City Council to consider regulating 'big box' industrial sites

By Doug Spoon, Editor

The Menifee City Council Chambers at City Hall will re-open at full seating capacity for Wednesday night’s council meeting, and several important items are on the agenda.

One of the key items is the last one on the list – a council discussion of whether to restrict so-called “big box” industrial warehouses in the city. According to the agenda document, the City of Menifee “has seen an increased interest in proposed industrial development in the northern portion of the City,” primarily the economic corridor and Business Center zoning classifications in the Romoland community surrounding Highway 74.

Local residents may be familiar with the large number of business parks with huge warehouses for Amazon and other companies east of the 215 Freeway in Perris. Currently, the only similar type of structure in Menifee is the first phase of Commerce Pointe, an 825,000-square-foot facility on Zeiders Road south of Scott Road designed to accommodate multiple businesses.

The City of Menifee’s business development code does not have a restriction on the size of such buildings, but “there has been an increase in pre-application submittals proposing industrial building developments ranging from 300,000 square feet to over 1 million square feet of building area,” according to the agenda document.

There is not an ordinance proposal attached to the agenda item, but staff is requesting council members to give direction regarding such development in the future.

In another agenda item, the Menifee Police Department has come back to council with a revised proposal to adopt an ordinance requiring registration of residential and commercial burglar alarm systems in the city, as well as fines for frequent false alarms.

In February, council members asked Menifee PD to revise a proposal that originally called for a $25 annual registration fee for residential alarms and $35 for businesses, with penalties of $50 (for residences) and $60 (for businesses) for non-compliance. In addition, that proposal would call for fines of $25 up to $300 for false alarms.

The revised proposal to be presented Wednesday night would require registration of all burglar alarms, but with no fee attached. Failure to register would result in a $50 fee. The first false alarm would result in a warning, with the second false alarm resulting in a fine of $100, escalating with each additional false alarm.

According to the agenda item, “Between July 1, 2020 and May 31, 2021, the Menifee Police Department received 2,912 alarm calls, of which 2,583 were dispatched to patrol officers. Of the 2,583 dispatched alarm calls, only 23, or .89 percent, were found to be legitimate alarms. Of the 2,912 total alarm calls, 1,387 were for commercial alarms and 1,525 were for residential alarms. On average, MPD officers are responding to 8.3 alarm calls per day, most of which are false.”

Wednesday’s meeting begins at 6 p.m. at City Hall, located at 29844 Haun Road in Menifee.