For City Council Meeting February 25, 2025
TO: Honorable Mayor and City Council
APPROVAL: Tanya Williams, City Manager
FROM: Colby Cataldi, Director of Community Development
Title
Request the City Council to conduct the public hearing and adopt Urgency Ordinance No. 1698 entitled, “AN URGENCY ORDINANCE OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF RIALTO, CALIFORNIA, EXTENDING THE PROVISIONS OF URGENCY ORDINANCE NO. 1697, ESTABLISHING A TEMPORARY MORATORIUM ON THE ESTABLISHMENT, EXPANSION, OR INTENSIFICATION OF “INDOOR STORAGE FACILITIES”, WITHIN THE JURISDICTIONAL BOUNDARIES OF THE CITY OF RIALTO, FOR AN ADDITIONAL TEN (10) MONTHS AND FIFTEEN (15) DAYS”.
(ACTION)
Body
RECOMMENDATION
City Council conduct a public hearing and adopt Urgency Ordinance No. 1698.
BACKGROUND
On January 28, 2025, the City Council adopted Urgency Ordinance No. 1697 (Exhibit A) establishing a 45-day moratorium on the establishment, modification, expansion, or intensification of indoor storage facilities, which includes fulfillment centers and storage warehouses, and prohibits the City from issuing any permits or approvals to any indoor storage facility subject to the moratorium. The moratorium does not apply to the following:
1. Indoor Storage Facilities previously approved by the City Council or Planning Commission not yet expired.
2. Indoor Storage Facilities more than 500 linear feet from existing residential uses, churches, schools, and recreational parks. (500 linear feet is measured from property line to property line)
3. Indoor Storage Facilities less than 100,000 square feet in floor area.
4. Indoor Storage Facilities on properties within the General Manufacturing (I-GM) land use district of the Rialto Airport Specific Plan.
Pursuant to Government Code Section 65858, the City Council may extend the initial 45-day moratorium for up to an additional ten (10) months and fifteen (15) days, and subsequently for an additional year, if needed, subject to procedural requirements.
Urgency Ordinance No. XXXX (Exhibit B) proposes extending the moratorium established by Urgency Ordinance No. 1697 for an additional ten (10) months and fifteen (15) days until January 29, 2026, or until such time as the City Council adopts permanent criteria, restrictions, procedures and/or regulations to address the issues and adverse impacts associated with indoor storage facilities. However, staff does not anticipate needing beyond six (6) months to complete this effort.
ANALYSIS/DISCUSSION
Land Use Issues
Industrial developments are an important part of the City’s, State, and national economy and present both positive and negative impacts to the community. Currently, such developments, and in particular indoor storage facilities, have been in high demand due to changes in the economy including a higher dependence on e-commerce. The demand for e-commerce has noticably increased since the pandemic resulting. For purposes of this Urgency Ordinance, the term “indoor storage facility” is defined as “any building primarily used for the indoor storage of goods, products, commodities, materials, supplies, and similar items for the primary purpose of supply chain distribution and fulfillment, including storage warehouses and fulfillment centers”.
The City’s Zoning Code, codified in Title 18 of the Rialto Municipal Code, does not give the City adequate tools or assurances to address the potential impacts related to indoor storage facilities. And while the City has updated some provisions of its code including provisions related to truck routes in the City to minimize the impacts from truck traffic, there is a need for additional locational criteria and other policy guidance to protect sensitive uses and address the various impacts associated with indoor storage facilities throughout the City. For example, there are not sufficient regulations and standards that would prevent the siting of an indoor storage facility with significant size and height immediately adjacent to or across the street from an existing residential use or school.
Traffic and Safety Issues
Indoor storage facilities, including warehouses and fulfillment centers, by their nature, generate significant truck traffic that often occurs on a 24-hour and daily basis, depending upon the needs of the business. Truck traffic can cause traffic congestion, detrimental air quality, noise, vibration, and disruption to the peace and quiet that is necessary for the enjoyment of residential neighborhoods and efficacy of educational uses.
