Stanislaus County considers major industrial warehouse project in north Modesto

Stanislaus County officials are reviewing an application for a 145-acre industrial and warehouse development in north Modesto, at the northwest corner of Kiernan Avenue and Dale Road.

It’s the first major industrial project in the Salida Community Plan, approved in 2007, and its dimensions are eye-popping — up to 2.5 million square feet of building space for distribution centers and manufacturing.

That would be twice the size of the Amazon distribution center in Turlock, but the preliminary plans for the “Scannell Project” are for seven buildings ranging from 104,893 to 514,309 square feet. Two or three acres of retail at the corner of Kiernan and Dale are also part of the plan.

Pirrone Road forms the northern boundary of the proposed industrial center. The northwest corner of the development would be across the road from the Gregori High School campus.

Scannell Properties has developed everything from distribution centers to cold storage warehouses in the United States and Europe.

The project would develop in the next 10 years, as California’s climate change goals attempt to phase out diesel trucks and emphasize renewable energy for industry.

The county has been talking with the applicants for almost a year. The land owner is Sandpoint Ranch Inc., which has a 12th Street address in Modesto and corporate papers listing Attorney Russell Newman as chief executive officer and Gregory Van Vooren as secretary.

According to updated corporate papers filed Sept. 28 with the California Secretary of State, Sandpoint has apparent ties with E&J Gallo Winery or its founders. A document lists Alan Colberg, Thomas J. Gallo, John Lillie and Mathew Cox as directors of Sandpoint. Colberg’s LinkedIn page says he’s on the Gallo company’s board of directors. A biography for Lillie says he consults with Gallo winery, while Thomas Gallo is a grandson of winery co-founder Julio Gallo.

An E&J Gallo Winery spokesperson said the company has no interest or involvement in the Scannell project. Project contacts with Newman-Romano LLC did not return messages.

County Supervisor Terry Withrow and another county official said they understood Scannell Properties will build the industrial facilities without a buyer lined up and market them to companies needing space for operations. County staff said actual uses for the buildings have not been determined yet and there’s no estimate for the number of jobs.

“These properties have been zoned for this and we have been expecting something to happen there,” Withrow said on Wednesday. Withrow said he hoped the project will provide jobs for Salida residents and others who are now commuting outside the county, allowing them to work closer to home.

The county expects to release a “notice of preparation” within a month to start an environmental review process that will take time. It’s possible the county Planning Commission could consider the project later this year and it also will require Board of Supervisors’ approval.

Salida plan requires an EIR

The environmental work raises thorny questions. The Salida Community Plan, a blueprint for developing 3,383 acres with a mix of land uses, has required an environmental impact report before development can take place.

The applicants have hired a firm called Ascent Environmental that’s versed in difficult environmental reviews. Seven years ago, an environmental study was done for the county’s General Plan update. In a shortcut proposed in June, Ascent suggested an environmental “checklist” to see if that study on the General Plan fully evaluated the environmental issues posed by the Salida community plan.

Angela Freitas, county director of planning and community development, said the county will decide if the study on the general plan can substitute for an EIR focused on the Salida community plan,

County staff said a study on the Scannell Project will look at projected truck traffic going in and out of the industrial center. A project description said the main access will be on Dale Road, where car traffic generated by Gregori High School backs up at the Kiernan intersection morning and afternoon.

A Scannell project description refers to a plan to widen Kiernan Avenue from four to six lanes.

Modesto may supply water and sewer service

Withrow said the county has talked with Modesto about supplying water and sewer service for the Scannell Project, even though the development would remain in county territory. The city could agree to extend a water line to the development on the north side of Kiernan and could also extend a sewer line from Healthcare Way to the site.

Withrow said it will entail a tax-sharing agreement between the county and city.

City spokeswoman Diana Ruiz-Del Re said by email the city and county are engaged in discussions about water and sewer service, but the city hasn’t decided whether Modesto will serve the Scannell Project.

Air emissions and climate change analysis

In correspondence with the county revealed by a public records request, Ascent said it will evaluate odors, carbon monoxide and toxic air emissions from the proposed development and include mitigation measures for significant impacts. The environmental work may also include some climate-change analysis that was not as prevalent when the Salida plan was approved 16 years ago, such as whether the Scannell Project may result in wasteful and inefficient energy consumption as the planet warms or use renewable energy including rooftop solar panels.

Ascent’s proposal to the county recognized that Stanislaus has created a greenhouse gas inventory but is among the California counties that doesn’t have a climate action plan.

Gary Jakobs, a principal with Sacramento-based Ascent Environmental, said Thursday the firm will take direction from the county on required environmental studies. The Scannell project will be evaluated for environmental impacts and greenhouse gas emissions “consistent with the laws that are out there,” Jakobs said.

Ascent promised the county a discussion of the current state of climate-change science, such as the United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change assessments, and how state and federal guidance on climate change applies to the north Modesto project. California plans to prohibit the sale of new diesel trucks by 2036 and impose a zero-emission requirement by 2042, meaning the Scannell center may be served before long by electric trucks or hydrogen-fuel vehicles if the state makes progress on climate goals.

Otherwise, the Scannell project and other warehouse developments in the Salida plan will put more diesel rigs on Kiernan Avenue and increase those emissions.

Salida’s community plan includes 1,259 acres of manufacturing and warehouse development, 490 acres of business parks and 280 acres of commercial uses, possibly creating 27,780 jobs.

The proposed environmental “checklist” could consider the plan’s potential for spurring population growth and creating a need for more law enforcement and fire protection services.

Katherine Borges, an advocate for making Salida a municipality, said development in the Salida plan would be a tax base for funding city services for the town of 14,000. “This (Scannell) project is within the boundaries of the Salida Community Plan and Salida should benefit from the tax revenue, as stated in the plan,” Borges said by text. “Otherwise, they are cheating Salida and the county is creating another Beard Industrial Tract.”

Are warehouse projects good for communities?

The designations for warehouse development in the Salida Community Plan might have been a questionable choice, now that a surge in e-commerce since the COVID pandemic has spurred construction of distribution centers. One group has asked the Governor’s Office for a moratorium on warehouse development in Southern California’s Inland Empire, which has a billion square feet of warehouse space and an additional 170 million square feet on the way.

The region’s 4,000 warehouses result in 600,000 truck trips daily, putting 50 million pounds of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere each day, according to a report by the Center for Community Action and Environmental Justice. Residents of San Bernardino County endured an increase of unhealthy air days from 14.8% in 2019 to almost 20% in 2020, the report said.

According to the Indeed job-seeker site, warehouse workers in California earn an average of $17.81 an hour, plus overtime, or $43,135 per year.