For the Planning Commission Meeting of December 17, 2025
TO: Honorable Chairman and Planning Commissioners
APPROVAL: Christina Taylor, Director of Community Development
FROM: Daniel Casey, Community Development Manager
Title
Tentative Parcel Map No. 2023-0006 (TPM 20809): Consideration of a Tentative Parcel Map to provide right-of-way dedications and to resolve underlying past recordings and instruments related to one (1) 38.89 gross acre (38.78 net acre) parcel of land (APN: 0239-192-23) located at the southwest corner of Locust Avenue and Lowell Street within the General Manufacturing (I-GM) land use district of the Rialto Airport Specific Plan.
Conditional Development Permit No. 2023-0032: A request to allow the development and operation of a 664,859 square foot industrial warehouse building on 38.78 net acres of land (APN: 0239-192-23) located at the southwest corner of Locust Avenue and Lowell Street within the General Manufacturing (I-GM) land use district of the Rialto Airport Specific Plan.
Precise Plan of Design No. 2023-0041: A request to allow the development of a 664,859 square foot industrial warehouse building with associated paving, landscaping, fencing, lighting, and drainage improvements on approximately 38.78 net acres of land (APN: 0239-192-23) located at the southwest corner of Locust Avenue and Lowell Street within the General Manufacturing (I-GM) land use district of the Rialto Airport Specific Plan.
Development Agreement No. 2024-0002: Consideration of a Development Agreement between the City of Rialto and IV5 Locust Gateway Logistics Center LLC to memorialize certain benefits and terms related to the development of a 664,859 square foot industrial warehouse building on 38.78 net acres of land (APN: 0239-192-23) located at the southwest corner of Locust Avenue and Lowell Street within the General Manufacturing (I-GM) land use district of the Rialto Airport Specific Plan.
Environmental Assessment Review No. 2023-0051: An Environmental Impact Report has been prepared for consideration in conjunction with Tentative Parcel Map No. 2023-0006 (TPM 20809), Conditional Development Permit No. 2023-0032, Precise Plan of Design No. 2023-0041, and Development Agreement No. 2024-0002, in accordance with the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA).
Body
APPLICANT:
IV5 Locust Gateway Logistics Center LLC, 333 S. Grand Avenue, Suite 300, Los Angeles, CA 90071.
LOCATION:
The project site consists of one (1) parcel of land (APN: 0239-192-23) located at the southwest corner of Locust Avenue and Lowell Street (Refer to the attached Location Map (Exhibit A)).
BACKGROUND:
Surrounding General Plan Land Use Designations
|
Location |
General Plan Designation |
|
Site |
General Industrial with a Specific Plan Overlay (Rialto Airport SP) |
|
North |
Business Park with a Specific Plan Overlay (Rialto Airport SP) |
|
East |
Light Industrial with a Specific Plan Overlay (Rialto Airport SP) |
|
South |
General Industrial with a Specific Plan Overlay (Rialto Airport SP) |
|
West |
General Industrial with a Specific Plan Overlay (Rialto Airport SP) |
Surrounding Zoning/Specific Plan Land Use Designations
|
Location |
Zoning |
|
Site |
Rialto Airport Specific Plan (General Manufacturing (I-GM)) |
|
North |
Rialto Airport Specific Plan (General Manufacturing (I-GM)) |
|
East |
Rialto Airport Specific Plan (Planned Industrial Development (I-PID)) |
|
South |
Agua Mansa Specific Plan (Heavy Industrial (H-IND)) |
|
West |
Agua Mansa Specific Plan (Heavy Industrial (H-IND)) |
Site Characteristics
The project site is a relatively flat, “L” shaped piece of land comprised of one (1) parcel approximately 38.89 gross acres in size with approximate maximum dimensions of 2,000 feet (north-south) and 1,925 feet (east-west). The project site is bound on the north by and existing segment of Lowell Street and on the east by an existing segment of Locust Avenue, which is a designated truck route. The property is entirely vacant and covered by only natural grasses and shrubs.
Surrounding Area
To the north of the project site, across Lowell Street, are several existing industrial developments, and to the east, across Locust Avenue, is approximately 4.75 acres of vacant land. To the south are several existing industrial developments, and to the west is a concrete mix manufacturing facility operated by Robertson’s Ready Mix.
ANALYSIS/DISCUSSION:
Project Proposal
IV5 Locust Gateway Logistics Center LLC, the applicant, proposes to construct a 664,859 square foot industrial warehouse building and install associated paving, landscaping, fencing, lighting, and drainage improvements on the project site. There is no proposed tenant for the new building at this time, but the design of the building will accommodate various storage and distribution uses.
