at a recent city general plan workshop hosted on a Saturday.

Local residents can do their part by making sure to call West Park at 856-4203 and RSVP for one of the handful of workshops next week.

This project is happening in our backyard, and we need to carefully question its designers and provide suggestions for improvement when necessary.

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