These trucks travel on truck routes as well as other streets to reach their destinations and pose unique and challenging issues because of their sheer size, such as:
• Increased safety risk for smaller vehicles, pedestrians, and bicyclists;
• Road wear and/or damage to City streets and property/facilities from collisions (reported and unreported); i.e., streetlights, traffic signal equipment, signs, trees, curbs, medians, etc;
• Traffic congestion and reduced levels of service on streets and at intersections; and
• Increased impacts from improperly over-loaded trucks.
There is also a need to re-examine and potentially develop new policies to ensure there is logical relationship between the placement of indoor storage facilities and available truck routes to avoid the harmful effects of routing trucks past sensitive uses.
Environmental and Health Issues
Diesel engines emit a complex mixture of air pollutants, including both gaseous and solid material. The solid material in diesel exhaust is known as diesel particulate matter (DPM). DPM is considered a subset of particulate matter less than 2.5 microns in diameter (PM2.5). Most PM2.5 derives from combustion, such as use of gasoline and diesel fuels by motor vehicles, burning of natural gas to generate electricity, and wood burning. DPM is most concentrated adjacent to freeways, truck routes, and roadways traveled by trucks. PM2.5 is the size of ambient particulate matter air pollution most associated with adverse health effects of the air pollutants that have ambient air quality standards. These health effects include cardiovascular and respiratory impacts.
The trucks also cause noise and vibrations when travelling on City roadways presenting concerns for sensitive uses such as residential areas and educational uses. The increase in industrial developments as a result of the pandemic and the resulting increase in truck traffic has likely made the conditions worse for the residents and students who reside or go to schools adjacent to major roadways or adjacent to truck routes.
Moratorium Extension
Staff has assembled a team of representatives from the Community Development, Public Works, and Police Departments to analyze the land use, traffic, safety, health, and environmental concerns associated with indoor storage facility uses. A 10-day written report describing the measures which the City has taken to address the conditions which led to the adoption of the moratorium is included as Exhibit C.
Despite staff’s efforts, the conditions which necessitated adoption of the moratorium continue to exist at the present time. Government Code Section 65858 authorizes the City Council, after notice and a public hearing, and upon approval by a four-fifths (4/5) vote, to extend the moratorium for up to ten (10) months and fifteen (15) days. The City Council may subsequently extend the moratorium for one additional year.
Staff is requesting additional time to further analyze, research and develop appropriate regulations to alleviate the conditions which led to the adoption of the moratorium described in Urgency Ordinance No. 1697. Extending the moratorium will provide staff with the necessary time to complete research and develop appropriate regulations for allowing the establishment, modification, expansion, or intensification of indoor storage facilities to ensure the protection of the public health, safety and welfare.
The public hearing on this item has been duly noticed in accordance with State law.
ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT
The requested action does not constitute a “Project” as defined by the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). Pursuant to Section 15378(a), a “Project” means the whole of an action, which has a potential for resulting in either a direct physical change in the environment, or a reasonably foreseeable indirect physical change in the environment. According to Section 15378(b), a Project does not include organizational or administrative activities of governments that will not result in direct or indirect physical changes in the environment. Additionally, pursuant to Section 15061(b)(3), the proposed moratorium extension is exempt from CEQA review as there is no possibility that the moratorium would have a significant effect on the environment, insofar as it prohibits the establishment or approval indoor storage facilities, including fulfillment centers and storage warehouse uses.
GENERAL PLAN CONSISTENCY
Approval of this action complies with the following City of Rialto Guiding Principles and General Plan Goals:
Guiding Principle No. 3: “Our City government will lead by example, and will operate in an open, transparent, and responsive manner that meets the needs of the citizens and is a good place to do business.”
Goal 2-9: Protect residential, schools, parks, and other sensitive land uses from the impacts associated with industrial and trucking-related land uses, as well as commercial and retail areas.
LEGAL REVIEW
The City Attorney reviewed and approved the staff report and prepared the draft Urgency Ordinance.
FINANCIAL IMPACT
Adoption of the Urgency Ordinance will not incur any direct costs on the City.