Yucaipa’s city council is considering rescinding a large warehouse project near the I-10 freeway corridor, a significant reversal just months after it approved the development and voted to send it to voters in a special election next June.
The Freeway Corridor Specific Plan would allow more than 2 million square feet of warehousing, along with housing and commercial space, on land near Live Oak Canyon Road and Interstate 10. But the proposal met swift backlash. A grassroots group, Yucaipa Neighbors Opposing Warehouses, or Yucaipa NOW, gathered enough signatures to qualify two referendum petitions for the ballot, forcing the council either to repeal the approvals or let voters decide.
In October, the council voted for a special election. But on Monday, Mayor Pro Tem Chris Venable urged colleagues to abandon that approach and rescind the plan outright. He argued that the election, estimated to cost at least $200,000 by the city clerk’s office, would attract low turnout and almost certainly result in voters rejecting the warehouse project.
“If you look at all the statistics, special elections are about a third to half the turnout of regular elections,” Venable said. “The people who are going to vote for this are the ones who signed that petition. We had staggering signatures. I 100 percent believe it’s going to go down.”
Venable said the council should instead form an ad hoc committee with council members, city staff, and property owners to rethink the area’s land-use future. In an email, he added that he does not believe the warehouse proposal would benefit the city and noted that some landowners in the area also oppose the plan.
Local opponents say the backlash stems from concerns about traffic, pollution, and Yucaipa’s long-term growth trajectory. Ro Randolph, a leader with Yucaipa NOW, said communities throughout the region — from Calimesa to East Redlands — would feel the effects of a logistics center built along the corridor.
“People already know there will be more pollution and more traffic. That’s why they signed,” Randolph said. “Add another thousand trucks and five thousand more people, nobody will be able to get on the freeway.”
Randolph also criticized city spending and argues that those costs, along with the potential price of a special election, underscore why the council should reverse course.
“That's what those petitions were all about. That's what those referendums came down to…no one wanted it,” said Randolph. “So rescind it…stop it.”
The city council is expected to make a final decision on whether to rescind the plan or proceed with the June special election in January.
