West Park proposal up for vote

Supervisors to decide Tuesday if project will move to next step

By TIM MORAN
tmoran@modbee.com

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The 14-month drama over the PCCP West Park LLC development comes to a head Tuesday with a Stanislaus County Board of Supervisors vote on whether to continue with the project.

The 4,800-acre business and industrial park project southeast of Patterson has drawn support from regional transportation and air qual-ity officials, and heated opposition from residents and government agencies in the towns near the massive development.

Anticipating a crowd at Tuesday's 9 a.m. meeting, the county has reserved space at the Gallo Center for the Arts, in case the council chamber can't accommodate all who want to attend.

PDF: West Park at a Glance

Supervisors chose the West Park proposal to negotiate with over a rival bid more than a year ago on a 3-2 vote, with Supervisors Jeff Grover, Dick Monteith and Tom Mayfield in support and Jim DeMartini and Bill O'Brien opposed.

Monteith and Grover have been enthusiastic supporters of West Park, and DeMartini a tenacious opponent. Mayfield and O'Brien were more lukewarm, leaving the final outcome uncertain.

Mayfield took most of the doubt out of the vote last week, telling The Bee he intends to vote for moving forward with West Park.

"I'm not going to be flipping a coin," Mayfield said in reference to a comment he made about his indecision on the first vote.

"I haven't changed my mind. We've asked them to do a lot of things, and they've done pretty much everything we've asked."

"I truly don't have a problem with him," he said of West Park developer Gerry Kamilos. "I think he's delivered what he promised."

That appears to give West Park the necessary three-vote major-ity Tuesday.

Two-year environmental review

Mayfield said that a board vote to move forward with the project doesn't mean it's a done deal. West Park will go through a two-year environmental review before final approval, and problems in that review could stop the project, he said.

"If it doesn't work out, it doesn't work out. At this point, I think we should move ahead," Mayfield said.

O'Brien said he wouldn't make a decision until after Tuesday's public comment period.

"There's been a lot of things that have happened in the past year," he said. "One of the biggest things is the (California Transportation Commission) funding coming through, and the county reports on how feasible it is. They have come a long way," he said of West Park.

The other three supervisors haven't changed their positions.

"I think (Kamilos) has done a tremendous job," Monteith said. "He's done more than what we asked. Through the criticism, he still came out and talked to everyone, and attempted to answer their questions. I don't know anything else he could do to answer the objections."

Mixed response

Grover emphasized the job deficit in Stanislaus County and the need to address it immediately.

The state transportation commission's earmarking $22.4 million for West Park's proposed short-haul rail system adds credibility to the project, Grover said.

DeMartini said he couldn't understand how the county could back a project with almost universal opposition from the West Side.

"There needs to be community buy-in for large projects like this," he said. "We realize the need to create jobs, but we need a project that's acceptable to the communities around it."

Bee staff writer Tim Moran can be reached at tmoran@modbee.com or 578-2349.