Entitlement Requirements
The following entitlements are required for the applicant’s proposal:
• Conditional Development Permit: The development and operation of an industrial warehouse use within the General Manufacturing (I-GM) land use district of the Rialto Airport Specific Plan requires the approval of a Conditional Development Permit.
• Precise Plan of Design: The design of the development and the related site improvements (e.g. building exterior, landscaping, etc.) requires the approval of a Precise Plan of Design.
Site Design
As shown on the plan (Exhibit B), the applicant proposes to construct a 664,859 square foot industrial warehouse building on the west end of the project site. The proposed layout includes one (1) enclosed truck court on the east side of the building and another enclosed truck court on the northeast end of the project site along the frontage of both Locust Avenue and Lowell Street. The layout also includes passenger vehicle parking areas along the north, south, and west sides of the building. The truck courts will accommodate a maximum of 480 trucks and trailers, while the passenger vehicle parking areas will provide for the parking of up to 365 passenger vehicles.
Additional on-site improvements include paving, lighting, landscape planters throughout the site, screen walls around the truck court, and an underground infiltration basin for runoff water quality treatment and retention. Off-site improvements along the frontages of Locust Avenue and Lowell Street will include new curb, gutter, sidewalk, street paving, and the undergrounding of overhead utilities.
Access
Five (5) new driveways will provide access to the site. Three (3) driveways are proposed to be connected to Lowell Street - a forty (40) foot wide driveway on the west end of the Lowell Street frontage will provide left-in/right-out access for passenger vehicles only, a second forty (40) foot wide driveway in the middle of the Lowell Street frontage will provide left-in/right-out access for trucks and passenger vehicles, and a third forty (40) foot wide driveway on the east end of the Lowell Street frontage will provide left-in/right-out access for trucks only. One (1) forty (40) foot wide driveway connected to Locust Street will provide right-out exit access only for trucks, and one (1) forty-two (42) foot wide driveway connected to a private road adjacent to the west side of the project site will provide full access for emergency vehicles only.
Floor Plan
The floor plan for the proposed building (Exhibit C) indicates that the building will consist of 657,146 square feet of warehouse space and 7,713 square feet of office space. The office space will potentially occupy any of the four (4) corners of the building, with 4,112 square feet on the ground floor and an additional 3,601 square feet on a second-floor mezzanine. The east side of the building will have up to 82 dock high loading doors and two (2) grade level roll-up doors.
Architectural Design
The proposed building will feature significant vertical and horizontal wall plane articulation in the form of recessed wall panels, projected wall panels, and panel height variations on all four (4) sides of the building. As shown on the elevations (Exhibit D), the height of the building will range from 42.5 feet to 50 feet from the finished floor level. The exterior of the building will be of concrete tilt-up wall construction painted with a palette of five (5) different colors - three (3) white and gray tones and two (2) blue accents. Additional architectural features of the building include marmorio stone accents, composite wood siding, wall panel reveals, metal eyebrow accents, and glazing.
Parking
The development will have 365 passenger vehicle parking spaces, including twelve (12) ADA accessible parking spaces. This quantity exceeds the minimum parking requirement as shown in the parking calculation chart below and as required by Chapter 18.58 (Off-Street Parking) of the Rialto Municipal Code:
|
Type of Use |
Floor Area (square feet) |
Parking Ratio |
Number of spaces required |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Office Ground floor Above ground floor Warehouse |
4,112 3,601 |
1 / 250 1 / 500 |
17 8 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Floor area up to 10,000 square feet Floor area 10,001 square feet or more |
10,000 647,146 |
1 / 1,000 1 / 2,000 |
10 324 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Total Required/Total Provided |
|
|
359/365 |
Landscaping
The landscape coverage for the project is 9.5 percent. This includes twenty (20) foot wide landscape setbacks along the frontages of both Locust Avenue and Lowell Street, ten (10) foot wide planters around the perimeter of the building and the project site, and planter fingers and diamonds throughout the passenger vehicle parking areas. All the landscape planters will feature a variety of trees spaced every thirty (30) linear feet and an abundant number of shrubs and groundcover (Exhibit E).
Traffic
Kimley-Horn and Associates, Inc. prepared a Transportation Impact Study (TIS), dated June 2024, to assess the project’s potential impact on local streets and intersections (Exhibit F). The TIS estimates that the project will generate approximately 1,138 daily vehicle trips (1,908 PCE daily vehicle trips) with 113 trips in the AM peak hour and 120 trips in the PM peak hour. Trucks will constitute a maximum of 455 of the 1,138 new daily vehicle trips.
