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PLANNING COMMISSION INFORMATIONAL ITEM ON PROPOSED AMENDMENTS TO THE RECENTLY ADOPTED INDUSTRIAL WAREHOUSE DEVELOPMENT STANDARDS
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RECOMMENDATION
It is recommended that the Planning Commission receive a presentation and provide feedback on potential modifications to six (6) industrial warehouse development standards included in the recently adopted industrial warehouse ordinance.
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Summary
On December 12, 2024, the Stockton City Council adopted a new industrial warehouse ordinance in compliance with separate settlement agreements between the City and the State Attorney General’s Office (AG) and Sierra Club, in relation to a specific industrial project. During the adoption public hearing, in response to public comment, Council directed staff to explore additional modifications to six development standards via an ordinance amendment for their approval consideration no later than July 2024. Those modifications include consideration of:
1. Increasing the minimum applicable warehouse size
2. Applicability of warehouse standards on development projects within the City Limits
3. Adjustments to minimum setback standards
4. Clarification of solar installation requirements
5. Adjustments to electric truck charging infrastructure requirements
6. Adjustments to electric automobile charging infrastructure requirements
The purpose of the informational workshop is to review and discuss the potential modifications and receive Commission feedback on whether to recommend approval of the modifications as presented, amend them, or remove them from consideration.
While staff will prepare an ordinance for the modifications as presented, should the Commission direct staff to amend any of the modifications, a second ordinance will be prepared reflecting the modifications as amended by the Commission. Both Ordinances will then be presented to the Commission for a recommendation to the City Council.
DISCUSSION
Background
On December 6, 2022, the City Council approved separate settlement agreements with the State Attorney General and Sierra Club, in conjunction with the approval of warehouse development project. Both agreements obligated City staff to propose a warehouse ordinance to identify and apply all feasible recommended mitigation measures to qualifying warehouse and logistics facility projects to minimize their potentially significant environmental impacts. Per the settlement agreements, a warehouse ordinance was to be presented for consideration by the City Council by December 31, 2023.
On October 26, 2023, the Planning Commission considered three ordinance options (A, B and C) and recommended Council approval of the Option C Ordinance, which was based on feedback received from members of the development community. On December 12, 2023, the City Council adopted the Option C Ordinance (Attachment A - Ordinance 2023-12-12-1602). Based on public comment received from Stockton Environmental Justice Advocates, the development community and the general public, Council directed City staff to explore potential modifications to six development standards that would require amending the newly adopted ordinance (Attachment B- Public Comments). Council’s direction for staff was to perform additional public outreach and prepare feasibility analysis on the six modifications and return to Council with a proposed amendment by July 2024 or earlier.
On March 6, 2024, the City hosted a public workshop on the proposed Warehouse Ordinance Amendment at the Robert J. Cabral Agricultural Center from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. The workshop was attended by 30 members of the public, and another 15 attending virtually via Teams. At the meeting, staff described the proposed six modifications and responded to comments and questions raised by all attendees. Attachment C includes the workshop presentation and some of the comments received at the meeting. All past hearing and workshop materials for the Warehouse Ordinance are located on the Community Development Department’s (CDD) “Zoning Update” website.
Present Situation
Of the six development standards to be considered for modification, one was proposed by the Chamber of Commerce / San Joaquin Partnership, one was proposed in a public comment (Holman LLC), and four were proposed by Stockton Environmental Justice Advocates (EJA) at the December 12, 2023, hearing (Attachment B- Public Comments). The purpose of presenting this information is to engage in discussion on the proposed six modifications and receive public and Commission feedback for preparing an amendment to the warehouse ordinance.
Proposed Amendment
The following summarizes each the requested modifications to the six development standards and offers considerations for the Commission’s review. These considerations are derived from potential impacts, or feedback received so far.
Modification #1: Increase Warehouse Size for Ordinance Applicability (Chamber of Commerce / San Joaquin Partnership)
Description: Consideration of the following change: These standards shall apply to all logistics warehouses 1400,000 square feet in size or greater.
Consideration:
• Would increase the minimum applicability of logistics warehouse size from 100,000 to 400,000 square feet.
• Smaller warehouse facilities (100,000 to 399,999 sqft) would not be subject to the new warehouse standards.
• Size increase would lessen the unintended impacts on smaller business owners and operators (i.e., non-fortune 500 companies).
• Minimum lot sizes for new facilities could be increased by 380% as the anticipated minimum lot sizes needed to develop a new warehouse could increase from 5.5 acres to 21 acres based on typical lot size needed for facilities of 100,000 versus 400,000 square feet in size.
• Generally, aligns with the original City of Fontana ordinance that has been recognized by the AG for setting the bar in warehouse development regulations.
• It is anticipated the increase would lessen the impact on smaller facilities and owners (i.e., non-fortune 500 companies).
• The last 10 entitled logistics projects measured an average total size range of 700,000sqft to 1,000,000 sf
• Since 2016, 37 building permits have been approved for new warehouses 100,000 sf or greater (average size ±420,000 sqft)
Modification #2: Applicability for new logistic warehouses (Hollman LLC).
Description: Consideration of the following addition: Warehouse Ordinance standards shall not apply to any new building constructed on property that was incorporated into the City of Stockton prior to December 31, 2023.
Consideration:
• Ordinance would not apply to new logistic warehouse facilities constructed on vacant properties that were located within the Stockton City Limits prior to December 31, 2023.
