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| County, developer submit bond application |
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| Written by Jonathan Partridge / Patterson Irrigator | |
| Saturday, 19 January 2008 | |
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“We truly believe this project begins a critically important change in the transportation paradigm for Northern California.” — Rick Robinson, Stanislaus County CEO Following months of discussion, a development team and county officials sent off an application Thursday for $26 million in state money to set up short-haul rail service from the Port of Oakland to Crows Landing. The proposed 4,800-acre PCCP West Park industrial park, which would stand on and around Crows Landing’s former naval airfield, would use the short-haul rail service, shipping containers to and from the port. “We’re very proud of our application,” West Park consultant D.J. Smith said Friday. “We’re in the running now.” Stanislaus County and the Stanislaus County Council of Governments, a regional planning agency, submitted the application in conjunction with the project developer. West Park developer Gerry Kamilos is in the midst of a yearlong negotiating period with Stanislaus County as the potential developer of the 1,527-acre Crows Landing Air Facility.  After months of discussion, a development team and county officials on Thursday sent an application for $26 million in state funding for short-haul rail service from the Port of Oakland to the Crows Landing Air Facility, above. Irrigator file photo. The Crows Landing application was one of 84 the California Transportation Commission received Thursday. The commission will award as much as $3 billion for trade corridor projects in April. Close to $2 billion of that will come from a $3.1 billion trade corridor bond approved by voters in 2006, while another $1 billion could come from a state highway account, federal money and other fees. The transportation commission will host a hearing on the bond applications next month, and commission staff will make project recommendations March 13. Stanislaus County CEO Rick Robinson signed a letter at the beginning of the bond application that trumpets potential benefits of the project. “We truly believe this project begins a critically important change in the transportation paradigm for Northern California,” he wrote. At full build-out in 2039, the business park would employ 37,650 people and generate as many as 14,827 trips per day, the bond application said. The application also states the project would reduce regional pollution, eliminating 34.5 tons of nitrous oxide and 3,820 tons of carbon dioxide in 2021 by using trains instead of trucks to move containers of goods. It predicted that as many as 210 one-way truck trips would be eliminated in 2011, and as many as 2,400 in 2030. The application also said the project would create 37,000 “family-wage jobs” for Stanislaus County and the surrounding area, potentially reducing the number of commuters going to the Bay Area. “These aren’t minimum-wage jobs,” Smith said. “They are high-quality skilled and semi-skilled jobs.” The application said some details, including the availability of water and sewer facilities, a financing plan for infrastructure, mitigation of trains and traffic and the types of available jobs, would be available in later environmental and planning documents. West Park officials have been criticized by the Metropolitan Transportation Commission — the Bay Area’s transportation planning agency — for having vague information on such features. However, Smith said some of those details could not be known at this time, while the application should answer many questions the MTC has had in the past. Stanislaus County Supervisor Jim DeMartini, a critic of the project, was out of town this week and had not had time to read through the application. However, he expressed doubts about applying for the bond money in the first place. “There are a lot of needs … for projects in the state, and I just don’t see how this is a priority, particularly when the Port of Oakland has said they’re not interested in it,” DeMartini said. He referred to past statements from port officials, who said that they supported short-haul rail but that it was not a priority. More money needed In addition to the $26 million that West Park advocates hope to receive in state transportation corridor funding, $18.98 million would come from project investors. Another $12.5 million would come from the county’s donation of a 170-acre former runway at the air facility for the inland port. That $12.5 million figure was half the amount of an assessment an independent appraiser gave the county, according to the bond application. DeMartini said he could not believe the initial $25 million appraisal for the inland port property, and that even cutting that figure in half was a rip-off for taxpayers. “My feeling was the match should have been a cash match,” he said. West Park officials also hope to get support from a $1 billion pool of environmental bond money available through the $3.1 billion trade corridor bond package. California Air Resources Board officials will decide the guidelines for qualifying projects next week. Other projects could benefit The Crows Landing short-haul project was one of about 15 projects recommended by Northern California regional planning agencies for trade-corridor funding as part of a “Northern California Trade Strategy.” Another short-haul rail project, linking the Port of Oakland to a proposed inland port in the city of Shafter near Bakersfield, also made the list. Other proposed projects include improvements to the Port of Oakland, capacity expansion on rail lines through Donner Summit and the Tehachapi Pass, and work on a Sacramento rail depot and the Port of Sacramento. Closer to home, agencies called for $75 million in matching funds to help the San Joaquin Regional Rail Service buy a Union Pacific rail corridor from Stockton to the Bay Area across the Altamont Pass. The rail service runs the Altamont Commuter Express commuter train, and its tracks would be part of the proposed short-haul rail line to Crows Landing. Other recommendations proposed channel dredging between the Port of Stockton and the San Francisco Bay, a new climbing lane for trucks over the Altamont Pass, improvements to Interstate 880 near the Port of Oakland, and an extension of Highway 4 to the Port of Stockton. Smith, West Park’s consultant, said not all the top projects recommended by regional agencies will likely receive full funding, but he thought the Crows Landing project had a good chance. Stanislaus County’s $26 million request was much less than amounts requested for other projects, and California Transportation Commissioner Kirk Lindsey is a Modesto resident, he said. “We’re pretty optimistic at this point,” Smith 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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