Perris City Council Approves 45-Day Warehouse Moratorium, Updates Development Standards

The Perris City Council this month approved a temporary, 45-day moratorium on the approval, establishment and expansion of all industrial warehouse and distribution uses in the city and took the first step in updating its industrial development standards.

“It could be extended up to 22 months and 15 days, but every extension requires a 4/5 vote,” Development Services Director Kenneth Phung said at the November 18 meeting where the potential moratorium was brought for discussion. “Just in terms of the criteria for moratorium for the urgency ordinance, the council would need to direct staff in terms of findings to explain the need to protect public safety, health and welfare.”

According to the ordinance, the moratorium was necessary to allow the city sufficient time to study, develop, revise and complete a comprehensive update to the city’s General Plan Land Use Element to ensure industrial developments are located in areas that minimize their adverse impacts, amendments to the city’s development code and specific plan to modify industrial standards for warehouses and distribution centers and amendments to the circulation element to update the city’s truck route plan in compliance with new state laws.

The urgency ordinance, which was approved as part of the December 9 consent agenda, pauses the issuance or approval of any subdivisions, use permits, variances, grading permits, building permits, development plan reviews or any other entitlement for use of approval, establishment, or expansion of any warehousing or distribution use for an initial period of 45 days.

According to a staff report, there were already 30 million square feet of industrial developments constructed in the city with another 3.6 million square feet of industrial warehouse and distribution developments currency under construction and an additional 4.3 million square feet approved and undergoing plan checks for permits. 

Additionally, there were 5.6 million square feet of industrial projects approved that have not started the plan check process to obtain a permit with another 11.3 million square feet in the entitlement process waiting for the completion of environmental studies before they can go to the planning commission or the council for consideration.

The moratorium does not apply to projects with vested rights, which includes those with development agreements, vesting maps or grading or building permits ready to start construction. There is also an exception for minor modifications to vested projects and existing constructed warehouse and distribution buildings including changes to the parking layout, interior tenant improvements or a reduction in the building’s square footage to meet a tenant’s needs.

Those who spoke in support of the moratorium, a majority of whom were Perris residents, noted the number of warehouses in the city and the negative impacts to air quality, noise pollution and traffic congestion in the city as a result.

“We’re already oversaturated with existing warehouses and warehouses that are yet to be built, which have obviously affected our air quality, our roads and our overall quality of life,” said Yesenia Contreras, who spoke on behalf of the community group Perris Neighbors in Action. “I think that a moratorium, which would ideally be extended beyond the 45 days, would give us the opportunity to think about the future of Perris and the direction that we really want to see our city move in.”

Those who spoke against the moratorium included representatives for industrial developers like Bill Blankenship, a representative of NAIOP Inland Empire Chapter. NAIOP, the Commercial Real Estate Development Association, is a trade organization that represents the commercial real estate industry.

“The logistics community provides a tremendous amount of infrastructure, and if this moratorium is adopted tonight, you take a chance of losing some $250 million [from developers],” he said. “Those are all dollars that are needed to build the badly needed infrastructure in the city.”

At the same meeting, the council introduced an ordinance that, if adopted, would require a conditional use permit for proposed warehouse and distribution centers larger than 50,000 square feet in areas zoned for light industrial and general industrial uses.

“The amendment would provide greater oversight and discretion for large industrial projects to ensure that they do not negatively impact surrounding areas,” Phung said. “Under the current regulations, these types of projects typically only require a development plan review, and they are reviewed and approved by the Planning Commission.”

The council also introduced an ordinance to update the city’s zoning code, specific plan and Good Neighbor Guidelines in an effort to enhance protections when industrial warehouses and distribution projects were proposed in proximity to sensitive receptors such as homes, schools, parks and hospitals.

“What we’re saying is that with this, with the Good Neighbor guidelines, we just want to make sure that the projects that do get approved are the best possible projects with all the best possible community benefits as well,” Councilmember Malcolm Corona said. “And I think this does it.”

Both ordinances will have to come back before the council for a second reading and adoption at a future meeting. They will both go into effect 30 days after that final adoption.

In other action: The Perris City Council also introduced an ordinance to address just cause eviction protections. The council also declared a fiscal emergency, which Assistant City Manager Ernie Reyna said was a “preventive and proactive measure,” to allow the city to evaluate and propose options to replenish and grow revenue before the decline in general fund reserves impacts services to residents.