City Council to hold two meetings about warehouse issues

By Doug Spoon, Editor

The Menifee City Council will consider issues regarding warehouses and distribution buildings at two separate meetings on Wednesday, Dec. 4.

During the council’s regular 6 p.m. meeting, a public hearing will be held. Council members will consider a developer’s appeal regarding the Planning Commission’s Oct. 23 denial of a proposed warehouse project. By a 3-2 vote, the commission ruled against the proposed 517,720-square-foot warehouse to be located south of Floyd Avenue (a dirt road), east of Geary Street (also a dirt road), west of Murrieta Road, and north of McLaughlin Road. The project site is within the city’s Northern Economic Development Corridor along Ethanac Road.

Planning Commissioners expressed concern that city staff’s Statement of Overriding Considerations was not sufficient to mitigate “significant and unavoidable” impacts of Greenhouse Gas emissions and noise that were identified as beyond the standard for approval in the Environmental Impact Report.

According to the agenda for Wednesday’s meeting, city staff will recommend that the council overturn the Planning Commission’s denial and approve the project.

During a special meeting of both the City Council and Planning Commission starting at 3:45 p.m., the entities will conduct a public workshop to discuss and solicit public input regarding the economic corridor at the south end of the city.

The area west of the 215 Freeway between Scott and Keller Roads has been named the Menifee Innovation District. This is the second community workshop regarding the 300-acre district, which includes several previously constructed warehouses and distribution buildings. According to the agenda, the meeting’s purpose is to “Provide input and direction to staff on developing a vision statement for the Menifee Innovation District Specific Plan … The Specific Plan will embody a specific vision for the Southern Gateway area, which will provide the necessary development standards and design guidelines to create a thriving innovation district at the City’s southern gateway.”

The project’s stated goals are to:

-- Create a vision for the Menifee Innovation District that reflects the input from stakeholders and the Menifee community.

-- Identify the area’s opportunities to leverage and constraints to address through the creation of a Specific Plan.

-- Evaluate and identify infrastructure needs to support future development of the area.

-- Prepare development standards and design guidelines that promote an appropriate mix of uses that will implement the Specific Plan’s vision.

-- Ensure the Specific Plan is in compliance with the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA).

Both meetings will be held at City Hall, located at 29844 Haun Road in Menifee.