The TIS analyzed the following 12 intersections in the project vicinity:
Three (3) of the intersections were identified to have infrastructure deficiencies that would result in an unacceptable level of service and/or queuing issues under existing conditions combined with ambient growth, project generated traffic, cumulative growth without any mitigation. The specific intersections are (1) Locust Avenue & Casa Grande Drive, (2) Locust Avenue & Lowell Street, and (3) Locust Avenue & Casmalia Street. The TIS recommends various improvements to mitigate potential traffic impacts to these intersections. The recommended improvements to mitigate the traffic impacts consist of the installation of a new traffic signal at the intersection of Locust Avenue & Casa Grande Drive, modifying the median on Casmalia Street to extend the eastbound left-turn pocket to 250 feet at the intersection of Locust Avenue & Casmalia Street, the restriping of Lowell Street to create dedicated left-turn and right-turn lanes at the intersection of Locust Avenue & Lowell Street, and the addition of a northbound left-turn lane on Locust Avenue at the intersection of Locust Avenue & Lowell Street.
The City’s Traffic Impact Analysis Guidelines and Requirements and the project TIS conclude that the payment of “fair share” fees constitutes adequate mitigation to address the infrastructure deficiencies. The applicant will be responsible for fair share payments in the amount of $364,699. The fair share fees are calculated based upon the project’s anticipated portion of traffic generated at each of the affected intersections. Specifically, the applicant is responsible for 30.8% of the cost of the traffic signal at Locust Avenue & Casa Grande Drive, 28.2% of the cost of the median modification at Locust Avenue & Casmalia Street, and 100% of the cost of the striping improvements at the Locust Avenue & Lowell Street intersection.
Parcel Map
The project site currently consists of one (1) parcel of land, which is sufficient to accommodate the project. However, the parcel that makes up the project site was created under a compilation of several past recordings that are reflected in the legal description. Furthermore, additional public right-of-way dedication is needed along the Locust Avenue frontage to comply with the Circulation Element of the Rialto General Plan. Subsequently, the applicant submitted a tentative parcel map (Exhibit G) to provide the necessary public right-of-way dedication and to resolve the underlying past recordings within the legal description. The right-of-way dedication along the frontage of Locust Avenue will reduce the size of the project site from 38.89 gross acres to 38.78 net acres. The size of the final parcel greatly exceeds the minimum parcel size of 0.50 acres required by Table 9 (Development Standards Non-Residential Designations) of the Rialto Airport Specific Plan.
Development Agreement
In conjunction with the project, the applicant proposes to enter into a Development Agreement with the City of Rialto to memorialize certain benefits and terms related to the project. Mainly, as part of the Development Agreement, the applicant proposes to contribute $4,000,000 to the City prior to the issuance of a Certificate of Occupancy. The use of the funds will be at the discretion of the City Council. In exchange, the Development Agreement will vest the project for five (5) years, with a possible five (5) year extension, and lock in the Development Impact Fee rates for the project at the current Fiscal Year 2025/2026 rates.
Economic Development Committee
The Economic Development Committee (EDC) reviewed the project on September 18, 2025. At its meeting, the EDC discussed the project and the Development Agreement, and directed staff and the applicant to proceed forward with the project and the required public hearings. The minutes from the September 18, 2025 EDC meeting are attached as Exhibit H.
Land Use Compatibility
The project is consistent with the I-GM land use district, the Rialto Airport Specific Plan, the regulations contained within Chapter 18.112 (Indoor Storage Uses) of the Rialto Municipal Code, and the industrial uses surrounding the project site. Additionally, the Draft Resolutions contain conditions of approval requiring that the project not exceed the traffic estimates contained within the TIS, thereby ensuring that the project will not significantly impact local streets and intersections. The project will be compatible with the existing uses in the surrounding area and an improvement to the site.
GENERAL PLAN CONSISTENCY:
The General Plan land use designation of the site is General Industrial with a Specific Plan Overlay. This designation requires the underlying Specific Plan to establish distinct land use designations within the Specific Plan itself. Exhibit 3 (Land Use Plan) of the Rialto Airport Specific Plan indicates that the land use designation for the project site is General Manufacturing (I-GM). According to Section 3.3.4 of the Rialto Airport Specific Plan, the I-GM designation is intended to facilitate the most intensive industrial uses with the Specific Plan area, including warehousing, manufacturing, and multi-tenant spaces. As a result, the project is consistent with the I-GM designation. Furthermore, the project is consistent with the following goals of the Land Use Element and Economic Development Element of the Rialto General Plan:
Goal 2-16: Improve the architectural and design quality of development in Rialto.