• Ordinance Standards would only apply towards future warehouse logistics development projects that were not currently in the Stockton City Limits as of December 31, 2023.
• Unclear if the request would be applicable to annexations under the minimum size requirement or annexations approved but later amended to allow industrial uses.
• SMC Section 16.04.050 already regulates project applicability and “vested” rights of completed applications when new Code standards are adopted. The inclusion of the additional “vesting” option would reduce the City’s use of the standards to just future annexation projects that meet the size thresholds. Either at the time of the annexation or after.
• Seems more a policy-driven request on how the City wishes to utilize the new warehouse standards, than an additional means to lock in development rights.
Modification #3: Change Buffer Requirements (EJA Comment Request)
Description: Addition of a 2:1 setback to height ratio building setback requirement; remove options for design flexibility by not allowing “physically infeasible” from consideration for site with unique constraints in complying with 300’ buffer distance or the use EV trucks within the 300 foot buffer, and prohibit loading docks, truck entries and drive aisles from abutting adjacent sensitive receptors.
Consideration:
• Prohibition of all truck (Electric Vehicle and Fuel) movement, parking, and access within 300-feet of any sensitive receptor defined by code. This will impact future site design via building placement, location of parking and access, as well as what could be located within the 300-foot buffer should only 20-feet of landscaping be proposed for compliance.
• The Change would achieve the EJA’s desired result of completely prohibiting trucks within 300-feet of a defined sensitive receptor.
• Could significantly impact site design for smaller projects where the project site does not have enough spaces to accommodate a total restriction of trucks within 300-feet. For example, a 5.5-acre site proposing a 100,000 sqft warehouse facility could have a project boundary of around 480 feet x 480 feet. A 300-foot buffer restriction would restrict truck movement to less than 25-percent of the site of the entire project site should it be boarded on one side by a sensitive receptor (Attachment C- Workshop Presentation).
Modification #4: Clarification on Solar Installation Process (EJA Comment Request)
Description: Consideration of the following addition: The solar system installation should be done by owners, operators, tenants, or a qualified solar system contractor.
Consideration:
• Current process already requires this for solar system construction permit approval.
Modification #5: Additional Electric Vehicle (EV) Charging Facilities (EJA Comment Request)
Description: Facilitate future charging stations by expanding the current electric vehicle charging station infrastructure requirement to include light-heavy duty (LHD) and medium-heavy duty (MHD) in addition to heavy-heavy duty (HHD) trucks. It also includes new Electric Vehicle Chargers Stations (EVCS) standards for EV truck conduits to be installed. This does not require charging stations, but truck docking stations provide EV ready hook-ups to meet future needs.
Conduit should be provided on the site to serve 50% of the number of truck docking stations. Location of conduit is at discretion of the developer (e.g., truck trailer parking spaces or docking stations).
Consideration:
• Could potentially lead to more EV charging stations and EV-ready facilities.
• Potential added Cost for additional spaces.
• Currently adopted California Green Building Standards Code (CALGreen) generally already require this. In addition to the conduit requirements, CALGreen currently requires upsizing of the electrical service to accommodate future medium- and heavy-duty EVCS for warehouse uses.
Modification #6: Additional Electric Vehicle (EV) Charging Facilities (EJA Comment)
Description: Consideration of the following additions:
• At least 10% of all passenger vehicle parking spaces shall be electric vehicle (EV) ready, with all necessary conduit and related appurtenances installed.
• At least 5% of all passenger vehicle parking spaces shall be equipped with working Level 2 Quick charge EV charging stations installed and operational, prior to building occupancy.
• Signage shall be installed indicating EV charging stations and specifying that spaces are reserved for clean air/EV vehicles.
• Unless superior technology is developed that would replace the EV charging units, facility operator and any successors in interest shall be responsible for maintaining the EV charging stations in working order for the life of the facility.
Consideration:
• Potential additional EV charging and quick charging spaces.
• Potential added Cost for additional spaces.
• Currently adopted California Green Building Standards Code (CALGreen) generally already require this. CALGreen currently has minimum requirements to provide EV capable spaces in quantities greater than the proposed amendment and substantially similar requirements for spaces provided with EV equipment. CALGreen currently requires Level 2 chargers or the highest-level Direct Current Fast Charging type.
Planning Commission Direction
The purpose of the informational workshop is to review and discuss the potential modifications and receive Commission feedback on whether to recommend approval of the modifications as presented, amend them, or remove them from consideration. While staff will prepare an ordinance for the modifications as presented, should the Commission direct staff to amend any of the modifications, a second ordinance will be prepared reflecting the modifications as amended by the Commission.
Next Steps
The following summarizes the subsequent actions staff intends to complete on the proposed Industrial Warehouse ordinance.
• Seek additional feedback from stakeholders, development community, and the public.
• Complete feasibility analysis for proposed modifications, with or without amendments.
• Planning Commission’s consideration by May 2024 or sooner.
• City Council adoption consideration by July 2024 or sooner.
This staff report was prepared by Matt Diaz, Advanced Planning Manager, (209) 937-8598 or via e-mail: matt.diaz@stocktonca.gov.
Attachment A - Approved Ordinance 2023-12-12-1602
Attachment B - Public Comments
Attachment C- Warehouse Ordinance Public Workshop 3/6/24