Goal 2-22: Promote commercial and/or industrial development that is well designed, people-oriented, environmentally sustainable, sensitive to the needs of the visitor or resident, and functionally efficient for its purpose.
Goal 3-1: Strengthen and diversify the economic base and employment opportunities, and maintain a positive business climate.
ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT:
Greenhouse Gas Emissions
As indicated by Table 4.7-3 (Project Greenhouse Gas Emissions) of the Locust Gateway Development Project Draft Environmental Impact Report prepared by Kimley Horn and Associates, Inc. for the project, the project will potentially generate Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions up to approximately 10,172 MTCO2e/yr (Metric Tons of Carbon Dioxide Equivalent Per Year). The threshold set by SCAQMD for all new development projects is 3,000 MTCO2e/yr. The project GHG emissions will exceed the threshold established by SCAQMD.
Up to 93% of the project’s GHG emissions will be generated by mobile sources (vehicle traffic). There are no feasible mitigation measures that can substantively or materially reduce the project’s mobile source GHG emissions below the SCAQMD established threshold under current industry conditions. As such, the impact of the project’s GHG emissions is considered significant and unavoidable, resulting in the need to prepare an Environmental Impact Report (“EIR”) for the project.
California Environmental Quality Act
The applicant engaged Kimley-Horn and Associates, Inc. to prepare an EIR (Environmental Assessment Review No. 2023-0051) for the project in accordance with the requirements of the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). The City of Rialto subsequently engaged EcoTierra Consulting to conduct a peer review of the Environmental Impact Report and all of the related environmental documents. A Notice of Preparation (NOP) was distributed to the State Clearinghouse, as well as agencies, organizations, and persons considered likely to be interested in the project and the potential impacts. The NOP comment period occurred from June 27, 2024 to July 26, 2024. Two (2) comment letters were received during the comment period. The commenters included the Native American Heritage Commission and the California Department of Fish and Wildlife. Each of the comments received were subsequently addressed in the preparation of the Draft Environmental Impact Report (DEIR). The completed DEIR concluded that the project would create unavoidable significant impacts to greenhouse gas emissions.
A Notice of Availability (NOA) and the DEIR was distributed and circulated for public review from September 5, 2025 to October 20, 2025. Eight (8) comment letters were received during the comment period. The commenters included the Western States Regional Council of Carpenters, United Association Local 364 Plumbers & Pipefitters, Reinforcing Ironworkers Local 416, Ironworkers Local 433, Blum Collins & Ho, LLP on behalf of the Golden State Environmental Justice Alliance (GSEJA), Californians Allied for a Responsible Economy (CARE CA), the Center for Community Action and Environmental Justice (CCAEJ) ,and from Advocates for the Environment. Kimley-Horn and Associates, Inc. prepared responses to comments received. The responses to comments and the final Mitigation Monitoring & Reporting Program (MMRP) were input into the Final Environmental Impact Report (FEIR). Planning staff determined that the Environmental Impact Report prepared for the project appropriately satisfies the requirements of CEQA. The DEIR and FEIR are attached to the agenda report (Exhibits I & J).
PUBLIC NOTICE:
The City published a public hearing notice for proposed project in the San Bernardino Sun newspaper, posted copies of the public hearing notice outside the Council Chambers, and mailed public hearing notices to all property owners within 1,000 feet of the project site, as required by State law.
RECOMMENDATION:
The Planning Division recommends that the Planning Commission:
- Adopt the attached Resolution (Exhibit K) forwarding to the City Council a recommendation to certify the Final Environmental Impact Report (Environmental Assessment Review No. 2023-0051) prepared for the project; and
-
- Adopt the attached Resolution (Exhibit L) forwarding to the City Council a recommendation to approve Tentative Parcel Map No. 2023-0006, based upon the findings and subject to the conditions therein; and
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- Adopt the attached Resolution (Exhibit M) forwarding to the City Council a recommendation to approve Conditional Development Permit No. 2023-0032, based upon the findings and subject to the conditions therein; and
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- Adopt the attached Resolution (Exhibit N) forwarding to the City Council a recommendation to approve Precise Plan of Design No. 2023-0041, based upon the findings and subject to the conditions therein; and
• Adopt the attached Resolution (Exhibit O) forwarding to the City Council a recommendation to adopt an Ordinance approving a Development Agreement between the City of Rialto and IV5 Locust Gateway Logistics Center LLC (Development Agreement No. 2024-0002).